Main description:

Drawing on shared research experiences and collaborative projects, this book offers a broad and timely perspective on research on the hand and its current challenges. It especially emphasizes the interdisciplinary context in which researchers need to be trained in contemporary science. From language to psychology, from neurology to the social sciences, and from art to philosophy and religion, the chapters discuss various aspects involved in hand research and therapy. On the basis of concrete and validated case studies, they approach hand function and gestures from different perspectives - not only neurological and medical, but also philosophical, evolutionary and anthropological. By highlighting the overlaps between different areas of research, the book seeks to foster better communication between researchers, and ultimately a better understanding of hand function and its recovery. It offers essential information and inspirations for students, researchers and practitioners in the fields of psychology, epistemology, bioengineering, neuroscience, anthropology and bioethics.

Contents:

The cognitive properties of the motor system and mirror neurons.- Children's object manipulation: A tool for knowing the external world and for communicative development.- Primates' propensity to explore objects: how manual actions affect learning in children and capuchin monkeys.- The hand as a microcosm: A philosophical overview on the hand and its role in the processes of perception, action and cognition.- Ready-to-hand in Heidegger: Philosophy as an everyday understanding of the world and the question concerning technology.- The therapeutic hand.- Cooking and Human Evolution.- Essential to Art: The Hand, Touch and the Aesthetic Experience.- On the role of the hand in the expression of music.