Motor Control and Learning

Expanded and completely updated, the fourth edition of Motor Control and Learning: A Behavioral Emphasis is a comprehensive introduction to motor behavior. The authoritative text frames the important issues, theories, persons, and research in the field in a reader-friendly way, allowing students to learn the most pertinent information in the field.

Motor Control and Learning: A Behavioral Emphasis, Fourth Edition, is the only graduate textbook that combines motor control and motor learning with the in-depth details students need in order to understand the topic and distinguish between different sides of an issue. Authored by two of the leading researchers in the field, the new edition features an up-to-date review of the latest research, more than 400 new references, new figures, and these new features:

-Highlight boxes featuring in-depth discussion of relevant issues, new topics, and classic research

-Selected quotes representing important contributions to the field, interpreted for current and future researchers

-Web-based references that support and enhance students' comprehension of the material
Motor Control and Learning: A Behavioral Emphasis, Fourth Edition, is the only text that focuses specifically on the motor learning and motor control areas of motor behavior. The new features and ancillaries make it ideal for students to use as a text and for professionals to access as a reference.

Part I introduces the fields of motor control and learning. It provides a brief history; explains the tools of motor behavior research; presents the information-processing approach, which is fundamental to understanding how humans think and act; and describes how attention influences motor behavior.

Part II addresses various factors contributing to the complex whole of the human motor system. It examines the roles of sensory information and the ways in which information from the environment influences movement behavior, considers the central control and representation of action, deals with laws and models regarding speed and accuracy, looks at the coordination needed for more complex tasks, and addresses factors that make people differ in their skilled behaviors.

Part III addresses performance changes that accompany motor learning. It describes the research methods used for studying and measuring motor learning, discusses the effects of various conditions under which a learner can practice motor skills, considers the effects of providing augmented information about what was done, and examines the empirical relationships and principles concerned with the retention and transfer of motor skills.

Richard A. Schmidt, PhD, is professor emeritus in the department of psychology at UCLA. He currently runs his own consulting firm, Human Performance Research, working in the area of human factors and human performance. Known as one of the research leaders in motor behavior, Dr. Schmidt has more than 35 years' experience in this area and has published widely.

The originator of schema theory, Dr. Schmidt founded the Journal of Motor Behavior in 1969 and was editor for 11 years. He authored the first edition of Motor Control and Learning in 1982, followed up with a second edition of the popular text in 1988, and collaborated with Tim Lee for the third edition in 1999.

Dr. Schmidt received an honorary doctorate from Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, in recognition of his work. Dr.Schmidt is a member of the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity (of which he was president in 1982), the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, and the Psychonomic Society. Dr. Schmidt has received the C.H. McCloy Research Lectureship from the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance.

His leisure-time activities include sailboat racing, amateur Porsche racing, and skiing.

Timothy D. Lee, PhD, is a professor in the department of kinesiology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He has published extensively in motor behavior and psychology journals. He has contributed as an editor for the Journal of Motor Behavior and the Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport and as an editorial board member for the Psychological Review. Since 1984 his research has been supported by grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada continuously.

Dr. Lee received the Young Scientist Award from the Canadian Society for Psychomotor Learning and Sport Psychology in 1980. He also received a Senior Research Fellowship by the Dienst Onderzoekscoordinatie, Catholic University in Leuven, Belgium, in 1991-1992.

Dr. Lee is a member and past president of the Canadian Society for Psychomotor Learning and Sport Psychology and a member of the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity, the Psychonomic Society, and the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

In his leisure time Dr. Lee enjoys playing hockey and golf and listening to the blues.