Psychology of Human Movement (PDF)

The Psychology of Human Movement is a collection of papers dealing with experimental work involving psychology, kinesiology, physical education, and neurophysiology. These papers have as their central theme, the higher order, organizational processes contributing to coordinated goal-directed movement. These papers discuss theories in motor neurophysiology, voluntary control of simple aim movements, memory for movement, perception and action, sequencing of movements, and the demands made by movement on information-processing resources. Other papers deal with the changes that result from the organization and execution of movement in training, physical development, or damage occurring in the central nervous system. The latter papers give weight to the hypothesis that any studies in movement, action, and skill should cover a wider range of data, and not only from studies of "normal" adult subjects. One paper explains skills acquisition in terms of the changes in the way the nervous system is organized, the changes due to practice, to interactions with the environment, and to the development of the cognitive system of the individual. Another paper notes that movement is the result of the operation of a set of underlying processes where each process has its own distinct function. This collection can be useful for undergraduate physical education or physical therapy students, and those studying psychology in areas of motor behavior and human movement.