The cognitive and sensory control of goal-directed movement

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One of the brain's primary functions is movement. Although many of our day-to-day movements appear ‘simple', they are in fact incredibly complex. For example, when grasping a cup of coffee our brain must identify where the cup is, specify the muscle commands required to move the limb, and produce an appropriate amount of force to ensure a stable grasp. All of this is generally performed without our conscious awareness, as demonstrated by the numerous times we have grasped an object while focusing attention on the television or a newspaper article. ******The long-term objective of this research program is to better understand how knowledge and information from our sensory systems (i.e., vision and touch) contributes to the effective and efficient movements supporting our activities of daily living. This research program will use technology to track the movement of the eyes and the limbs and integrate that information with a direct measure of brain activity (i.e., electroencephalography). The simultaneous measurement of movement and brain activity will provide a direct framework to understand how the brain controls our movements. In the short-term, this research program involves a series of investigations in three interrelated research themes:*** Theme A: The role of haptic feedback in grasping. Objective: To determine the spatiotemporal properties permitting an absolute visuo-haptic and tactile-haptic calibration in grasping.*** Theme B: ‘Slow' cognitive control in movement. Objective: To determine the behavioural properties and neural mechanisms associated with actions involving top-down cognitive control.*** Theme C: Cognitive rules supporting movement. Objective: To identify the cognitive rule(s) used by the motor system to encode a target property in a multi-stimulus and -sensory environment.******The research proposed herein will enhance our understanding of how the brain controls movement. Thus, insights gained from this program will support our understanding of neuromotor disorders and the development of rehabilitation programs that promote motor recovery and circumvent movement deficits. Moreover, this program will enhance our understanding of how fundamental activities of daily living are performed and therefore serve to identify techniques facilitating occupational training and skills development in novice and elite levels of sport.