The Brain's Sense of Movement

Alain Berthoz

Translated by Giselle Weiss

    Introduction

    I. Perception Is Simulated Action

    The Motor Theory of Perception

    The Concept of Acceptor of the Results of Action

    Bernstein's Comparator

    Memory Predicts the Consequences of Action

    Mental Nodes

    Mirror Neurons

    Simulation, Emulation, or Representation?

    II. The Sense of Movement:A Sixth Sense?

    Proprioception

    The Vestibulary System: An Inertial Center?

    The Functions of the Vestibular System

    Seeing Movement

    III. Building Coherence

    How Vision Detects Movement

    Visual Movement and Vestibular Receptors

    Am I in my Bed or Hanging from the Ceiling?

    The Coherence between Seeing and Hearing

    The Problem of the Coherence and Unity of Perception

    Autism: The Disintegration of Coherence?

    IV. Frames of Reference

    Personal Space and Extrapersonal Space

    Egocentric and Allocentric Frames of Reference

    Natural Frames of Reference

    Selecting Frames of Reference

    V. A Memory for Predicting

    Topographic Memory or Topokinetic Memory?

    The Neural Basis of Spatial Memory: The Role of the Hippocampus

    VI. Natural Movement

    Pioneers

    The Problem of Number of Degrees of Freedom

    The Invention of the Eye

    The Form of a Drawing Is Produced by the Law of Maximal Smoothness

    VII. Synergies and Strategies

    Vestibular Axon Branching and Gaze Stabilization

    The Baby Fish that Wanted to Swim Flat on Its Stomach

    The Neural Bases for Encoding Movement of the Arms

    Coordination of Synergies

    VIII. Capture

    The Toad's Decision

    The Art of Braking

    What If Newton Had Wanted to Catch the Apple?

    IX. The Look that Investigates the World

    Gaze Orientation

    "Go Where I'm Looking," not"Look Where I'm Going"

    Eye-to-Eye Contact

    Gaze and Emotion

    The Neural Basis of Gaze-Orienting Reactions

    X. Visual Exploration

    The Brain Is a Fiery Steed

    A Model of Perception-Action Relationships

    Imagined Movement and Actual Movement

    Dynamic Memory and Predictive Control of Movements

    Was Piaget Right?

    XI. Balance

    A Physiology of Reaction

    How to Make the University of Edinburgh Oscillate

    Toward a Projective Physiology

    XII. Adaptation

    Adaptation and Substitution

    The Rheumatologist and the Ophthalmologist

    The Role of Activity in Compensating for and Preventing Disorientation

    XIII. The Disoriented Brain: Illusions Are Solutions

    Illusion: The Best Possible Hypothesis

    Illusions Caused by Acceleration and Gravity

    Illusions of Movement of the Limbs

    Space and Motion Sickness

    A Few Other Illusions

    XIV. Architects Have Forgotten the Pleasure of Movement

    Conclusion: Toward a Tolerant Perception

    Notes

    Works Cited

    Credits

    Index

  • Cover: The Brain's Sense of Movement

Alain Berthoz is a professor at the Collège de France, where he directs the Laboratory of Physiology of Perception and Action.