SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
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Motor control is a relatively young field of research exploring how the nervous system produces purposeful, coordinated movements in its interaction with the body and the en… Read more
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Save up to 30% on top Physical Sciences & Engineering titles!
Motor control is a relatively young field of research exploring how the nervous system produces purposeful, coordinated movements in its interaction with the body and the environment through conscious and unsconscious thought. Many books purporting to cover motor control have veered off course to examine biomechanics and physiology rather than actual control, leaving a gap in the literature. This book covers all the major perspectives in motor control, with a balanced approach. There are chapters explicitly dedicated to control theory, to dynamical systems, to biomechanics, to different behaviors, and to motor learning, including case studies.
Academic researchers and students in motor control, and kinesiology.
Preface
1. A philosophical introduction
1.1 Adequate language
1.2 Specific features of biological objects
2. Elements of history
2.1 From Ancient Greece to the early twentieth century
2.2 Classical biomechanics and neurophysiology of the twentieth century
2.3 Nikolai Bernstein and the levels of movement construction
Self-test questions
Essential references and recommended further readings
3. Features of the system for movement production
3.1 The muscle
3.2 Neurons and neural pathways
3.3 Sensory receptors
3.4 Reflexes
3.5 Motor redundancy
3.6 Motor variability
Self-test questions
Essential references and recommended further readings
4. Instructive examples
4.1 Do stars and planets measure the distances to each other?
4.2 Posture–movement paradox
4.3 Opening a door with a mug of coffee in one’s hand
4.4 Tonic stretch reflex and voluntary movements
4.5 Equifinality and its violations
4.6 Effects of deafferentation on voluntary movements
Self-test questions
Essential references and recommended further readings
5. Control with forces and torques
5.1 Force control
5.2 Are interaction torques special? The leading-joint hypothesis
5.3 Generalized motor programs
Self-test questions
Essential references and recommended further readings
6. Control with muscle activations
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Dual-strategy hypothesis
6.3 Pulse–step model
6.4 Control of multi-muscle systems: muscle synergies
Self-test questions
Essential references and recommended further readings
7. Control theory approaches
7.1 The basic notions
7.2 Servo-control and Merton’s servo-hypothesis
7.3 Optimal control
Self-test questions
Essential references and recommended further readings
8. Physical approaches
8.1 Mass-spring models
8.2 Threshold control
8.3 The equilibrium-point hypothesis
8.4 Control with referent configurations
Self-test questions
Essential references and recommended further readings
9. Coordination
9.1 Introduction
9.2 Optimization
9.3 Dynamical systems approach
9.4 Synergy
9.5 Perception–action interactions
9.6 Perception–action coupling
Self-test questions
Essential references and recommended further readings
10. Neurophysiological structures
10.1 The spinal cord
10.2 Central pattern generators
10.3 The brain: A general overview
10.4 Cortex of the large hemispheres
10.5 Loops through the basal ganglia
10.6 Loops involving the cerebellum
Self-test questions
Essential references and recommended further readings
11. Exemplary behaviors
11.1 Posture
11.2 Locomotion
11.3 Reaching
11.4 Prehension
Self-test questions
Essential references and recommended further readings
12. Effects of practice and adaptation
12.1 Introduction
12.2 Learning to be quick and accurate: Speed–accuracy and speed–difficulty trade-offs
12.3 Learning motor synergies
12.4 Stages in motor learning
12.5 Neural maps and their changes with practice
Self-test questions
Essential references and recommended further readings
13. Methods in motor control studies
13.1 General methodological issues
13.2 Mechanical analysis
13.3 Electromyography
13.4 Electroencephalography and magnetoencephalography
13.5 Transcranial magnetic stimulation
13.6 Brain imaging
Self-test questions
Essential references and recommended further readings
Glossary
Index
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