Futurism in physiology: Nikolai Bernstein, anticipation, and kinaesthetic imagination

Abstract

The article brings together the history of anticipation with cutting-edge research on kinaesthetic imagination. It locates Bernstein’s work in the context of both early-20th century holism in biology and the wider cultural movement of Futurism. The authors examine Bernstein’s attempts to introduce intentionality into physiology and his passionate search for determinants of movements in the future, rather than in the past. These attempts were stimulated by Bernstein’s work on specifically human movements, purposeful and wilful, very much unlike the conditional reflexes of Pavlovian dogs. The article also describes the notion of anticipation as conceived by Bernstein, as well as later studies of anticipation by contemporary physiologists and phenomenologists. It then introduces the notion of kinaesthetic imagination based on research by scholars of dance and sport. The article concludes with a section on the use of kinaesthetic imagination for rehabilitation of post-stroke patients, quoting from research in progress.