Abstract
Reflexes, compound movements, and innate behavior are basic neural functions in lower vertebrates, and are executed by the spinal cord and brain stem. These functions are made goal-oriented by the limbic system, stable by the basal ganglia, adaptive by the cerebellum, and restorable by the wakefulness-sleep centers in the brain stem. Elaborate sensorimotor functions of the cerebral neocortex have evolved after birds, and mental functions have developed in the association cortex of primates, particularly in humans. To understand the neuronal mechanisms operating in each of these executive and regulatory systems of brains, a number of obstacles must be overcome, as reviewed here from the perspective of recent studies on the cerebellum.
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Ito, M. Neuroscience of the mechanisms of mind and behavior. Artif Life Robotics 3, 3–6 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02481479
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02481479