Human Motor Control is a elementary introduction to the field of motor control, stressing psychological, physiological, and computational approaches. Human Motor Control cuts across all disciplines which are defined with respect to movement: physical education, dance, physical therapy, robotics, and so on. The book is organized around major activity areas. - A comprehensive presentation of the major problems and topics in human motor control - Incorporates applications of work that lie outside traditional sports or physical education teaching
A synthesis of biomechanics and neural control that draws on recent advances in robotics to address control problems solved by the human sensorimotor system. This book proposes a transdisciplinary approach to investigating human motor control that synthesizes musculoskeletal biomechanics and neural control. The authors argue that this integrated approach—which uses the framework of robotics to understand sensorimotor control problems—offers a more complete and accurate description than either a purely neural computational approach or a purely biomechanical one. The authors offer an account of motor control in which explanatory models are based on experimental evidence using mathematical approaches reminiscent of physics. These computational models yield algorithms for motor control that may be used as tools to investigate or treat diseases of the sensorimotor system and to guide the development of algorithms and hardware that can be incorporated into products designed to assist with the tasks of daily living. The authors focus on the insights their approach offers in understanding how movement of the arm is controlled and how the control adapts to changing environments. The book begins with muscle mechanics and control, progresses in a logical manner to planning and behavior, and describes applications in neurorehabilitation and robotics. The material is self-contained, and accessible to researchers and professionals in a range of fields, including psychology, kinesiology, neurology, computer science, and robotics.
The classic book on human movement in biomechanics, newly updated Widely used and referenced, David Winter's Biomechanics and Motor Control of Human Movement is a classic examination of techniques used to measure and analyze all body movements as mechanical systems, including such everyday movements as walking. It fills the gap in human movement science area where modern science and technology are integrated with anatomy, muscle physiology, and electromyography to assess and understand human movement. In light of the explosive growth of the field, this new edition updates and enhances the text with: Expanded coverage of 3D kinematics and kinetics New materials on biomechanical movement synergies and signal processing, including auto and cross correlation, frequency analysis, analog and digital filtering, and ensemble averaging techniques Presentation of a wide spectrum of measurement and analysis techniques Updates to all existing chapters Basic physical and physiological principles in capsule form for quick reference An essential resource for researchers and student in kinesiology, bioengineering (rehabilitation engineering), physical education, ergonomics, and physical and occupational therapy, this text will also provide valuable to professionals in orthopedics, muscle physiology, and rehabilitation medicine. In response to many requests, the extensive numerical tables contained in Appendix A: "Kinematic, Kinetic, and Energy Data" can also be found at the following Web site: www.wiley.com/go/biomechanics
This book provides an overview of human development and includes the relationship between motor development and cognitive and social development. It explores factors affecting development, including effects of early stimulation and deprivation. The book addresses assessment in motor development.
Biomechanics and Motor Control: Defining Central Concepts provides a thorough update to the rapidly evolving fields of biomechanics of human motion and motor control with research published in biology, psychology, physics, medicine, physical therapy, robotics, and engineering consistently breaking new ground. This book clarifies the meaning of the most frequently used terms, and consists of four parts, with part one covering biomechanical concepts, including joint torques, stiffness and stiffness-like measures, viscosity, damping and impedance, and mechanical work and energy. Other sections deal with neurophysiological concepts used in motor control, such as muscle tone, reflex, pre-programmed reactions, efferent copy, and central pattern generator, and central motor control concepts, including redundancy and abundance, synergy, equilibrium-point hypothesis, and motor program, and posture and prehension from the field of motor behavior. The book is organized to cover smaller concepts within the context of larger concepts. For example, internal models are covered in the chapter on motor programs. Major concepts are not only defined, but given context as to how research came to use the term in this manner. - Presents a unified approach to an interdisciplinary, fragmented area - Defines key terms for understanding - Identifies key theories, concepts, and applications across theoretical perspectives - Provides historical context for definitions and theory evolution
Motor Control and Learning, Sixth Edition, focuses on observable movement behavior, the many factors that influence quality of movement, and how movement skills are acquired.
Motor Control in Everyday Actions presents 47 true stories that illustrate the phenomena of motor control, learning, perception, and attention in sport, physical activity, home, and work environments. At times humorous and sometimes sobering, this unique text provides an accessible application-to-research approach to spark critical thinking, class discussion, and new ideas for research. The stories in Motor Control in Everyday Actions illustrate the diversity and complexity of research in perception and action and motor skill acquisition. More than interesting anecdotes, these stories offer concrete examples of how motor behavior, motor control, and perception and action errors affect the lives of both well-known and ordinary individuals in various situations and environments. Readers will be entertained with real-life stories that illustrate how research in motor control is applicable to real life: •Choking Under Pressure examines information processing and how it changes under pressure. •The Gimme Putt shows how Schmidt’s law can be used to predict the accuracy of golf putts. •Turn Right at the Next Gorilla examines inattention blindness and its role in traffic accidents. •The Farmers’ Market describes reasons why a man drives his car through a crowded open-air market, killing and injuring dozens of shoppers in the process. •Craps and Weighted Bats describes the curious role of myths and superstition in how we play games. •And 42 other examples of motor control in everyday actions will both entertain and inform. Each story is followed by a set of self-directed activities that are progressively more complex. These activities, plus the additional notes and suggested readings and websites at the conclusion of each story, provide a starting point for critical thinking about the reasons why human actions sometimes go awry. A reader-friendly writing style and easy-to-follow analysis and conclusions assist students in gaining mastery of the issues presented, conceptualizing new research projects, and applying the content to current research. The stories are grouped into three parts, beginning with situations involving errors and mistakes in perception, action, or decision making. Next, stories investigating varied techniques for studying perception and action are presented. The remaining scenarios provide readers with a look at research focusing on the motor learning process as well as some of the unexpected discoveries resulting from those investigations. Motor Control in Everyday Actions will engage its readers—not only through the central topic of the story but also in the fundamental concepts involving perception, action, and learning. Used as a springboard for new research or as a catalyst for engaging discussion, Motor Control in Everyday Actions offers perspectives that will enhance understanding of how human beings interact with their world.
"Variability and Motor Control is a comprehensive examination of research and theoretical perspectives on movement variability and motor control. The text reviews traditional perspectives - which view movement variability as noise or error - and moves on to consider dynamical systems approaches to movement control, which view variability as an index of movement fluctuations." "Written by leading experts in motor control, this text provides valuable information on the importance of variability in the theoretical inquiry into motor control, skill acquisition, and motor impairment; the use of estimated variability as a movement parameter in empirical studies of motor control; and current developments of new dynamical systems approaches to variability and motor control." "Variability and Motor Control is a valuable reference for students and scholars of motor control and learning as well as experimental psychologists, ergonomists, and industrial and human-factors specialists."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
This book is the first to view the effects of development, aging, and practice on the control of human voluntary movement from a contemporary context. Emphasis is on the links between progress in basic motor control research and applied areas such as motor disorders and motor rehabilitation. Relevant to both professionals in the areas of motor control, movement disorders, and motor rehabilitation, and to students starting their careers in one of these actively developed areas.
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. Reviews current research in motor control Contains balanced perspectives among neuroscience, psychology, physics and biomechanics Highlights controversies in the field Discusses neurophysiology, control theory, biomechanics, and dynamical systems under one cover Links principles of motor control to everyday behaviors Includes case studies delving into topics in more detail
