‘To move things is all mankind can do. ... whether whispering a syllable or felling a
forest.’ - Charles Sherrington ---
The human motor system is one of the most complicated systems in the human body.
This complex system of interactions and collaborations between different regions of the
human nervous system enables humans to interact with their external environment.
Several parts of the human central nervous system are required to communicate
effectively to send signals to the target muscles to carry out the final voluntary or
involuntary movements. At the level of the central nervous system (CNS), motor
planning and control form the essential element of any voluntary movements and
several models have been suggested to describe these processes. Internal models, and
specifically the ‘forward model’ is one of the most recognised theories of human motor
control function. In this thesis, I have investigated two different movement disorders in
which motor dysfunction is suggested to be involved in motor planning level in one
disorder and motor execution in the other. I used several novel MRI methods to
elucidate the neuro-mechanisms and brain regions likely to be involved in motor
impairment in these two disorders, developmental coordination disorder (DCD) and
(Freidreich’s ataxia) FRDA. Integral to this process was an endeavor to investigate
human motor control theory and examine its pathological aspects through the window
of neuroimaging.