Vigor: Neuroeconomics of Movement Control

by Reza Shadmehr, Alaa A. Ahmed

Overview

An examination of the link between the vigor with which we move and the value that the brain assigns to the goal of the movement.

Why do we reflexively run toward people we love, but only walk toward others? In Vigor, Reza Shadmehr and Alaa Ahmed examine the link between how the brain assigns value to things and how it controls our movements. They find that brain regions thought to be principally involved in decision making also affect movement vigor--and that brain regions thought to be principally responsible for movement also bias patterns of decision making.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780262358705
Publisher:	MIT Press
Publication date:	07/21/2020
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	368
File size:	40 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Reza Shadmehr is Professor of Bioengineering and Professor of Neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is the coauthor of The Computational Neurobiology of Reaching and Pointing and Biological Learning and Control (both published by the MIT Press). Alaa A. Ahmed is Associate Professor in the Departments of Integrative Physiology and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Colorado.

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: The Effort of Movement
Chapter 2: Movements and Decisions in a Normative Framework
Chapter 3: Reaction Time and Deliberation
Chapter 4: Neural Prelude to a Movement
Chapter 5: Cortical Computation of Utility
Chapter 6: Basal Ganglia and the Motivation to Move
Chapter 7: Serotonin and the Promotion of Sloth
Conclusions
Reference list
Index

Editorial Reviews

"An exciting guide for those who want to understand from a computational and neural perspective how and why the vigor of our actions reveals so much about our inner thoughts."
– Daniel Wolpert, Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University

"Vigor provides fascinating biological foundations of utility and choice by showing how our movements reveal our preferences. Shadmehr and Ahmed offer a cardinal measurement tool for utility that is of fundamental interest to all scholars in decision science."
– Ernst Fehr, Director of the UBS Center for Economics in Society, University of Zurich

"Using multiple features, including attention and motivation, Shadmehr and Ahmed show how mind and action are controlled by various brain areas. This unique approach makes Vigor an important book for both individuals and society."
– Okihide Hikosaka, Distinguished Investigator, NIH

From the Publisher