Action, Mind, and Brain

An engaging and accessible introduction to the psychology and neuroscience of physical action.

This engaging and accessible book offers the first introductory text on the psychology and neuroscience of physical action. Written by a leading researcher in the field, it covers the interplay of action, mind, and brain, showing that many core concepts in philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, and technology grew out of questions about the control of everyday physical actions. It explains action not as a “one-way street from stimuli to response” but as a continual perception-action cycle. The informal writing style invites students to think through the evidence step by step, helping them develop general thinking stills as well as learn specific facts. Special emphasis is placed on the role of underrepresented groups.
 
The book discusses the intellectual background of the field, from Plato to Kant, Dewey, and others; applications and methods; and the physical substrates of action—bones, tendons, ligaments, muscles, and nerves. It considers the control of actions in space; learning, and the roles of nature and nurture; feedback; feedforward, or anticipated feedback; and degrees of freedom—the multiple ways of getting things done and three methods for narrowing the alternatives. The book is generously illustrated, including many images of thinkers who contributed to the field. Preface vii
1 Intellectual Background 1
2 Applications and Methods 17
3 Bones, Muscles, Nerves 45
4 Moving in Space and Time 77
5 Learning 107
6 Feedback 129
7 Feedforward 157
8 The Degrees-of-Freedom Problem 181
9 Onward 213
Notes 237
References 253
Index 275“Action, Mind, and Brain is a brilliant invitation to students of psychology, neuroscience, and kinesiology to explore the brain in action. This is a book I’ve long desired.”
—Romeo Chua, Professor, School of Kinesiology, University of British Columbia
 
“David Rosenbaum’s richly illustrated book is an exceptionally engaging, educational, and encompassing primer to brain, cognition, and behavior. It uniquely introduces students to the history, philosophy, methods, and measures of the science of human action.”
—Edward Wasserman, Stuit Professor of Experimental Psychology, University of Iowa; author of As If by Design
 
“Action, Mind, and Brain will change how you think about thinking. David Rosenbaum clearly shows how important action is to how we think, learn, and perform. This book is a must-read for any student interested in how we, as humans, operate and what we can do to enhance our performance.”
—Sian Leah Beilock, cognitive scientist; President of Barnard College, Columbia UniversityDavid A. Rosenbaum is Distinguished Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Riverside. He is the author of Human Motor Control, It’s a Jungle in There: How Competition and Cooperation in the Brain Shape the Mind, Knowing Hands: The Cognitive Psychology of Manual Control, and other books.