Motor Control and Learning, Seventh Edition, focuses on observable movement behavior, the many factors that influence quality of movement, and how movement skills are acquired. It also examines the motivational, cognitive, biomechanical, and neurological processes of complex motor behaviors that allow human movement to progress from unrefined and clumsy to masterfully smooth and agile.
This updated seventh edition builds upon the foundational work of Richard Schmidt, Timothy Lee, and Howard Zelaznik in previous editions. The two new authors—each a distinguished scholar—offer a range and depth of knowledge that includes current directions in the field. Exploring topics such as the closed-loop perspective, the central nervous system, the structure of practice sessions, and the role of feedback, Motor Control and Learning has gained a reputation as a leading text in the field.
The seventh edition has been substantially updated with new and revised content supported by citations and current research across all areas covered throughout the text. Updates to the seventh edition include the following:
- New chapters discussing how humans process complex information as well as future directions and trends in motor behavior
- A greater variety of examples of application and research tasks
- New and expanded sidebars exploring key early research developments and their legacy in modern research
Throughout the book, art and practical examples are included to elucidate complex topics. Sidebars featuring historical perspectives, classic research, and examples of real-world applications highlight the importance of motor control and learning research and bring attention to influential research studies and pioneers. End-of-chapter summaries and student assignments reinforce important concepts and terms and provide review opportunities. Related online narratives and learning activities from Motor Control in Everyday Actions that correspond with the chapters in the book give students additional opportunities to analyze how research in motor learning and control can be expanded and applied in everyday settings.
Motor Control and Learning, Seventh Edition, reveals how skilled actions are controlled, learned, retained, and adapted through practice and experience
Note: A URL to access the online materials is included in this print book.
Audience
A text for graduate and upper-level undergraduate courses in motor control and learning. Also a reference for academic libraries and professionals working in human movement fields.
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
Measuring Motor Behavior
Measuring and Evaluating Relationships
Reliability and Individual Differences
Summary
Chapter 3. Human Information Processing, Attention, and Motor Performance
Information-Processing Model
Three Stages of Information Processing
Anticipation
Attention and Performance
Theories of Attention
Capacity and Competition for Attention
Attention During Movement
Attention Applied
Signal-Detection Theory
Memory
Summary
Part II. Motor Control
Chapter 4. Sensory and Perceptual Contributions to Motor Control
Closed-Loop Control Systems
Vision
Audition
Proprioception
Ensemble Characteristics and Closed-Loop Motor Control
Feedforward Contributions to Motor Control
Summary
Chapter 5. Central Contributions to Motor Control
Open-Loop Processes
Generalized Motor Programs
Evidence for Central Control Mechanisms
Types of Motor Program Errors
Sensory Information and Motor Programs
Hybrid Control Models
A Critical Look at Generalized Motor Programs
Summary
Chapter 6. Principles of Speed and Accuracy
Fitts’ Law: The Logarithmic Speed–Accuracy Trade-Off
Linear Speed–Accuracy Trade-Off (Schmidt’s Law)
Temporal Speed–Accuracy Trade-Off
Central Contributions to the Spatial Speed–Accuracy Trade-Off
Correction Models of the Speed–Accuracy Trade-Off
Summary
Chapter 7. Coordination
Discrete Tasks
Continuous Tasks
A Dynamical-Systems Account of Coordination
Summary
Part III. Motor Learning
Chapter 8. Motor Learning Concepts and Research Methods
Defining Motor Learning
Measuring Motor Learning
Designing Experiments on Learning
Using Alternative Methods to Measure Learning
Understanding Issues About the “Amount” of Learning
Understanding Learning and Performance Variables
Summary
Chapter 9. Conditions of Practice
Verbal Information
Focus of Attention
Motivational Influences on Learning
Observational Learning
Mental Practice
Distribution of Practice
Variability of Practice
Contextual Interference
Guidance
Summary
Chapter 10. Augmented Feedback
Classifications and Definitions of Feedback
Informational Functions of Feedback
Motivational Functions of Feedback
Attentional Focus Functions of Feedback
Theoretical Issues: How Does Augmented Feedback “Work”?
Summary
Chapter 11. The Learning Process
Stages of Motor Learning
Closed-Loop Theory
Schema Theory
Differing Theoretical Perspectives of Motor Learning
OPTIMAL Theory
Summary
Chapter 12. Retention and Transfer
Fundamental Distinctions and Definitions
Measuring Retention and Transfer
Retention and Motor Memory
Retention Loss
Transfer of Learning
Summary
Chapter 13. Current and Future Trends in Motor Behavior: The Task, Individual, and Environment
The Task, Individual, and Environmental Contextual Model
Motor Behavior and Beyond
Methodological Approaches
Motor Control and Learning Applied
Summary
Richard A. Schmidt, PhD (1941-2015) was a professor emeritus in the department of psychology at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). At the time of his death, Schmidt ran his own business, Human Performance Research, conducting research and consulting in the area of human factors and human performance. Widely acknowledged as one of the leaders in research on motor behavior, he had more than 40 years of experience in motor learning and performance.
The originator of both schema theory and impulse-variability theory (also called Schmidt’s law), he founded the Journal of Motor Behavior in 1969 and was editor for 11 years. He authored the first edition of this book, Motor Control and Learning, in 1982 and the first edition of another leading textbook, Motor Learning and Performance, in 1991.
Schmidt was highly recognized for his lifetime contributions to research and writing. He received honorary doctorates from the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium in 1992 and the Université Joseph Fourier in France in 1998. He was a longtime member of the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity (NASPSPA), where he served as president in 1982 and received the organization’s two highest honors: the Distinguished Scholar Award (for lifetime contributions to research in motor control and learning) in 1992 and the President’s Award (for significant contributions to the development and growth of NASPSPA) in 2013. He was also a member of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society and the Psychonomic Society and received the C.H. McCloy Research Lectureship from the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD). His leisure-time passions included sailboat and Porsche racing.
Timothy D. Lee, PhD, is a professor emeritus in the department of kinesiology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. He has published extensively in motor behavior and psychology journals since 1980, has served as an editor for the Journal of Motor Behavior and Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, and has been an editorial board member for Psychological Review. Before his retirement, his research was supported primarily by grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).
Lee has been a member, secretary-treasurer, and 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, he received the inaugural Young Scientist Award from SCAPPS, and in 2011 he was named a fellow of the society—its highest honor. He was named an international fellow by the National Academy of Kinesiology in 1999 and awarded the Distinguished Scholar Award by NASPSPA in 2017. His leisure-time passions include golf and music.
Cheryl M. Glazebrook, PhD, is a professor in the faculty of kinesiology and recreation management at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. She is the director of the Perceptual Motor Integration Laboratory at the University of Manitoba, where her team examines fundamental and applied questions in motor control and learning with neurotypical and neurodiverse populations. Funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), her research program combines theory and established motor control paradigms with kinematic analyses to uncover how perception and action interact.
Glazebrook’s pioneering research in autism and motor control, including eye-hand coordination, helped establish how motor skills are influenced by autism and neurodiverse traits. An ongoing theme of her collaborative research is to co-design adaptive dance programming in community and rehabilitation contexts. In 2025, she shared these ideas at TEDx Winnipeg in her talk, “Why We Should All Dance More: The Science Behind Connection and Joy.”
Glazebrook is an active member of the motor behavior and autism research communities, including the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity (NASPSPA), the Canadian Society for Psychomotor Learning and Sport Psychology (SCAPPS), and the International Society for Autism Research (INSAR). In 2017, she gave an invited talk on the future of motor control and learning at the 50th Anniversary of NASPSPA in San Diego, California. In her leisure time, she enjoys dancing (performing annually to this day), running and walking along the many riverbanks in Manitoba, and relaxing at their family camp in Northern Ontario.
Breanna E. Studenka, PhD, is an associate professor in the department of kinesiology and health science at Utah State University in Logan. She earned her BA in biomechanics from the University of Northern Colorado and her MS and PhD in motor control and learning from Purdue University. She completed postdoctoral training in motor cognition focused on motor cognition, timing, and the analyses of movement variability at Bielefeld University in Germany, McMaster University in Canada, and Pennsylvania State University in the United States.
Studenka has published extensively in the fields of motor control and motor learning, with research spanning sequential motor planning, timing, and movement coordination. Her contributions include the development of behavioral measures of motor perspective taking, novel analyses of millisecond interval timing, and applications of nonlinear time-series methods to understand motor variability and recovery from injury. Much of her recent work has focused on motor planning flexibility and hysteresis, as well as social-motor interaction and perspective taking in individuals with autism spectrum disorder.
She directs the sensory motor behavior laboratory at Utah State University, where her team examines fundamental and applied questions of motor control with neurotypical and neurodiverse individuals. Studenka is active in the motor behavior research community, including the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity (NASPSPA), the Canadian Society for Psychomotor Learning and Sport Psychology (SCAPPS), and the Progress in Motor Control community. She is also dedicated to mentoring undergraduate and graduate students. In her leisure time, she enjoys illustrating children’s books, skiing, triathlon training, and hiking with her family in the mountains of northern Utah.
Howard N. Zelaznik, PhD, is a professor in the department of health and kinesiology at Purdue University in Indiana. He is a fellow of the National Academy of Kinesiology (NAK), the Association for Psychological Science (APS), the Psychonomic Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and he is an active member of the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity (NASPSPA). Zelaznik has served as executive editor for the Journal of Motor Behavior. His research specialty is human motor control. Zelaznik has developed, tested, and promoted a theoretical framework for examining issues in human movement timing. His research has received more than 30 years of support from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as well as funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF).A former college tennis player, Zelaznik is still an active (albeit unranked) tennis player. He is an active road cyclist and former marathon runner.
All ancillaries are free to adopting instructors through HKPropel.
Instructor guide. Includes a sample syllabus and sample answers to learning activities that accompany the narratives from Motor Control in Everyday Actions in the student web resource.
Presentation package. Features more than 300 PowerPoint slides of text, artwork, and tables from the book that can be used for class discussion and presentation. The slides in the presentation package can be used directly within PowerPoint or printed to make handouts for students. Instructors can easily add, modify, and rearrange the order of the slides.
Image bank. Includes most of the figures, content photos, and tables from the text, sorted by chapter. These can be used in developing a customized presentation based on specific course requirements.
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