Vigor: Neuroeconomics of Movement Control (The MIT Press)

An examination of the link between the vigor with which we move and the value that the brain assigns to the goal of the movement.

Why do we reflexively run toward people we love, but only walk toward others? In Vigor, Reza Shadmehr and Alaa Ahmed examine the link between how the brain assigns value to things and how it controls our movements. They find that brain regions thought to be principally involved in decision making also affect movement vigor—and that brain regions thought to be principally responsible for movement also bias patterns of decision making.