Integration of Gravitational Torques in Cerebellar Pathways Allows for the Dynamic Inverse Computation of Vertical Pointing Movements of a Robot Arm

2008

BackgroundSeveral authors suggested that gravitational forces are centrally represented in the brain for planning, control and sensorimotor predictions of movements. Furthermore, some studies proposed that the cerebellum computes the inverse dynamics (internal inverse model) whereas others suggested that it computes sensorimotor predictions (internal forward model).Methodology/principal findingsThis study proposes a model of cerebellar pathways deduced from both biological and physical constraints. The model learns the dynamic inverse computation of the effect of gravitational torques from its sensorimotor predictions without calculating an explicit inverse computation. By using supervised …