UNCORRECTED PROOF Chapter 11 The Neural Representation of Kinematics and Dynamics in Multiple Brain Regions: The Use of Force Field Reaching Paradigms in the Primate and Rat Joseph T. Francis Abstract In this chapter I will review the past and present motor control literature with an emphasis on reaching movements. Debate still rages as to what movement related variables are controlled by the neural motor control system especially concerning dynamic vs. kinematic variables. There is a rich history in the motor control literature that has employed monkeys of several species making reaching movements while holding loaded or robotic manipu- landum. However, to date very little work has been conducted using the rat reaching paradigm to investigate the control of dynamics vs. kinematics. I will review a very simple rat robotic manipulandum paradigm and initial results from it. This paradigm is presently being expanded from a 1 degree of freedom system similar to those used in early primate research to a 2 and even 3 degree of freedom version, such as those used with primates and humans today. Keywords Motor learning  brain machine interface  thalamus  somatotopic  somatosensory prosthesis 11.1 Introduction Much of the mammalian nervous system has evolved around a common set of basic needs, such as obtaining food and evading predators. What elements are needed to carry out such basic operations by an animal? The animal must be able to sense the food object, or predator, and be able to reach/grasp or move to the food, or flee from the predator. Having several senses would certainly be July 13, 2008 Time: 5:55am t1-v1.3 J.T. Francis Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, State University of New York Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY 11203 Program in Neural and Behavioral Science, State University of New York Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY 11203 Program in Biomedical Engineering, State University of New York Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY 11203 e-mail: joey199us@gmail.com A. Kamkin, I. Kiseleva (eds.), Mechanosensitivity of the Nervous System, Ó Springer ScienceþBusiness Media B.V. 2008 215 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45