Significantly updated with current research, new learning features, and more references, the fifth edition of Motor Control and Learning: A Behavioral Emphasis expertly combines text, figures, and practical examples to explain this complex topic in a clear and comprehensive manner. This outstanding introduction to the field focuses on motor behavior that can be observed directly as well as the many factors that affect the quality of these performances and the ease with which they can be learned. Additionally, the text examines some of the neurological and biomechanical processes that create complex movement behaviors, reflecting the convergence toward a shared understanding of complex movement behaviors across the fields of motor behavior and motor learning, motor control, and biomechanics.
Motor Control and Learning, Fifth Edition, frames the important issues, theories, people, and research from the field in a reader-friendly way, giving students a clear introduction to the most current information available. Schmidt and Lee, respected researchers and authors, continue to refresh this classic and comprehensive text through the following features:
More than 280 new references and approximately 50 pages of new content
Expanded information on attention, human motor performance, and the learning process
New research highlight boxes, which present issues relevant to the chapter's topic in a reader-friendly way
Historical highlight boxes that present the historical connection to certain concepts and principles of motor behavior
New end-of-chapter study tools, including a summary, student assignments, Web resources, and notes to help students grasp important concepts, prepare for exams, and explore online activities
A new image bank for professors that provides access to most of the images in the text for use in handouts and PowerPoint presentations
Authors Schmidt and Lee expertly present the complex topic of motor control and learning in a precise manner that students can easily understand. New and updated diagrams offer visual explanations, and practical examples illustrate concepts in motor control and learning and provide concrete suggestions for application. In addition, sidebars throughout the text provide more detailed treatment of specific research to ensure comprehension. The fifth edition features a logical progression wherein later chapters build on concepts presented in earlier chapters, resulting in a consistent framework of ideas about motor skills.
Part I. Introduction to Motor Behavior
Chapter 1. Evolution of a Field of Study
Understanding Movement
Origins of the Field
Summary
Chapter 2. Methodology for Studying
Motor Performance
Classification of Motor Skills
Basic Considerations in Measurement
Measuring Motor Behavior
Measuring and Evaluating Relationships
Summary
Chapter 3. Human Information Processing
The Information-Processing Model
Three Stages of Information Processing
Anticipation
Signal Detection Theory
Memory
Summary
Chapter 4. Attention and Performance
Types of Attention
Theories of Attention
Attention and Patterns of Interference Among Tasks
Attention and Interference During Movement
Cell Phones, Attention, and Driving
Directed Attention in Action
Attention, Arousal, and Anxiety
Summary
Part II. Motor Control
Chapter 5. Sensory Contributions to Motor Control
Closed-Loop Control Systems
Vision
Audition
Proprioceptors
Proprioception and Motor Control
Feedforward Influences on Motor Control
Summary
Chapter 6. Central Contributions to Motor Control
Open-Loop Processes
Central Control Mechanisms
Central Control of Rapid Movements
Motor Program Issues
Generalized Motor Programs
Summary
Chapter 7. Principles of Speed and Accuracy
Fitts’ Law: The Logarithmic Speed–Accuracy Trade-Off
The Linear Speed–Accuracy Trade-Off
The Temporal Speed–Accuracy Trade-Off
Central Contributions to the Speed–Accuracy Trade-Off
Correction Models of the Speed–Accuracy Trade-Off
Summary
Chapter 8. Coordination
Discrete Tasks
Continuous Tasks
Summary
Chapter 9. Individual Differences and Capabilities
Experimental Versus Differential Approaches
Abilities
Taxonomies
Prediction
Individual-Difference
Variables
Summary
Part III. Motor Learning
Chapter 10. Motor Learning Concepts and Research Methods
Motor Learning Defined
Measuring Motor Learning
Designing Experiments on Learning
Alternative Methods for Measuring Learning
Issues About the “Amount” of Learning
Understanding Learning and Performance Variables
Summary
Chapter 11. Conditions of Practice
The Power Law of Practice
Prepractice Considerations
Distribution of Practice
Variability of Practice
Scheduling Practice With Several Different Tasks
Mental Practice
Part Versus Whole Practice
Guidance
Principles of Practice Specificity
Summary
Chapter 12. Augmented Feedback
Classifications and Definitions
Research on Augmented Feedback
Evaluating the Effects of Augmented Feedback
Knowledge of Performance
Knowledge of Results
Theoretical Issues: How Does Augmented Feedback “Work”?
Summary
Chapter 13. The Learning Process
Characteristics of the Learning Process
Two Theories of Motor Learning
Differing Theoretical Perspectives of Motor Learning
Summary
Chapter 14. Retention and Transfer
Fundamental Distinctions and Definitions
Measuring Retention and Transfer
Retention and Motor Memory
Retention Loss
Transfer of Learning
Summary
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 leaders in research on 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 and fourth edition in 2005.
Dr. Schmidt received an honorary doctorate from Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, in recognition of his work. 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 since 1979. More recently, he has contributed as an editor to Journal of Motor Behavior and Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport and as an editorial board member for Psychological Review. Since 1984 his research has been supported by grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
Dr. Lee is a member and past president of the Canadian Society for Psychomotor Learning and Sport Psychology (SCAPPS) and a member of the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity (NASPSPA), the Psychonomic Society, and the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. In 1980 Dr. Lee received the inaugural Young Scientist Award from SCAPPS; in 1991-92 he received a Senior Research Fellowship by the Dienst Onderzoekscoordinatie, Catholic University in Leuven, Belgium; and in 2005 he presented a prestigious Senior Scientist Lecture at NASPSPA.
In his leisure time, Dr. Lee enjoys playing hockey and golf. He has maintained a lifelong fascination with blues music and would one day love to put years of motor learning study into practice by learning to play blues guitar.