NECESSITY FOR MOTOR ACTIVITY.--Likewise in the case of the motor areas.
Pity the boy or girl who has been deprived of the opportunity to use
every muscle to the fullest extent in the unrestricted plays and games
of childhood. For where such activities are not wide in their scope,
there some areas of the cortex will remain undeveloped, because unused,
and the person will be handicapped later in his life from lack of skill
in the activities depending on these centers. Halleck says in this
connection: "If we could examine the developing motor region with a
microscope of sufficient magnifying power, it is conceivable that we
might learn wherein the modification due to exercise consists. We might
also, under such conditions, be able to say, 'This is the motor region
of a piano player; the modifications here correspond precisely to those
necessary for controlling such movements of the hand.' Or, 'This is the
motor tract of a blacksmith; this, of an engraver; and these must be the
cells which govern the vocal organs of an orator.'" Whether or not the
microscope will ever reveal such things to us, there is no doubt that
the conditions suggested exist, and that back of every inefficient and
awkward attempt at physical control lies a motor area with its cells
undeveloped by use. No wonder that our processes of learning physical
adjustment and control are slow, for they are a growth in the brain
rather than a simple "learning how."
The training of the nervous system consists finally, then, in the
development and cooerdination of the neurones of which it is composed. We
have seen that the sensory cells are to be developed by the sensory
stimuli pouring in upon them, and the motor cells by the motor impulses
which they send out to the muscles. The sensory and the motor fibers
likewise, being an outgrowth of their respective cells, find their
development in carrying the impulses which result in sensation and
movement. Thus it is seen that the neurone is, in its development as in
its work, a unit.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE ASSOCIATION CENTERS.--To this simpler type of sensory
and motor development which we have been considering, we must add that
which comes from the more complex mental processes, such as memory,
thought, and imagination. For it is in connection with these that the
association fibers are developed, and the brain areas so connected that
they can work together as a unit. A simple illustration will enable us
to see more clearly how the nervous mechanism acts to bring this about.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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