Overview

Synergy discusses a general problem in biology: The lack of an adequate language for formulating biologically specific problems. Written for an inquisitive reader who is not necessarily a professional in the area of movement studies, this book describes the recent progress in the control and coordination of human movement.The book begins with a brief history of movement studies and reviews the current central controversies in the area of control of movements with an emphasis on the equilibrium-point hypothesis. An operational definition of synergy is introduced and a method of analysis of synergies is described based on the uncontrolled manifold hypothesis. Further this method is used to characterize synergies in a variety of tasks including such common motor tasks as standing, pointing, reaching, standing-up, and manipulation of hand-held objects. Applications of this method to movements by persons with neurological disorders, persons with atypical development and healthy elderly persons are illustrated, as well as changes in motor synergies with practice. Possible neurophysiological mechanisms of synergies are also discussed with the focus on such conspicuous structures as the spinal cord, the cerebellum, the basal ganglia, and the cortex of the large hemispheres. A variety of models are discussed based on different computational and neurophysiological principles. Possible applications of the introduced definition of synergies to other areas such as perception and language are discussed.

Full Product Details

Author:   Mark L. Latash, PhD (Department of Kinesiology, Department of Kinesiology, Penn State University, USA)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press Inc
Imprint:   Oxford University Press Inc
Dimensions:   Width: 23.60cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 16.30cm
Weight:   0.706kg
ISBN:  

9780195333169

ISBN 10:   0195333160
Pages:   432
Publication Date:   20 March 2008
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

"Preface Part I: Building a Definition for Synergy 1.1: Synergies and Non-synergies: A Few Examples 1.2: Palama's Concept of Synergy 1.3: Inanimate ""synergies"": The Table and the Rusty Bucket 1.4: Examples of Biological Synergies 1.5: The Definition: Three Components of a Synergy Part II: A Brief History of Movement Studies 2.1: The Ancient Greece and Rome 2.2: 2.3: The Century of Frogs, Photography, and Amazing Guesses 2.4: The XX-th Century: Wars of Ideas 2.5: Nikolai Alexandrovich Bernstein and Movement Science in the Soviet Union 2.6: History of Synergies and the Problem of Motor Redundancy 2.7: Problems with Studying Biological Movement Part III: Motor Control and Coordination 3.1: Israel Gelfand and Michael Tsetlin 3.2: Structural Units and the Principle of Minimal Interaction 3.3: Motor control: Programs and Internal Models Digression #1: The Muscle: Slow and Visco-elastic. Digression #2: Neural pathways: Long and Slow. Digression #3: Sensors: Confusing and Unreliable. Digression #4: Adaptation to Force Fields and after-effects Digression #5: Brain Imaging Techniques: What do they Image? 3.4: Motor Control: The Equilibrium-point hypothesis 3.4.1 Experimental Foundations of the Equilibrium-point hypothesis Digression #6: Reflexes and non-reflexes 3.4.3 Three basic trajectories within the equilibrium- point hypothesis 3.4.4 Equilibrium-point control of multi-muscle systems 3.4.5. The mass-spring analogy and other misconceptions Part IV: Motor Variability - a Window into Synergies 4.1: The Uncontrolled Manifold Hypothesis 4.2: Modes as Elemental Variables 4.2.1. Force Modes Digression #7: Digit Interaction and its Indives 4.2.2. Muscle Modes Digression #8: Electromyography 4.2.3. Experimental Identification of the Jacobian 4.3: Stability, Variability, and within-a-trial Analysis of Synergies 4.4: Other Computational Tools to Study Synergies 4.4.1. PCA &UCM 4.4.2. Analysis of Surrogate Data Sets 4.5: Timing Synergies: Do they exist? Part V: Zoo of Motor Synergies 5.1: Kinematic synergies 5.1.1. Postural Synergies in Standing 5.1.2. Sit-to-Stand (STS) Task 5.1.3. Reaching Digression #9: Optimization 5.1.4. Reaching in a Changing Force Field 5.1.5. Multi-Joint Pointing 5.1.6. Quick-Draw Pistol Shooting 5.2: Kinetic synergies 5.3: Multi-Digit Synergies 5.3.1. Force and Moment Stabilization during Multi-Finger Pressing 5.3.2. The Role of Timing Errors 5.3.3. Emergence and Disappearance of Synergies 5.3.4. Anticipatory Synergy Adjustments and Purposeful Destabilization of Performance 5.4: Prehensile Synergies 5.4.1. Hierarchical Control of Prehension 5.4.2. Principle of Superposition 5.4.3. Adjustments of Synergies: Chain Effects 5.4.4. Hierarchies of Synergies 5.5: Multi-muscle Synergies 5.5.1. Anticipatory Postural Adustments 5.5.2. Making a Step Part VI: Atypical, Suboptimal, and Changing Synergies 6.1: Is there a ""normal synergy""? 6.2: Principle of Indeterminicity in Movement Studies 6.3: Plasticity in the Central Nervous System Digression #10: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation 6.4: Changes in Synergies with Age 6.4.1. Effects of Age on Muscles and Neurons 6.4.2. Effects of Age on Motor Coordination 6.5: Synergies in Persons with Down syndrome 6.5.1. Movements in Persons with Down syndrome 6.5.2. Multi-finger Coordination in Down syndrome 6.5.3. Effects of Practice on Movement in Down syndrome 6.5.4. Relation of Unusual Synergies to Changes in the Cerebellum 6.6: Synergies after Stroke 6.7: Learning Movement Synergies 6.7.1. Traditional Views on Motor Learning 6.7.2. What can happen with a Synergy with Practice? 6.7.3. Practicing Kinematic Tasks 6.7.4. Practicing Kinetic Tasks 6.7.5. Plastic Changes with Learning a Synergy Part VII: Neurophysiological Mechanisms of Synergies 7.1: Neurophysiological Structures and the Motor Function Digression #11: What is localized in Neural Structures? 7.2: Synergies in the Spinal Cord 7.3: Synergies and the Cerebellum 7.4: Synergies and the Basal Ganglia 7.5: Synergies and the Cortex of the Large Hemispheres 7.5.1. TMS and the equilibrium-point hypothesis 7.5.2. Studies of Neuronal Populations Part VIII: Models and Beyond Motor Synergies 8.1: Synergies and the Control Theory 8.1.1 Control: Basic Notions 8.1.2. Open-loop and Closed-loop (feed-forward and feeback) Control 8.1.3. A Simple Scheme of Synergic Control of a Multi-joint Movement 8.1.4. Optimal Control and Synergies 8.2: Synergies and Neural Networks 8.3: Synergies Without Feedback 8.3.1. Do Synergies Improve Accuracy? 8.3.2. A Feed-forward Model with Separate Specification of Good and Bad Ariability 8.4: Synergies and the Equilibrium-point Hypothesis 8.5: Sensory Synergies 8.5.1. Sensory synergies in Neurological Disorders Digression #12: Sensory and Motor Effects of Muscle Vibration 8.5.2. Sensory-motor Interactions 8.5.3. Sensory Synergies in Vertical Posture 8.5.4. Multi-sensory Mechanisms 8.6: Language as a Synergy 8.7: Concluding Comments: What next? References"

Reviews

Author Information

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

No review item found!

Add your own review!

Countries Available

All regions