Neurocognition and ­Action - Biomechanics

Ideomotor Stimulation in Manual Actions: Synchronized Brainwaves and Eye Tracking Measurement

Project duration: 2016/10 - 2018/09
Project funding: 40.000 Euro
Chnia Scholarship Council

Previous Event-Related Potentials (ERP) studies have shown different neurophysiological activations during grasping between planning initial or final action goals. Even though the results were still controversial, those slow waves could be considered as anticipated ERPs. Also, a recent study has shown anticipated fixations took place 400ms before grasping, and the fixations located to the index finger position. This project aims to investigate the functional relationships between the anticipated ERPs and the anticipated gaze behaviors in the planning and execution of manual actions. Whether the anticipated ERPs can predict anticipated gaze? Whether the motor system and gaze system have bidirectional information exchanges? The synchronized ERP and eye-tracking measurement will be used in two grasp-and-rotation tasks and a joint-action task to answer the above-mentioned questions. The results will not only give us a better understanding on the neurocognitive process in planning and control manual actions, but also give some useful insights to robotics scientists on human machine interaction and brain machine interface.