Neurocognition and Action - Biomechanics
© Universität Bielefeld
Information processing during action observation and imitation - memory encoding, retrieval and the influence from higher cognitive functions
Project duration: 2015/10 - 2017/10
Project funding: 80.000 Euro
My research interests focus on a) the interaction between perception, action, and cognition, b) motor skill learning and training-induced plasticity, and c) proprioception and body awareness. Specifically, I am interested in knowing how the top-down, knowledge-based system interacts with the bottom-up, execution-based system in motor learning process, and how the information acquired during action observation is transformed and represented in the cognitive and the motor systems for generating further actions.
My PhD project focuses on the fundamental mechanism of the observation and imitation of the ?dance-like actions? (i.e., movements seen as the intended outcome rather than a means to an end), trying to investigate the relation between memory encoding and retrieval when different observation and imitation strategies are used, and how the knowledge acquired from previous visual or motor experiences modulates action perception, imitation, and the formation of motor memory.
