Most routine motor tasks are complex, involving load transmission through out the body, intricate balance, and eye-head-shoulder-hand-torso-leg coor dination. The quest toward understanding how we perform such tasks with skill and grace, often in the presence of unpredictable perturbations, has a long history. This book arose from the Ninth Engineering Foundation Con ference on Biomechanics and Neural Control of Movement, held in Deer Creek, Ohio, in June 1996. This unique conference, which has met every 2 to 4 years since the late 1960s, is well known for its informal format that promotes high-level, up-to-date discussions on the key issues in the field. The intent is to capture the high quality ofthe knowledge and discourse that is an integral part of this conference series. The book is organized into ten sections. Section I provides a brief intro duction to the terminology and conceptual foundations of the field of move ment science; it is intended primarily for students. All but two of the re maining nine sections share a common format: (l) a designated section editor; (2) an introductory didactic chapter, solicited from recognized lead ers; and (3) three to six state-of-the-art perspective chapters. Some per spective chapters are followed by commentaries by selected experts that provide balance and insight. Section VI is the largest section, and it con sists of nine perspective chapters without commentaries.

Nonlinear Pedagogy is a powerful paradigm for understanding human movement and for designing effective teaching, coaching and training programmes in sport, exercise and physical education (PE). It addresses the inherent complexity in learning movement skills, viewing the learner, the learning environment and the teacher or coach as a complex interacting system. The constraints of individual practice tasks provide the platform for functional movement behaviours to emerge during practice and performance. The second edition includes new materials, of practical, theoretical and empirical relevance, to enhance understanding of how to implement a Nonlinear Pedagogy to support learning in sport, PE and physical activity. There is updated, in-depth discussion on the various pedagogical principles that support Nonlinear Pedagogy and how these principles are applicable in learning designs in sports and physical education. There is further emphasis on examining how transfer of learning is implicated in practice, highlighting its relevance on skill adaptation and talent development. The first part of the book updates the general theoretical framework to explain processes of skill acquisition and motor learning. This edition draws clearer links between skill acquisition, expertise and talent development, focusing on how specificity and generality of transfer have a role to play in the development of learners. The book defines Nonlinear Pedagogy and outlines its key principles of practice. It offers a thorough and critical appraisal of the functional use of instructional constraints and practice design. It discusses methods for creating challenging and supportive individualised learning environments at developmental, sub-elite and elite levels of performance. The second part focuses on the application of Nonlinear Pedagogy in sports and PE. There is a greater emphasis on helping applied scientists and practitioners understand the impact of Nonlinear Pedagogy on transfer of learning. Every chapter is updated to provide relevant contemporary cases and examples from sport and exercise contexts, providing guidance on practice activities and lessons. Nonlinear Pedagogy in Skill Acquisition is an essential companion for any degree-level course in skill acquisition, motor learning, sport science, sport pedagogy, sports coaching practice, or pedagogy or curriculum design in physical education.

The first ICANNGA conference, devoted to biologically inspired computational paradigms, Neural Net works and Genetic Algorithms, was held in Innsbruck, Austria, in 1993. The meeting attracted researchers from all over Europe and further afield, who decided that this particular blend of topics should form a theme for a series of biennial conferences. The second meeting, held in Ales, France, in 1995, carried on the tradition set in Innsbruck of a relaxed and stimulating environment for the. exchange of ideas. The series has continued in Norwich, UK, in 1997, and Portoroz, Slovenia, in 1999. The Institute of Computer Science, Czech Academy of Sciences, is pleased to host the fifth conference in Prague. We have chosen the Liechtenstein palace under the Prague Castle as the conference site to enhance the traditionally good atmosphere of the meeting. There is an inspirational genius loci of the historical center of the city, where four hundred years ago a fruitful combination of theoretical and empirical method, through the collaboration of Johannes Kepler and Tycho de Brahe, led to the discovery of the laws of planetary orbits.

Understanding the conditions under which variability in performance may arise, and the processes related to its emergence, gives us insight into the development of techniques for improving the quality of performance. Variability in Human Performance details the scientific and the practical implications of human performance variability by providing a broad perspective on how and why such variability occurs across a number of disciplinary domains. The text takes an approach that rests upon the idea of context, or design, specificity in performance, namely that variability in performance is closely referenced to design factors in the environment in which performance is occurring. An exploration of the link between variability and related processes, the book introduces a comprehensive framework for understanding human performance variability, presented in terms of how human control of behavior is closely tied to design factors in the performance environment. The authors introduce empirical evidence, as well as practical examples and application areas, in support of this framework. The book begins with coverage of neurobiological and biomechanical basis of movement variability, then examines rich and extensive empirical evidence available for context specificity in cognitive performance and learning, as a basis for cognitive performance variability. The book then reviews the evidence for context specificity in: Student learning Displaced feedback conditions Human error behavior Affective performance Social and team performance The authors also explore work performance as influenced by complex sociotechnical systems and as a basis for performance variability, applying control systems concepts to an interpretation of the nature and basis of performance variability in all of these domains. They conclude by taking an evolutionary perspective on the origins and behavioral significance of human performance variability. The book then provides strategies on how individuals, groups, and organizations can significantly reduce variability in human performance that often leads to systems failures.

This book is an attempt to advance the discussion and improve our understanding about the effects of aging and movement disorders on motor control during walking and postural tasks. Despite these activities are performed daily, there is a high requirement of motor and neural systems in order to perform both tasks efficiently. Both walking and posture require a complex interaction of musculoskeletal and neural systems. However, the mechanisms used to control these tasks, as well as how they are planned and coordinated, are still a question of discussion among health professionals and researchers. In addition, this discussion is more interesting when the effects of aging are included in the context of locomotion and the postural control. The number of older individuals is 841 million in 2015, which is four times higher than the 202 million that lived in 1950. Aging causes many motor, sensorial and neural deficits, which impair locomotion and postural control in the elderly. The severity of this framework is worsened when the aging goes along with a movement disorder, such as Parkinson disease, Chorea, Dystonia, Huntington disease, etc. Therefore, the aim of this book is to highlight the influence of different aspects on planning, controlling and performing locomotion and posture tasks. In attempting to improve current knowledge in this field, invited authors present and discuss how environmental, sensorial, motor, cognitive and individual aspects influence the planning and performance of locomotor and postural activities. The major thrust of the book is to address the mechanisms involved in controlling and planning motor action in neurological healthy individuals, as well as in those who suffer from movement disorders or face the effects of aging, indicating the aspects that impair locomotion and postural control. In addition, new technologies, tools and interventions designed to manage the effects of aging and movement disorders are presented in the book.

What are motor abilities of Olympic champions? What are essential psyc- logical characteristics of Mark Spitz, Carl Lewis and Roger Federer? How to discover and maximally develop motor intelligence? How to develop - domitable will power of Olympic champions? What are the secrets of sel- tion for the future Olympic champions? Does for every sport exist a unique model of an Olympic champion? This book gives a modern scienti?c answers to the above questions. Its purpose is to give you the answer to everything you ever wanted to ask about sport champions, but didn’t know who or how to ask. In particular, the purpose of this book is to give you the answer to eve- thing you ever wanted to ask about advanced tennis, but didn’t know who or how to ask. Its aim is to dispel classical myths of a “biomechanically sound” serve, forehand, and backhand, as well as provide methods for developing superior tennis weapons,a lightning–fast game,and unrivaled mental speed and strength – essential qualities of a future tennis champion.

Humans engage in a seemingly endless variety of different behaviors, of which some are found across species, while others are conceived of as typically human. Most generally, behavior comes about through the interplay of various constraints – informational, mechanical, neural, metabolic, and so on – operating at multiple scales in space and time. Over the years, consensus has grown in the research community that, rather than investigating behavior only from bottom up, it may be also well understood in terms of concepts and laws on the phenomenological level. Such top down approach is rooted in theories of synergetics and self-organization using tools from nonlinear dynamics. The present compendium brings together scientists from all over the world that have contributed to the development of their respective fields departing from this background. It provides an introduction to deterministic as well as stochastic dynamical systems and contains applications to motor control and coordination, visual perception and illusion, as well as auditory perception in the context of speech and music.

Nikolai Aleksandrovich Bernstein was one of the great neuroscientists of the twentieth century and highly respected by Western scientists even though most have never read his most important book entitled On the Construction of Movements. Bernstein's Construction of Movements: The Original Text and Commentaries is the first English translation. It supplements the translated text with a series of commentaries by scientists who knew Bernstein personally, as well as leaders in related fields including physics, motor control, and biomechanics. While written in 1947, Bernstein’s book is anything but obsolete, making this English translation and accompanying commentaries an invaluable text. The translated original text presents in detail Bernstein’s views on the evolutionary history of biological movement and his multi-level hierarchical scheme of the construction of movements in higher animals, including humans. The following commentaries address Bernstein’s personality, the history of the book, and current views on different aspects of neuroscience covered in Bernstein’s text. Ultimately, they present "a book within the book" to showcase how Bernstein’s heritage has developed over the past years. This classic, available for the first time to an English-speaking audience, will prove beneficial to students, instructors, and experts of neuroscience, physics, neurophysiology, motor control, motor rehabilitation, biomechanics, dynamical systems, and related fields.