Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Concept of Voluntary Motor Control in the Recent Neuroscientific Literature

  • Editorial Commentary
  • Published:
Synthese Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The concept of voluntary motor control(VMC) frequently appears in the neuroscientific literature, specifically in the context of cortically-mediated, intentional motor actions. For cognitive scientists, this concept of VMC raises a number of interesting questions:(i) Are there dedicated, modular-like structures within the motor system associated with VMC? Or (ii) is it the case that VMC is distributed over multiple cortical as well as subcortical structures?(iii) Is there any one place within the so-calledhierarchy of motor control where voluntary movements could be said to originate? And (iv) in the current neurological literature how is the adjective voluntary in VMC being used? These questions are here considered in the context of how higher- and lower-levels of motor control, plan, initiate, coordinate, sequence, and modulate goal-directed motor outputs in response to changing internal and external inputs. Particularly relevant are the conceptual implications of current neurological modeling of VMC concerning causal agency.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

REFERENCES

  • Adrian, E. D.: 1946, The Physical Background of Perception, Clarendon Press, Oxford, UK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bear, M. F., B. W. Connors, and M. A. Paradiso 2001, Neuroscience, 2nd edn, Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Bizzi, E. and F. A. Mussa-Ivaldi: 2000, ‘Toward a Neurobiology of Coordinate Transformations’, in M. S. Gazzaniga (ed.), The New Cognitive Neurosciences, 2nd edn, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, pp. 489-500.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brand, M.: 1995, ‘Volition’, in R. Audi (ed.), The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy,Cambridge University Press, New York, NY, pp. 843-844.

    Google Scholar 

  • Churchland, P. M. and P. S. Churchland: 2001, ‘P. Mandik, J. Mundale and R. S. Stufflebeam (eds.), Philosophy and the Neurosciences, Blackwell, Malden, MA, pp. 45

    Google Scholar 

  • Churchland, P. S. and T. J. Sejnowski: 1992, The Computational Brain, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, A.: 1997, Being There: Putting Brain, Body, and World Together Again, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cotterill, R.: 1998, Enchanted Looms: Conscious Networks in Brains and Computers, Cambridge University Press, New York, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cottingham, J.: 1995, ‘Rene Descartes’, in R. Audi (ed.), The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, New York, NY, pp. 193-196.

    Google Scholar 

  • Damasio, A. R.: 1994, Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dennett, D. C.: 1984, Elbow Room, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Descartes, R.: 1641, Meditations on First Philosophy, reprinted in J. Cunningham, R. Stoothoff, and D. Murdoch (eds.), 1998: Descartes: Selected Philosophical Writings, Cambridge University Press, New York, NY, pp. 73-122.

    Google Scholar 

  • Farah, M. J. and T. E. Feinberg (eds.): 2000, Patient-Based Approaches to Cognitive Neuroscience, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Finger, S.: 1994, Origins of Neuroscience, Oxford University Press, New York, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • FitzGerald, M. J. T. and J. Folan-Curran: 2002, Clinical Neuroanatomy and Related Neuroscience, 4th edn., W.B.Saunders, New York, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flanagan, O.: 1991, The Science of the Mind, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

  • Flanagan, O.: 2002, The Problem of the Soul, Basic Books, New York, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gazzaniga, M. S. (ed.): 2000, The New Cognitive Neurosciences, 2nd edn, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, pp. 485-618.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gazzaniga, M. S., R. B. Ivry, and G. R. Mangun: 1998, Cognitive Neuroscience, W.W. Norton, New York, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gazzaniga, M. S.: 1998, The Mind’s Past, University of California Press, Berkeley,CA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Georgopoulos, A. P.: 2000, ‘Neural Mechanisms of Motor Cognitive Processes: Functional MRI and Neurophysiological Studies’, in M. S. Gazzaniga (ed.), The New Cognitive Neurosciences, 2nd edn, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, pp. 525-538.

    Google Scholar 

  • Georgopoulos, A. P., M. Taira, and A. Lukashin: 1993, ‘Cognitive Neurophysiology of the Motor Cortex’, in M. S. Gazzaniga (ed.), Cognitive Neuroscience, Blackwell, New York, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodale, M. A.: 2000, ‘Perception and Action in the Human Visual System’, in M. S. Gazzaniga (ed.), The New Cognitive Neurosciences, (2nd edn), MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, pp. 365-378.

  • Goodale, M. A. and A. D. Milner: 2000, ‘Separate Visual Pathways for Perception and Action’, Trends Neuroscience, 15, 20-25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goffman, E.: 1961, Asylums, Anchor Books, New York, NY.

  • Goffman, E.: 1963, Stigma, Simon and Schuster, New York, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guyton, A.C.: 1991, Basic Neuroscience, W.B. Saunders, Philadelphia, PA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heilman, K. M. and E. Valenstein, (eds.): 1993, Clinical Neuropsychology, (3rd edn), Oxford University Press, New York, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hinton, G. E.: 1989, ‘Connectionist Learning Procedures’, Artificial Intelligence 40,185-234.

    Google Scholar 

  • Horgan, T. E., Physicalism, in S. Guttenplan (ed.): 1994, A Companion to the Philosophy of Mind, Blackwell, Cambridge, MA, pp. 471-479.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ivry, R. B. and J. A. Fiez: 2000, ‘Cerebellar Contributions to Cognition and Imagery’, in M. S. Gazzaniga (ed.), The New Cognitive Neurosciences, 2nd edn, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, pp. 999-1011.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jordan, M. I. and D. M. Wolpert: 2000, ‘Computational Motor Control’, in M. S. Gazzaniga (ed.), The New Cognitive Neurosciences, 2nd edn, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kandel, E. R., J. H. Schwartz, and T. M. Jessell:2000, Principles of Neural Science, 4th edn, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY.

  • Kolb, B. and I. Q. Whishaw: 1996, Fundamentals of Neuropsychology, 4th edn, W. H. Freeman, New York, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kosslyn, S. M. and Koenig: 1992, Wet Mind: The New Cognitive Neuroscience, Free Press, New York, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lindesmith, A. R., A. L. Strauss, and N. K. Denzin: 1999, Social Psychology, 8th edn, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Longstaff, A.: 2000, Neuroscience, Springer-Verlag, New York, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCann, H. J.: 1995, ‘Action Theory’, in R. Audi (ed.), The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, New York, NY, pp. 6-7.

    Google Scholar 

  • McLaughlin, B.: 1995, ‘Philosophy of Mind’, in R. Audi (ed.), The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, New York, NY, pp. 597-606.

    Google Scholar 

  • McNeill, M. E.: 1997, Neuroanatomy Primer, Williams and Wilkins, Philadelphia, PA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mazzoni, P. and L. P Rowland (eds.): 2001, Merritt’s Neurology Handbook, Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins, Philadelphia, PA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mushiake, H., M. Inase, and J. Tanji: 1991, ‘Neuronal Activity in the Primate Premotor, Supplementary, and Precentral Motor Cortex During Visually Guided and Internally Determined Sequential Movements’. Journal of Neurophysiology. 66, 705-718.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nicholls, J. G., A. R. Martin, B. G. Wallace, and P. A. Fuchs: 2001, From Neuron to Brain, 4th edn, Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, MA., pp. 472-473.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Brien, J. O. and P. Kollock (eds.): 2001, The Production of Reality, 3rd edn, Pine Forge Press, Boston, MA.

  • O’Shaughnessy, The Will, in S. Guttenplan (ed.): 1994, A Companion to the Philosophy of Mind, Blackwell, New York, NY, pp. 610-617.

  • Purves, D., G. J. Augustine, D. Fitzpatrick, L. C. Katz, A.-S. LaMantia, and J. O. McNamara: 1997, Neuroscience, Sinauer Associates, Sunderland

    Google Scholar 

  • Purves, D., G. J. Augustine, D. Fitzpatrick, L. C. Katz, A.-S LaMantia, J. O. McNamara, and S. M. Williams: 2001, Neuroscience, 2nd edn, Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Searle, J. R.: 1984, Minds, Brains and Science, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Searle, J. R.: 1996, ‘Contemporary Philosophy in The United States’, in N. Bunnin and E. P. Tsui-James (eds.), The Blackwell Companion to Philosophy, Blackwell, Cambridge, MA, pp. 1-24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Searle, J. R.: 2002, Consciousness and Language, Cambridge University Press, New York, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simon, R. P., M. J. Aminoff, and D. A. Greenberg: 1999, Clinical Neurology, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Snyder, L. H., K. L. Grieve, P. R. Brotchie, and R. A. Anderson: 1998, ‘Separate Body-and World-Referenced Representations of Visual Space In Parietal Cortex’, Nature 394, 887-890.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sparks, D. L. and J. S. Nelson: 1987, ‘Sensory and Motor Maps in the Mammalian Superior Colliculus’, TINS 10(8), 312-317.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thach, W. T., J. W. Mink, H. P. Goodkin, and J. G. Keating: 1993, ‘Combining Versus Gating Motor Programs: Differential Roles for Cerebellum and Basal Ganglia?’ Reprinted in M. S. Gazzaniga (ed.), 2000: Cognitive Neuroscience, Blackwell, New York, NY, pp. 366-375.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tibbetts P.: 2002, ‘The Brain and its Physical and Computational Architectures’, Quarterly Review of Biology 77(1), 38-43.

    Google Scholar 

  • Victor, M. and A. H. Ropper: 2001, Adams and Victor’s Principles of Neurology, 7th edn, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zigmond, M. J., F. E. Bloom, S. C. Landis, J. L. Roberts, and L. R. Squire (eds.): 1999, Fundamental Neuroscience, Academic Press, New York, NY, esp. pp. 855-992.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, University of Dayton, Dayton, OH, 45469–1546, U.S.A

    Paul Tibbetts

Authors
  1. Paul Tibbetts
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Tibbetts, P. The Concept of Voluntary Motor Control in the Recent Neuroscientific Literature. Synthese 141, 247–276 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:SYNT.0000043021.33695.99

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:SYNT.0000043021.33695.99

Search

Navigation