title: Experimenting with theoretical motor neuroscience.
abstract: Motor neuroscience is well over 100 years old, with seminal work such as G. T. Fritz and E. Hitzig's discovery of motor cortex occurring in 1870. Theoretical motor neuroscience has been ongoing for at least the last 50 years. How mature a scientific discipline is motor neuroscience? Are experimentalists and theoreticians working together productively to help the field progress? This article addresses these questions by advancing the following theses. Motor neuroscience remains at a descriptive stage due to the incredible complexity of the problem to be solved. The proliferation of models--and distinct modeling camps--stems from the absence of unifying conceptual constructs. To advance the field, theoreticians must rely more heavily on the concept of falsification by producing models that lend themselves to clear experimental testing.
authors.affiliation: McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. ajemian@mit.edu
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ajemian
authors.forename: Neville
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hogan
mesh_terms: D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D009048:Motor Skills; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D009132:Muscles / Q000294:innervation / Q000502:physiology; D009488:Neurosciences / Q000266:history / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D016730:Program Development; D012107:Research Design; D013598:Systems Theory