Book: Neurons, Networks, and Motor Behavior

[Dave Touretzky]

  [[ FORWARDED FROM THE COMP-NEURO MAILING LIST -- DST ]]

The following is a book which readers of this list might find of interest.  
For more information please visit 
http://mitpress.mit.edu/promotions/books/STE1NHF97

Neurons, Networks, and Motor Behavior
edited by Paul S. G. Stein, Sten Grillner, Allen I. Selverston, and Douglas G. 
Stuart

Recent advances in motor behavior research rely on detailed knowledge of 
the characteristics of the neurons and networks that generate motor 
behavior. At the cellular level, Neurons, Networks, and Motor Behavior 
describes the computational characteristics of individual neurons and how 
these characteristics are modified by neuromodulators. At the network and 
behavioral levels, the volume discusses how network structure is 
dynamically modulated to produce adaptive behavior. Comparisons of model 
systems throughout the animal kingdom provide insights into general 
principles of motor control. Contributors describe how networks generate 
such motor behaviors as walking, swimming, flying, scratching, reaching, 
breathing, feeding, and chewing. An emerging principle of organization is 
that nervous systems are remarkably efficient in constructing neural 
networks that control multiple tasks and dynamically adapt to change.

The volume contains six sections: selection and initiation of motor 
patterns; generation and formation of motor patterns: cellular and systems 
properties; generation and formation of motor patterns: computational 
approaches; modulation and reconfiguration; short-term modulation of 
pattern generating circuits; and sensory modification of motor output to 
control whole body orientation.

Computational Neuroscience series. A Bradford Book.
December 1997
262 pp. 
ISBN 0-262-19390-6 
MIT Press * 5 Cambridge Center * Cambridge, MA  02142 * 
(617)625-8569