Motor Control Theories, Experiments, and Applications

Motor control has established itself as an area of scientific research characterized by a multi-disciplinary approach. Scientists working in the area of control of voluntary movements come from different backgrounds including but not limited to physiology, physics, psychology, mathematics, neurology, physical therapy, computer science, robotics, and engineering. One of the factors slowing progress in the area has been the lack of communication among researchers representing all these disciplines. A major objective of the current book is to overcome this deficiency and to promote cooperation and mutual understanding among researchers addressing different aspects of the complex phenomenon of motor coordination. The book offers a collection of chapters written by the most prominent researchers in the field. Despite the variety of approaches and methods, all the chapters are united by a common goal: To understand how the central nervous system controls and coordinates natural voluntary movements. This book will be appreciated as a major reference by researchers working in all the subfields that form motor control. It can also be used as a supplementary reading book for graduate courses in such fields as kinesiology, physiology, biomechanics, psychology, robotics, and movement disorders. In one concise volume, Motor Control presents the diversity of the research performed to understand human movement. Deftly organized into 6 primary sections, the editors, Dr Frédéric Danion and Dr Mark Latash, have invited the who's who of specialists to write on: MotorControl: Control of a Complex; Cortical Mechanisms of Motor Control; Lessons from Biomechanics; Lessons from Motor Learning and Using Tools; Lessons from Studies of Aging and MotorDisorders; and Lessons from Robotics Motor Control will quickly become the go-to reference for researchers in this growing field. Researchers from mechanics and engineering to psychology and neurophysiology, as well as clinicians working in motor disorders and rehabilitation, will be equally interested in the pages contained herein.

Frederic Danion, PhD, works for CNRS at the Movement Sciences Institute in Marseille, France. Since 2001, he has held the position of "Charg+¬ de Recherche" for the CNRS at the Movement and Perception Institute in Marseille . Within this institute, he joined the Theoretical Neuroscience Group directed by Viktor Jirsa. The goal of this team is to better understand the brain processes underlying human movement. More specifically, his main project deals with the predictive mechanisms engaged in grip force control during object manipulation tasks.

Mark L. Latash, PhD, is a Distinguished Professor of Kinesiology at Penn State University.Mark Latash is a Distinguished Professor of Kinesiology at Penn State. His research interests are focused on the control and coordination of human voluntary movements. He is the author of three single-authored book, seven edited books, and over 250 journal papers. Mark Latash served as the Founding Editor of the journal "Motor Control" (1996-2007) and as President of the International Society of Motor Control (2001-2005). He is a recipient of the Bernstein Prize in motor control.