ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the transfer of information to the latter motor systems which range from relatively simple circuits, such as the corticospinal projection from the motor cortex directly to spinal motoneurons, to complex feedback systems, such as those associated with the basal ganglia and cerebellum. The knowledge of limbic and motor systems integrate to permit a smooth transition from emotional and cognitive awareness to adaptive behavioral responses is relatively undeveloped. The chapter shows that interpretations of the function of the motive circuit involve data derived from the subspecialties of neuroanatomy, neurochemistry, electrophysiology, behavior and molecular biology. An organism’s relationship to motivationally relevant stimuli changes over its lifetime. The importance or motivational relevance of a stimulus is modulated as a function of alterations in the stimulus itself or in the learned associations the animal makes with the stimulus.
