Sammendrag
This Chapter reflects on the various theoretical changes Dave Lee's tau concept (1976, 1980, 2005) has undergone through the years, how it evolved, and how its use became more and more general. From the deceptively simple tau margin it evolved into general tau theory, explaining the mathematical principles of perception and action, including the underlying neural mechanisms. In our developmental research, the tau concept has been indispensable. It has helped us to show that young infants are not just reflexive organisms only capable of producing stereotypical movements, but that they are able from birth to produce very skilled, goal-directed actions. Moreover, we have shown how the development of the pick-up of perceptual control information helps babies and nursery school children to guide their actions more efficiently. And finally, we have used these findings to study infants who are neurologically at-risk and children with CP with the aim of helping with an early diagnosis so as to devise better, more detailed assessment, diagnosis, and therapeutic procedures. In all these developmental studies, tau has proven to be a helpful tool.
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