CONTENTS -- PART I: DYNAMIC AND ECOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS -- 1. Fundamental Issues and Perspectives in the Development of Action -- The motor-action controversy -- Developmental perspectives on the nature of action -- 2. From Bernstein and von Holst to Dynamic Systems -- Round 1 of Bernstein-inspired work -- A prelude to round 2 -- Round 2: Modeling behavior on dynamic systems -- 3. Ecological Foundations -- Gibson: Ambient array, patterned flow, and perceptual system -- Development of exploration for affordances in humans -- Action systems -- Habitats for action systems -- Dynamics and information -- 4. The Components of Action Systems: Subsystems and Their Interaction -- Identifying the subsystems -- The properties of the link-segment system and body space -- The properties of the nervous subsystem -- Exploring the relation between the subsystems -- PART II: ASSEMBLY AND TUNING AT DIFFERENT TIME SCALES -- 5. Spontaneous Pattern Formation -- Action as morphogenesis -- The emergence of spatial patterns and clocks -- Implications of scale: The work of D'Arcy Thompson -- Two models of morphogenesis -- Constraints of space and time on morphogenesis -- 6. Selection and the Emergence of Specialized Functions -- Darwinian theory -- Evolution and ontogeny -- Energy sharing as the basis of cooperativity -- The environment and selection -- Evolution of modes -- Special-purpose devices in evolutionary and ontogenetic context -- Assembling and decomposing transient boundaries -- Conclusions: Lessons from evolution for understanding the ontogeny of action and perception -- 7. The Ontogeny of Action Systems: A Theory -- Outline of the theory -- Proposition 1: Coordinative structures with attractor dynamics emerge from spontaneous motion -- Proposition 2: The body and environment as a structured surround.

Proposition 3: Regulation of assembly at multiple time scales -- Proposition 4: Exploratory activity reveals stable regions in dynamic geometries -- Proposition 5: Action systems are assembled from a mosaic of available components -- PART III: THE ACTION SYSTEMS -- 8. Basic Orienting -- Introduction -- Contrasting perspectives on orienting -- The ontogeny of basic orienting: The fetal period -- The transition from fetal to postnatal life -- From flexion and extension against gravity to controlled movement -- The transition to standing -- 9. Eating and Drinking -- The oral articulators -- Early eating -- The transition from neonatal oral activity to chewing -- The transition to independent eating -- Independent eating -- 10. Locomotion -- Constraints on locomotion -- Temporal patterning and constraints -- The human intrauterine environment -- Transition to the postnatal environment -- Transition to independent mobility: Crawling -- Exploring the dynamics of the body as a consequence of the changing postural matrix -- From standing to first steps -- The affordances for locomotion -- 11. The Performatory Action System: Manual Activity -- Classifying the functions of the hand -- The cooperation of subsystems in manual activity -- Constraints on manual activity -- The relation between reaching and grasping -- From pre-reaching to visually guided reaching -- A dynamic approach to reach and grasp -- Object exploration, age, and affordances -- The serial order problem -- 12. The Expressive Action System -- The components of the expressive action system -- Transition from endogenous to social smiles -- Crying -- From early behavioral states to differentiated emotions -- Perception-action coupling in the expressive action system -- Social regulation -- The functional significance of fear -- PART IV: CONCLUSION -- 13. Conclusions and Directions -- New questions.

Cinical directions -- A taxonomy of disorders of action systems: Beyond symptoms -- References -- Author Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Y -- Z -- Subject Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- V -- W.