The Invisible Hand

Neurocognitive Mechanisms of Human Hand Function

Matthew Longo

$230

Paperback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

MIT Press
13 May 2025

Society & culture: general

How the ""invisible hand"" of the nervous system makes the human hand such an evolutionary success.

How the ""invisible hand"" of the nervous system makes the human hand such an evolutionary success.

The hand has a central role in both human evolution and cultural development-in our descent and in our ascent. It is, Immanuel Kant said, ""the visible part of the brain."" It is the invisible that concerns Matthew Longo in The Invisible Hand, a wide-ranging, deftly written account of the neural and cognitive mechanisms that have made a seemingly ordinary physical appendage an extraordinary tool in the evolution of humanity.

The hand has been the focus of an enormous amount of research from a dizzying range of disciplines, from anatomy, psychology, and neuroscience to evolutionary biology and archaeology. With the concept of the invisible hand, Longo integrates and contextualizes the findings from these disparate fields to show how the neurocognitive mechanisms that comprise the invisible hand are central to understanding a wide array of phenomena, including basic sensory and motor function, space perception, gesture, and even the self. More generally, he contends that the extraordinary abilities of the hand arise precisely from the complementary nature and tight integration of the visible and invisible hands-a proposition that leads deep into topics as diverse as haptics, tool use, handedness, phantom limbs, and evolution. His work elucidates and significantly expands a key chapter of the story of human evolution and culture as manifested in the human hand.

By: Matthew Longo
Imprint: MIT Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 178mm,
Weight: 369g
ISBN: 9780262551878
ISBN 10: 026255187X
Pages: 520
Publication Date: 13 May 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Preface: The Visible and Invisible Hands Acknowledgments List of Acronyms Used 1 The Visible Hand 2 The Sensing Hand 3 The Moving Hand 4 The Acting Hand 5 The Exploring Hand 6 The Embodied Hand 7 The Hand in Space 8 The Expert Hand 9 The Diseased Hand 10 The Extended Hand 11 The Evolving Hand 12 The Developing Hand 13 The Bilateral Hand 14 The Dominant and Non-Dominant Hands 15 The Communicating Hand Epilogue: The Future of the Invisible Hand Notes References Index

Matthew R. Longo is Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at Birkbeck, University of London, where he directs the Body Representation Laboratory.