Human Motor Control

Motor Control is a complex process that involves the brain, muscles, limbs, and often external objects. It underlies motion, balance, stability, coordination, and our interaction with others and technology. This book is a comprehensive introduction to motor control, covering a complex topic in an approachable way encompassing the psychological, physiological, and computational approaches to motor control.

Human Motor Control, 2e cuts across all movement related disciplines: physical education, dance, physical therapy, robotics, etc. This second edition incorporates advances to the field, and integrates throughout the book how research harkens back to four critical questions: how do we select our actions of the many actions possible? How are these behaviors sequenced for appropriate order and timing between them? How does perception integrate with motor control? And how are perceptual–motor skills acquired?

As before, the book retains its signature organization around activity systems. These activity systems include walking, looking, reaching, drawing and writing, keyboarding, speaking and singing, and smiling. Chapters here exemplify rather than encompass all the behaviors related to them. Hence smiling discusses physical and neural control of the face used in other expressions besides smiling, as well as the origins of emotional expression, and the importance of emotion expression in social interaction. These chapters on activity systems are preceded by chapters on basics, with an introduction and information on the physiological and psychological foundations of movement. The last section discusses integration of movements, individual differences, theories of motor control, and the contributions of both genetics and technology to motor control.

Special features of the second edition:

Organization by major activity systems
New: brain imaging, social action, embodied cognition, advances in genetics and technology
Detailed treatment of motor neuroscience
Further Readings section added to each chapter

* Retains unique organization of first edition: Part 1 on Preliminaries, Part 2 on Activity Systems, Part 3 on Principles and Prospects
* Emphasizes exciting advances in the field and promising new directions
* Well-illustrated with entertaining figures

Part 1: Preliminaries 1. Introduction 2. Core problems 3. Physiological foundations 4. Psychological foundations Part 2: The activity systems 5. Walking 6. Looking 7. Reaching 8. Drawing and writing 9. Keyboarding 10. Speaking and singing 11. Smiling Part 3: Principles and prospects 12. Moving on