This volume is the most comprehensive text and reference on negative motor phenomena, i.e., involuntary lapses in motor muscle tone or postural control. More than fifty leading international experts in neurophysiology, neurochemistry, neuroanatomy, epileptology, and sleep and movement disorders examine the physiology and clinical aspects of these phenomena, both in disorders such as cataplexy, negative myoclonus, and atonic seizures and in normal states such as REM sleep and the startle response. Coverage includes extensive studies of the cortical, brainstem, and spinal cord mechanisms involved in negative motor phenomena, as well as new approaches to the pharmacotherapy of myoclonus and atonic seizures.