Taking action : cognitive neuroscience perspectives on intentional acts

Traditionally, neurologists, neuroscientists, and psychologists have viewed brain functions as grossly divisible into three separable components, each responsible for either perceptual, cognitive, or motor systems.

The artificial boundaries of this simplification have impeded progress in understanding many phenomena, particularly intentional actions, which involve complex interactions among the three systems.

This book presents a diverse range of work on action by cognitive neuroscientists who are thinking across the traditional boundaries.

The topics discussed include catching moving targets, the use of tools, the acquisition of new actions, feedforward and feedback mechanisms, the flexible sequencing of individual movements, the coordination of multiple limbs, and the control of actions compromised by disease.

The book also presents work on relatively unexplored yet fundamental issues such as how the brain formulates intentions to act and how it expresses ideas through manual gestures.