Seminars in Motor Control

Mark L. Latash approaches motor control as a biological discipline that requires the language of laws of nature, sets of adequate concepts specific for biological movement, and exploration using the scientific method developed in natural science. Consisting of five parts, Seminars in Motor Control examines current research in a clear and accessible style, ideal for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty in such departments as kinesiology, neuroscience, physiology, psychology, and physical therapy.

Sommario

• Preface


• Part I: Basic Concepts


• Chapter 1: Philosophy


• 1.1. Laws of nature in the inanimate world


• 1.2. Specificity of living objects


• 1.3. Stretch reflex as a biological law of nature


• 1.4. How many sets of laws of nature are there?


• 1.5. Missing pieces of the mosaic


• Chapter 2: Bernstein's construction of movements


• 2.1. Nikolai Bernstein: Philosopher and experimentalist


• 2.2. The evolutionary approach to movement construction


• 2.3. Problem of motor redundancy


• 2.4. Sharing and optimality


• 2.5. Missing pieces of the mosaic


• Chapter 3: Equilibrium-point (EP) hypothesis


• 3.1. Roots of the EP hypothesis


• 3.2. The equilibrium-point hypothesis: Single-muscle control


• 3.3. The equilibrium-point hypothesis: Single-joint control


• 3.4. Sources of misunderstanding: The alpha-model


• 3.5. Missing pieces of the mosaic


• Chapter 4: Motor programming


• 4.1. Engrams and the generalized motor program


• 4.2. Control with patterns of muscle activation


• 4.3. Internal models


• 4.4. Missing pieces of the mosaic


• Chapter 5: The principle of abundance and the uncontrolled manifold hypothesis


• 5.1. The principle of abundance


• 5.2. The uncontrolled manifold hypothesis


• 5.2.1. Analysis in kinematic spaces


• 5.2.2. Analysis in kinetic spaces


• 5.2.3. Analysis in muscle activation spaces


• 5.3. Dealing with non-linear systems


• 5.4. Motor equivalence


• 5.5. Missing pieces of the mosaic


• Part II: Current Understanding


• Chapter 6: Synergies


• 6.1. Bernstein's understanding of synergies and its development


• 6.2. Intra-muscle and multi-muscle synergies


• 6.3. Synergies in kinematic and kinetic spaces


• 6.4. Synergies in spaces of control variables


• 6.5. Possible neurophysiological mechanisms


• 6.6. Missing pieces of the mosaic


• Chapter 7: Control with spatial referent coordinates


• 7.1. Referent coordinate (RC) as generalization of lambda


• 7.2. Hierarchical control with referent coordinates


• 7.3. Synergies in spaces of referent coordinates: Analysis of mechanics


• 7.4. Synergies in spaces of referent coordinates: Analysis of muscle activations


• 7.5. Synergies stabilizing referent coordinates


• 7.6. Missing pieces of the mosaic


• Chapter 8: Anticipatory control of action


• 8.1. Anticipatory postural adjustments


• 8.2. Early postural adjustments


• 8.3. Grip adjustments to planned actions


• 8.4. Anticipatory synergy adjustments


• 8.5. Distinguishing APAs from ASAs


• 8.6. Missing pieces of the mosaic


• Chapter 9: Stability, agility, and optimality


• 9.1. Definitions and metrics


• 9.2. Optimization in human movements


• 9.3. Inverse optimization


• 9.4. Optimality-stability trade-off


• 9.5. Agility-stability trade-off


• 9.6. Missing pieces of the mosaic


• Chapter 10: Brain circuitry


• 10.1. What variables are encoded by brain signals?


• 10.2. What is encoded by neuronal populations?


• 10.3. Relations between brain structures and functions


• 10.4. The role of spinal circuitry


• 10.5 Effects of dominance


• 10.6. Missing pieces of the mosaic


• Part III: Effectors and Behaviors


• Chapter 11: Synergic control of a muscle


• 11.1. Steps and challenges in analysis of motor unit-based synergies


• 11.2. Agonist-antagonist interactions at the motor unit level


• 11.3. Stabilization of reflex-induced force changes


• 11.4. Spinal vs. supraspinal synergies


• 11.5. Missing pieces of the mosaic


• Chapter 12: The hand


• 12.1. Muscle organization of the hand


• 12.2. Indices of finger interaction


• 12.3. Finger modes


• 12.4. Grip force


• 12.5. Prehension synergies


• 12.6. Principle of superposition


• 12.7. Force- and moment-stabilizing synergies


• 12.8. Missing pieces of the mosaic


• Chapter 13: Reaching


• 13.1. Spinal coordination of multi-joint movements


• 13.2. Control of reaching with spatial referent coordinates


• 13.3. Multi-joint synergies


• 13.4. Equifinality of reaching movements and its violations


• 13.5. Reach-to-grasp


• 13.6. Reaching with the dominant and non-dominant arms


• 13.7. Missing pieces of the mosaic


• Chapter 14: Posture and whole-body actions


• 14.1. Postural sway and its components


• 14.2. Posture-stabilizing mechanisms


• 14.3. Whole-body voluntary movements


• 14.4. Whole-body synergies


• 14.5. Locomotion and central pattern generators


• 14.6. Missing pieces of the mosaic


• Chapter 15: Kinesthetic perception


• 15.1. Ambiguity of sensory information


• 15.2. Perception of muscle length and force


• 15.3. Stability of percepts: The iso-perceptual manifold


• 15.4. Vibration-induced illusions


• 15.5. Interpreting impossible sensory signals


• 15.6. Missing pieces of the mosaic


• Part IV: Surprising Phenomena


• Chapter 16: Drifts in action


• 16.1. Spontaneous force drifts


• 16.2. Drifts in neural control variables


• 16.3. Faster drifts triggered by quick force changes


• 16.4. Unintentional kinematic drifts


• 16.5. Drifts in whole-body tasks


• 16.6. Drifts in indices of finger interaction


• 16.7. Classification of movements


• 16.8. Missing pieces of the mosaic


• Chapter 17: Efference copy


• 17.1. Von Holst's concept of efference copy


• 17.2. Efference copy as a referent coordinate


• 17.3. Is efference copy a copy of efference?


• 17.4. Perception and production of force


• 17.5. Muscle vibration and stability of percepts


• 17.6. The place for sense of effort


• 17.7. Missing pieces of the mosaic


• Chapter 18: Equifinality and motor equivalence


• 18.1. Examples of equifinality and motor equivalence


• 18.2. Equifinality and the equilibrium-point hypothesis


• 18.3. Violations of equifinality in different spaces


• 18.4. Motor equivalence and the uncontrolled manifold hypothesis


• 18.5. Motor equivalence as a promising clinical index


• 18.6. Missing pieces of the mosaic


• Chapter 19: Muscle coactivation


• 19.1. Surprising behavior of antagonist muscles


• 19.2. Features of the coactivation command


• 19.3. Does negative coactivation exist?


• 19.4. Changes in the C-command and their (mis)perception


• 19.5. Consequences of increased coactivation


• 19.6. Missing pieces of the puzzle


• Part V: Improvements and Impairments


• Chapter 20: Improvement in motor performance


• 20.1. Bernstein's three stages


• 20.2. Can the way our brain controls movements be changed?


• 20.3. Changes in motor synergies with practice


• 20.4. Variability vs. stereotypy


• 20.5. Developmental changes


• 20.6. Motor rehabilitation: From magic to theory-based approaches


• 20.7. Missing pieces of the puzzle


• Chapter 21. Decline in motor performance


• 21.1. Fatigue: Peripheral and central effects


• 21.2. Changes in synergies under fatigue


• 21.3. Aging: Effects on muscles, neurons, and performance


• 21.4. Changes in synergies with age.


• 21.5. Adaptive and maladaptive changes


• 21.6. Missing pieces of the puzzle


• Chapter 22: Motor disorders in neurological patients


• 22.1. Large-fiber peripheral neuropathy


• 22.2. Spinal cord injury and spasticity


• 22.3. Parkinson's disease


• 22.4. Other subcortical disorders


• 22.5. Stroke


• 22.6. Missing pieces of the puzzle


• Part VI: Methodology


• Chapter 23: Types of studies and hypothesis testing


• 23.1. Types of studies


• 23.2. Is a hypothesis worth testing?


• 23.3. Can a hypothesis account for the existing knowledge?


• 23.4. Can a hypothesis be used to make new testable predictions?


• 23.5. Exploration and development of a hypothesis


• 23.6. Missing pieces of the puzzle


• Chapter 24: Measuring hidden variables


• 24.1. Measuring "biomechanical" variables


• 24.2. Measuring lambda


• 24.3. Measuring lambda in clinical studies


• 24.4. Missing pieces of the puzzle


• Chapter 25: Writing papers


• 25.1. Inviting co-authors and selecting a journal


• 25.2. Introduction


• 25.3. Methods


• 25.4. Results


• 25.5. Tables and Figures


• 25.6. Discussion


• 25.7. Responding to reviews


• 25.8. Rejection: What to do next?


• References

Info autore

Mark L. Latash is a Distinguished Professor of Kinesiology and Director of the Motor Control Laboratory at the Pennsylvania State University. His research interests are focused on the control and coordination of human voluntary movements, movement disorders in neurological disorders, and effects of rehabilitation. He served as the Founding Editor of the journal "Motor Control" (1996-2007) and as President of the International Society of Motor Control (2001-2005).

Dettagli sul prodotto

• Autori: Mark L. Latash, Latash Mark L.
• Editore: Oxford University Press
• Lingue: Inglese
• Formato: Copertina rigida
• Pubblicazione: 25.07.2025
• EAN: 9780197794340
• ISBN: 978-0-19-779434-0
• Pagine: 456
• Categorie: Scienze naturali, medicina, informatica, tecnica > Medicina > Branche non cliniche; PSYCHOLOGY / Psychopathology / Autism Spectrum Disorders, SCIENCE / Physics / General, MEDICAL / Neurology, MEDICAL / Physiology, Physics, Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome, Biomechanics, Human Kinetics, Autism & Asperger's Syndrome