---
title: "Suggested further readings"
source: Neuromatch Computational Neuroscience
source_url: https://github.com/NeuromatchAcademy/course-content
licence: CC-BY-4.0
domain: foundations
subdomain: neuromatch-compneuro
date_added: 2026-04-25
---

# Suggested further readings

### Overview

Bertsekas, D. P. (1995). Dynamic programming and optimal control. MA: Athena scientific.

### Foundations

Bellman, R. (1966). Dynamic programming. Science 153(3731): 34-37. doi: [10.1126/science.153.3731.34](https://doi.org/10.1126/science.153.3731.34) {{ closed_access }}.

Charnov, E. L. (1976). Optimal foraging, the marginal value theorem. Theoretical population biology 9(2): 129-136.

Doyle, J. C. (1978). Guaranteed margins for LQG regulators. IEEE Transactions on automatic Control 23(4): 756-757. doi: [10.1109/TAC.1978.1101812](https://doi.org/10.1109/TAC.1978.1101812) {{ closed_access }}. _Note: Abstract is definitely worth reading._

Kalman, R. E. (1960). Contributions to the theory of optimal control. Boletin de la sociedad matematica mexicana 5(2): 102-119.

### Control as Inference

Kappen, H. J., Gómez, V., and Opper, M. (2012). Optimal control as a graphical model inference problem. Machine learning 87(2): 159-182. doi: [10.1007/s10994-012-5278-7](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10994-012-5278-7) {{ open_access }}.

Todorov, E. (2009). Efficient computation of optimal actions. Proceedings of the national academy of sciences 106(28): 11478-11483. doi: [10.1073/pnas.0710743106](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0710743106) {{ closed_access }} (postprint: [europepmc.org/articles/pmc2705278](https://europepmc.org/articles/pmc2705278) {{ open_access }}).

### Intro

Castro, L. N. G., Hadjiosif, A. M., Hemphill, M. A., and Smith, M. A. (2014). Environmental consistency determines the rate of motor adaptation. Current Biology 24(10): 1050-1061. doi: [10.1016/j.cub.2014.03.049](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2014.03.049) {{ open_access }}.

Smith, M. A., Brandt, J., and Shadmehr, R. (2000). Motor disorder in Huntington's disease begins as a dysfunction in error feedback control. Nature 403(6769): 544-549. doi: [10.1038/35000576](https://doi.org/10.1038/35000576) {{ closed_access }} (postprint: [www.seas.harvard.edu/motorlab/Reprints/nature00.pdf](http://www.seas.harvard.edu/motorlab/Reprints/nature00.pdf) {{ open_access }}).

Sing, G. C., Joiner, W. M., Nanayakkara, T., Brayanov, J. B., and Smith, M. A. (2009). Primitives for motor adaptation reflect correlated neural tuning to position and velocity. Neuron 64(4): 575-589. doi: [10.1016/j.neuron.2009.10.001](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2009.10.001) {{ open_access }}.

Wagner, M. J., and Smith, M. A. (2008). Shared internal models for feedforward and feedback control. Journal of Neuroscience 28(42): 10663-10673. doi: [10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5479-07.2008](https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5479-07.2008) {{ open_access }}.

### Outro

Bautista, L. M., Tinbergen, J., and Kacelnik, A. (2001). To walk or to fly? How birds choose among foraging modes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 98(3), 1089-1094. doi: [10.1073/pnas.98.3.1089](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.98.3.1089) {{ closed_access }} (postprint: [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC14713](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC14713) {{ open_access }}).

Ralston, H. J. (1958). Energy-speed relation and optimal speed during level walking. Internationale Zeitschrift für Angewandte Physiologie Einschliesslich Arbeitsphysiologie 17(4): 277-283. doi: [10.1007/BF00698754](https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00698754) {{ closed_access }}.

Shadmehr, R., and Ahmed, A. A. (2020). Vigor: Neuroeconomics of movement control. MIT Press.

Xu-Wilson, M., Zee, D. S., and Shadmehr, R. (2009). The intrinsic value of visual information affects saccade velocities. Experimental Brain Research, 196(4), 475-481. doi: [10.1007/s00221-009-1879-1](https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-009-1879-1) {{ closed_access }} (postprint: [europepmc.org/articles/pmc2771693](https://europepmc.org/articles/pmc2771693) {{ open_access }}).

Yoon, T., Geary, R. B., Ahmed, A. A., & Shadmehr, R. (2018). Control of movement vigor and decision making during foraging. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115(44): E10476-E10485. doi: [10.1073/pnas.1812979115](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1812979115) {{ closed_access }} (postprint: [europepmc.org/articles/pmc6217431](https://europepmc.org/articles/pmc6217431) {{ open_access }}).

Yoon, T., Jaleel, A., Ahmed, A. A., and Shadmehr, R. (2020). Saccade vigor and the subjective economic value of visual stimuli. Journal of neurophysiology 123(6): 2161-2172. doi: [10.1152/jn.00700.2019](https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00700.2019) {{ open_access }}.
