Motor Cognition: What actions tell the self(42 Oxford Psychology Series)

'Motor Cognition' describes the field of motor cognition - one to which the author's contribution has been seminal. The book examines how the motor actions we perform and watch others perform play a pivotal role in the construction of the 'self' - our ability to acknowledge and recognise our own identity.

Table of Contents:
1: Representations for actions 1.1: Definitions 1.2: Neural models of action representations 1.3: Functional models of action representation 2: Imagined actions as a prototypical form of action representation 2.1: The kinematic content of motor images 2.2: Dynamic changes in physiological parameters during motor imagery 2.3: The functional anatomy of motor images 2.4: The consequences of the embodiment of action representations 3: Consciousness of self-produced actions and intentions 3.1: Consciousness of actions 3.2: Consciousness of intentions 4: The sense of agency and the self/other distinction 4.1: Sense of ownership and sense of agency in self-identification 4.2: The nature of the mechanism for self-identification 4.3: The problem of the self/other distinction 4.4: Failure of self-recognition/attribution mechanisms in pathological states 5: How do we perceive and understand the actions of others 5.1: The perception of faces and bodies 5.2: The perception of biological motion 5.3: The understanding of others' actions 5.4: Functional implications of the mirror system in motor cognition 5.5: The role of the mirror system in action imitation 6: The simulation hypothesis of motor cognition 6.1: Motor simulation: a hypothesis for explaining action representations 6.2: Motor cognition and social cognition 6.3: Motor simulation and language understanding Conclusion

About the Author :
Marc Jeannerod, born in Lyon, France. Doctor in Medicine (1965), Thesis in Lyon, on sleep mechanisms. Post-doc at the Brain Research Institute, UCLA, Los Angeles (California). Professor in Physiology at the University Claude Bernard, Lyon. Runs his own lab on sensory-motor coordination, until 1997. 1997-2005: Founder and Director of the Institut des Sciences Cognitives, Lyon. In this Institute, works on the mechanisms of the generation of actions Member, Académie des Sciences.

Review :
This book is a tour de force covering encompassing neuropsychology, neurophysiology, philosophy, neuoimaging, comparative neurobiology and clinical studies to support a thought provoking perspective on motor functioning. I would recommend this book to those interested in the study of neural production of movements ...