Stance and Motion: Facts and Concepts

This book dealing with stance and motion was planned in June 1986 at a meeting held in Moscow and Leningrad between a group of Soviet and French scientists interested in motor control. This meeting took place in the framework of an exchange program between the USSR Academy of Seiences and the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. It was very successful event and was greatly appreciated by all those who attended it. Several participants put forward the proposal that the possibility of publishing a book was worth exploring. What were the reasons for publishing a book on stance and motion ? The interest aroused in the participants by each others contributions was not a sufficiently decisive argument. It was feit, however, that a large proportion of the orginal material presented at the meeting, especially in the field of posture and locomotion but also on other aspects covered by the book could be presented in a summarized form which should appeal to a larger audience because the facts and hypotheses they contained especially those from the Soviet participants, were not very familiar among international circles, and that many scientists would appreciate having a single volume containing a survey ofthe current state of research in this field. This was also the opinion of Plenum Press, who agreed to publish the book. Each participant at the meeting submitted a paper which was examined by two referees before being accepted.

Table of Contents:
Peripheral Mechanisms of Motor Control.- Encoding of Muscle Contractile Tension by Golgi Tendon Organs.- Modulating Processes of Single Fusimotor Fibre Discharge in Man.- Extraocular Proprioception and Body Postural References.- Gravitational Mechanisms in the Motor System. Studies in Real and Simulated Weightlessness.- Central Mechanisms of Motor Control.- Synaptic Influences on Motoneurones of the Spinal Cord in Vertebrates.- Neuronal Organization of the Corticorubral System.- Role of the Monkey Substantia Nigra Pars Reticulata in Sensorimotor Control of Eye-Head-Arm Coordination.- The Participation of the Cerebral Cortex and Basal Ganglia in Motor Act Programming.- Control of Locomotion and Rhythmic Activity.- The Stance Phase and its Control by Sensory Information During Walking in Crustacea.- Neuronal Mechanisms Controlling Rhythmic Movements in Gastropod Molluscs.- On the Bulbospinal Locomotor Column in the Cat.- Analysis of the Pattern of Activity in “Knee Flexor” Motoneurons During Locomotion in the Cat.- Modulation of Locomotor Activity Induced by Natural Stimulation of the Vestibular System.- Presynaptic Control of Afferent Input During Real Locomotion in Rats.- Role of Motor Cortex in Control of Locomotion.- Control of Posture and Movement.- Anticipatory Postural Adjustments and Dynamic Asymmetry of Voluntary Movement.- Body Scheme in the Control of Postural Activity.- Forward and Backward Axial Movements: Two Modes of Central Control.- The Role of Nigrostriatal and Mesolimbic Dopaminergic Brain Systems in the Control of Voluntary Movements and Postural Adjustement in Dogs.- On the Role of Motor Cortex in the Learned Rearrangement of Postural Coordinations.- On the Influence of Movement Kinematics on the Support Pressure Pattern During Postural Adjustmentof Quadrupeds.- Modelling of Motor Activity Control.- The Effect of Repetitive Stimulation on Firing Motoneurons. Computer Simulation Based on a Motor Unit Study.- Topological Aspects of Sensori-Motor Control.- Rapid One-Joint Movements: a Qualitative Model and its Experimental Verification.- Contributors.