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I've seen cognitive/roboter models where the input signals from the sensors are directly used as the signal for outgoing motoric control.

This doesn't make much sense, because obviously we're able to do heavy work with our muscles quite independently from the strength of incoming signals from our sensor systems. However when I consulted several books on general cognition, I wasn't able to discover the source of these arbitrarily strong signals - I'd suspect the thalamus.

I wonder how you could perform a task, e.g. playing piano with both applying weak or strong force. Both the plan(how to move the fingers) and the feedback (how it sounds)signal would remain the same.

So where does the signal for motoric behaviour originate and more importantly what (or who) regulates it's strength? Where does the extra energy come from?

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I don't have time for a full answer right now, but I'll grab some resources on this later. Essentially, it has to do with both recruiting more motor units in the spinal cord and the additivity of increased firing rates. –  Chuck Sherrington Nov 16 '12 at 17:37
(update: I'm still thinking about this, I've been side-tracked) –  Chuck Sherrington Nov 30 '12 at 12:50
I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is better suited for Biology.SE. The comments provide the answer, I can answer it quite easily, but still it is Bio –  AliceD Mar 26 at 13:03
@AliceD It's definitely worth rediscussing this now that both sites have evolved and grown. Here are some from the dusty archives: meta.biology.stackexchange.com/questions/129/… and it's brother meta.cogsci.stackexchange.com/questions/119/…, an old favorite meta.cogsci.stackexchange.com/questions/389/… and meta.cogsci.stackexchange.com/questions/23/… –  Chuck Sherrington Mar 27 at 5:01
@ChuckSherrington - I will have a read of these discussions and am more than willing to make a revived meta question on it. It has been on my mind quite a while. Thanks heaps for the feedback. –  AliceD Mar 27 at 5:03

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