Book announcement

[Piero Morasso]

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      ANNOUNCEMENT OF A NEW BOOK OF COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE

      SELF-ORGANIZATION, COMPUTATIONAL MAPS, AND MOTOR CONTROL
        edited by Pietro Morasso and Vittorio SanguinetI

      North Holland Elsevier - Advances in Psychology vol. 119  
                ISBN 0 444 823239, 1997, 635 pages

In the study of the computational structure of biological/robotic sensorimotor 
systems, distributed  models have gained center stage in recent years, with 
a range of issues including self-organization, non-linear dynamics, field 
computing, etc. This multidisciplinary research area is addressed by a 
multidisciplinary team of contributors, who provide a balanced set of 
articulated presentations which include  reviews, computational models, 
simulation studies, psychophysical and neurophysiological experiments. 
For convenience, the book is divided into three parts, without a clearcut 
boundary but a slightly different focus. The reader can find different 
approaches on controversial issues, such as the role and nature of force 
fields, the need of internal representations, the nature of invariant 
commands, the vexing question about coordinate transformations, the 
distinction between hierarchical and bidirectional modelling, and the 
influence of muscle stiffness. 
  In Part I, the major theme concerns computational maps which typically 
model cortical areas, according to a view of the sensorimotor cortex as a
"geometric engine" and the site of "internal models" of external spaces.
  Part II also addresses problems of self-organization and field-computing 
but in a simpler computational architecture which, although lacking a 
specialized cortical machinery, can still behave in a very adaptive and 
surprising way by exploiting the interaction with the real world.
  Finally, Part III is focused on the motor control issues related to 
the physical properties of muscular actuators and the dynamic interactions 
with the world, attempting to complete the picture from planning to control.

                             PART I

Cortical Maps of Sensorimotor Spaces
      V. Sanguineti, P. Morasso, and F. Frisone	
Field Computation in Motor Control
      B. MacLennan
A Probability Interpretation of Neural Population Coding for Movement
      T.D. Sanger
Computational Models of Sensorimotor integration
      Z. Ghahramani, D.M. Wolpert, and M.I. Jordan
How Relevant are Subcortical Maps for the Cortical Machinery? 
An Hypothesis Based on Parametric Study of Extra-Relay Afferents to 
Primary Sensory Areas 
      D. Minciacchi and A. Granato

                             PART II

Artificial Force-Field Based Methods in Robotics
      T. Tsuji, P. Morasso, V. Sanguineti, and M. Kaneko
Learning Newtonian Mechanics
      F.A. Mussa Ivaldi and E. Bizzi
Motor Intelligence in a Simple Distributed Control System: 
Walking Machines and Stick Insects
      H. Cruse and J. Dean
The Dynamic Neural Field Theory of Motor Programming: Arm and Eye Movements
      G.  Schner, K. Kopecz, and W. Erlhagen
Network Models in Motor Control and Music
      A. Camurri

                             PART III

Human Arm Impedance in Multi-Joint Movement
      T. Tsuji
Neural Models for Flexible Control of Redundant Systems
      F.H. Guenther and D. Micci Barreca
Models of Motor Adaptation and Impedance Control in Human Arm
Movements
      T. Flash and I. Gurevich
Control of Human Arm and Jaw Motion: Issues Related to Musculo-Skeletal Geometry
      P.L. Gribble, R. Laboissire, and D.J. Ostry
Computational Maps and Target Fields for Reaching Movements
      V. Sanguineti and P. Morasso