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motor area

motor area

1 5.1
A part of the brain that controls movements you make on purpose
  • noun
  • /ˈmoʊtər ˈɛəriə/
  • Specialized
translation icon : área motora
  • Young children with disabilities generally exhibit deficits in language, social-emotional, cognitive, and motor areas.
  • supplementary motor area
  • primary motor area

If you're a pianist, it's it's both hands that will change the size and representation of those motor areas that you are working.

Examples

  • In music performance, the prefrontal cortex communicates with the motor areas of the brain responsible for the execution of learned motor skills.

    Academic text (2014)
  • Research suggests that melodic generation activates the supplementary motor area, primary motor cortex, and frontal operculum bilaterally.

    Academic text (2015)
  • And it does that by going to the premotor and motor areas of the cortex.

  • When they do this, areas of the supplementary motor area, which is a part of the brain that helps control movement, become activated (Owen et al., 2008).

    Academic text (2010)
  • The cerebrum has sensory areas, association areas, and motor areas.

  • In music performance, the prefrontal cortex communicates with the motor areas of the brain responsible for the execution of learned motor skills.

  • In this study, the investigators tested walking speed and the function of the motor area of the brain in twenty people immediately after a concussion.

Synonyms

motor cortex
vsmotor area
  • Specialized
3 5.5

The part of the brain that plans and controls movements you make on purpose

focuses more narrowly on muscle control rather than planning and execution
motor region
vsmotor area
  • Specialized
5.1

The part of the brain that controls body movement you choose to make

is the same concept expressed with a different common word
Rolando's area
vsmotor area
  • Archaic
9.6

A part of the brain that controls movements you choose to make

is the same region but referred to by a general descriptive term

Surface Forms

motor area singular
motor areas plural

Morphology

motor + area

The meaning is directly compositional: 'motor' (relating to movement or muscles) + 'area' (a region) yields a region responsible for movement control. This noun-noun combination follows a transparent, cross-linguistically common pattern of labeling functional bodily regions, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Motor area may come from the word motor meaning 'mover' and area meaning a part of a place. This gives a clear image: the motor area is the part of the brain that 'makes the body move', so the name means the brain region that controls movements you choose to make.