book announcement--Shadmehr

[David Weininger]

I thought readers of the Connectionists List might be interested in this 
book.  For more information, please visit http://mitpress.mit.edu/0262195089/ 
 Thank you!

Best,
David

The Computational Neurobiology of Reaching and Pointing
A Foundation for Motor Learning
Reza Shadmehr and Steven P. Wise

Neuroscience involves the study of the nervous system, and its topics range 
from genetics to inferential reasoning. At its heart, however, lies a search 
for understanding how the environment affects the nervous system and how the 
nervous system, in turn, empowers us to interact with and alter our 
environment. This empowerment requires motor learning. The Computational 
Neurobiology of Reaching and Pointing addresses the neural mechanisms of one 
important form of motor learning. It is intended to be used as a text by 
graduate students in both neuroscience and bioengineering and as a reference 
source by experts in neuroscience, robotics, and other disciplines. The 
authors integrate material from the computational, behavioral, and neural 
sciences of motor control that is not available in any other single source. 
The result is a unified, comprehensive model of reaching and pointing.

The book begins with an overview of the evolution, anatomy, and physiology of 
the motor system, including the mechanisms for generating force and 
maintaining limb stability. The sections that follow, "Computing Locations 
and Displacements," "Skills, Adaptations, and Trajectories," and 
"Predictions, Decisions, and Flexibility," present a theory of sensorially 
guided reaching and pointing that evolves organically based on computational 
principles rather than a traditional structure-by-structure approach. The 
book also includes five appendixes that provide brief refreshers on 
fundamentals of biology, mathematics, physics, and neurophysiology, as well 
as a glossary of relevant terms. The authors have also made supplemental 
materials available on the Internet. These web documents provide source code 
for simulations, step-by-step derivations of certain mathematical 
formulations, and expanded explanations of some concepts available on the 
Internet.

Reza Shadmehr is Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical 
Engineering at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Steven P. 
Wise is a Research Biologist in the Senior Biomedical Research Service at the 
National Institute of Mental Health.

8 x 10, 544 pp. -- 165 illus., cloth, ISBN 0-262-19508-9
A Bradford Book
Computational Neuroscience series

______________________
David Weininger
Associate Publicist
The MIT Press
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http://mitpress.mit.edu