Project Details
Projekt
FOR 560: Perception and Action
Subject Area
Social and Behavioural Sciences
Term
from 2004 to 2011
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5471310
The Research Unit aims at investigating the interrelation between sensory signals that result in conscious perception and sensory signals that are used for action control.
Research has for a long time been successful in investigating sensory and motor processes in separation. This separation leads back to the finding of distinguishable primary areas in the brain responsible for perceptual and motor processes, respectively. Only recently, cognitive neuroscience started to focus on the interplay between sensory and motor processes. The Research Unit is particularly interested in the interactions between sensory and motor processes as well as in the short- and long-term change of these interactions. The projects in the Research Unit build upon existent knowledge about the perception-action-loop and can be subdivided according to three main aspects:
Perception for action: What are the neural signals underlying perception and action and how do these interact? Are there differences in the processing of sensory signals if the signals serve action control as compared to signals that serve conscious perception?
Perception during action: Most of the time we are in motion; we move our eyes as well as other parts of the body. Movement, however, does not prevent us from identifying, locating and interacting with objects in the environment. How does perception cope with changes in sensory signals resulting from movement?
Perception of actions: How does the observation of our own actions and the actions of others influence our future percepts and actions? Here, we focus on the identification and learning of actions.
Our projects investigate a broad range of different movements including eye movements, pointing, and grasping movements as well as complex motor sequences which can be observed, for example, in sports or in child development. The emphasis was laid upon the interdisciplinarity of our group which includes scientists from experimental, biological and developmental psychology, as well as from human movement science and neurophysics. Thus, we can apply a broad range of methods (psychophysics, electrophysiology, EEG, functional brain imaging, experiment-based modelling) in order to advance scientific knowledge about the basic principles of the perception-action loop.
Research has for a long time been successful in investigating sensory and motor processes in separation. This separation leads back to the finding of distinguishable primary areas in the brain responsible for perceptual and motor processes, respectively. Only recently, cognitive neuroscience started to focus on the interplay between sensory and motor processes. The Research Unit is particularly interested in the interactions between sensory and motor processes as well as in the short- and long-term change of these interactions. The projects in the Research Unit build upon existent knowledge about the perception-action-loop and can be subdivided according to three main aspects:
Perception for action: What are the neural signals underlying perception and action and how do these interact? Are there differences in the processing of sensory signals if the signals serve action control as compared to signals that serve conscious perception?
Perception during action: Most of the time we are in motion; we move our eyes as well as other parts of the body. Movement, however, does not prevent us from identifying, locating and interacting with objects in the environment. How does perception cope with changes in sensory signals resulting from movement?
Perception of actions: How does the observation of our own actions and the actions of others influence our future percepts and actions? Here, we focus on the identification and learning of actions.
Our projects investigate a broad range of different movements including eye movements, pointing, and grasping movements as well as complex motor sequences which can be observed, for example, in sports or in child development. The emphasis was laid upon the interdisciplinarity of our group which includes scientists from experimental, biological and developmental psychology, as well as from human movement science and neurophysics. Thus, we can apply a broad range of methods (psychophysics, electrophysiology, EEG, functional brain imaging, experiment-based modelling) in order to advance scientific knowledge about the basic principles of the perception-action loop.
DFG Programme
Research Units
Projects
- Aktive haptische Wahrnehmung (Applicant Drewing, Knut )
- Einfluss motorischer Repräsentationen auf die Wahrnehmung biologischer Bewegung (Applicant Munzert, Jörn )
- Gedächtnis- und Planungsprozesse in Wahrnehmung und Handlung (Applicant Franz, Volker )
- Lernen invarianter Repräsentationen bei offener und geschlossener Wahrnehmungs-Handlungs-Schleife in einem Modell des Sehsystems (Applicant Eckhorn, Reinhard )
- Multisensorische Wahrnehmung während Augenbewegungen (Applicant Bremmer, Frank )
- Objektkodierung im Sehkortex bei geschlossener Wahrnehmungs-Handlungs-Schleife (Applicant Wachtler-Kulla, Thomas )
- Objektwahrnehmung während glatter Augenfolgebewegungen (Applicant Braun, Doris Ingeborg )
- Prozesse der Objektverarbeitung in visueller Wahrnehmung und Handlung im Säuglings- und Kindesalter (Applicant Schwarzer, Gudrun )
- Visuelle Signale zur Wahrnehmung und Handlungssteuerung: Kontexteffekte (Applicant Gegenfurtner, Ph.D., Karl Reiner )
- Wahrnehmung und Handlung (Applicant Gegenfurtner, Ph.D., Karl Reiner )
- Wahrnehmung und Handlung bei der Bildung, der Speicherung und der Nutzung von somatosensorischen Raumrepräsentationen (Applicant Fiehler, Katja )
Spokesperson
Professor Dr. Karl Reiner Gegenfurtner, Ph.D.
Deputy
Professor Dr. Frank Bremmer
