Motor hemiplegia and the cerebral organization of movement in man: II. The myth of the human extrapyramidal system

Abstract

Following a brief review of the concept of extrapyramidal system, clinical and anatomic evidence is presented against its relative prominence in man. It is proposed that the greatest part of those structures traditionally labeled as extrapyramidal effects its respective functional activities by way of the pyramidal tracts themselves. Such structures, centered around the basal nuclei, the cerebellum and possibly, the limbic areas of the prosencephalon are, according to the present suggestion, indeed, pre pyramidal. This model is based upon the clinical analysis of patients and agrees with more than one century of anatomic verifications in human brains, favoring the notion of the singularity of the human brain.