The computational problem of motor control

Motor control systems are complex systems that process information. Orientation behaviour, posture control, and the manipulation of objects are examples of motor control systems which involve one or more sensory modality and various central neural processes, as well as effector systems and their immediate neuronal control mechanisms. Like all complex information processing systems, they must be analysed and understood at several different levels (see, e.g., Marr & Poggio 1977).At the lowest level there is the analysis of basic components and circuits, the neurons, their synapses, etc. At the other extreme, there is the study of the computations performed by the system — the problems it solves and the ways that it solves them — and the analysis of its logical organization in terms of its primary modules. In Hayes, J. E., Michie, D., and Pao, Y.-H. (Eds.), Machine Intelligence 10. Ellis Horwood.