Understanding human action as observable cognition using combined motion-tracking, eye-tracking and EEG

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It is conventional to characterize human behaviour as a serial process: first we receive external stimuli (Perception), then we select and process relevant information (Cognition) and finally we produce movements (Action). While convenient, this simple conceptualization fails to capture the rich dynamics of real neural processing and behaviour. In this proposal, I will explore one of the limitations of this conventional thinking and demonstrate how action is best understood as an observable component of cognition, rather than an isolated, last step in a serial process. This important and new idea suggests that it is not just what actions we make, but also the subtleties of how we perform them that directly reflects our thought processes. This large-scale, long term objective will be investigated in a research program divided into two smaller-scale research themes. Each theme will be investigated by a research team, led by a graduate student with collaborative contributions from other graduate and undergraduate students.* *In the first theme, I will establish reciprocal links between cognition observed through neuroimaging and cognition observed in action through two research questions that directly build on my previous theoretical and methodological expertise: 1) What is the time course of target selection and obstacle avoidance? and 2) How does the reward or loss value of an object affect its processing? The resulting experiments will use completely novel methods, integrating reach-tracking, eye-tracking and electroencephalography. This integration offers several key advantages: First, it will provide compelling convergent evidence for the "action as observable cognition" hypothesis. Second, it will expand graduate students' toolkit of methods. Third, it will allow previously impossible correlations to be explored. For example, we will now have the power to see, on a trial by trial basis, how a specific neural marker correlates with where the eye is looking and how the hand is moving.**In the second theme I will test the intriguing implication that inner thoughts are detectable in movements and whether these "body thoughts" are communicable to another person. I will again use two research questions: 1) Is reward information (e.g. points assigned to targets) reflected in movement? and 2) Are individual hedonic preferences reflected in movement? The resulting experiments will use a combination of reach- and eye-tracking as well as two novel methods: person perception videos (where videos of participants in one experiment become the stimuli for participants in a second experiment) and dyad studies (where two participants perform a reaching task together to see how their mutual movements affect one another).* *This research program is designed to provide elite training for both undergraduate and graduate students. It will be conducted in a cutting edge research laboratory with integrated methods that are unique in the world. Most importantly, these bold new research directions will be investigated in a research atmosphere based on the principles of collaboration, passion and convergent techniques. The overarching goal of this work is to directly confront problems with the conventional view of behaviour in order to open up exciting and wide ranging research avenues. For instance, it leads to better understanding of autism spectrum disorders by understanding potential problems detecting and communicating body thoughts, better human computer interfaces by harnessing new technologies to recognize human thought from action and better diagnostic information to clinicians working with patients with motor deficits.