Muscle memory

摘要

In the movie 'Burn after reading', George Clooney sings the praises of 'muscle memory' - the concept that muscles have excitable circuitry capable of directing complex behaviour on their own. Sure enough, when the moment comes his muscles remember to rapidly draw a gun and shoot a man who inadvertently surprises him. Normally, Coen Brothers movies are not a reliable source for information about neuroscience, but in this case they touched upon an interesting controversy. Can muscles really drive behaviour independent of the nervous system? Alternating muscle contractions in locomotion are thought to be generated by a central pattern generator - a neuro-nal circuit (Grillner, 2006). But muscles can fire action potentials and produce rhythmic contractions without neuronal input - no one doubts that the heart keeps its own counsel.