SensMoTion Lab

Research

The Sensmotion group investigates the neural and computational mechanisms that underlie human and animal sensorimotor control, with a shared focus on how sensory information—particularly touch and vision—is integrated to guide movement. Combining neuroscience, engineering, and modeling, the group aims to understand how humans perceive, adapt, and interact with their environment through coordinated action.

One line of research focuses on the sense of touch, exploring how tactile stimuli are encoded in the peripheral nervous system and transformed into meaningful percepts. This work examines the neural coding of skin deformation, the cortical representation of touch, and how tactile feedback contributes to fine motor control. Experimental approaches include microneurography, neuroimaging, and computational modeling to bridge the gap between peripheral signals and perceptual experience.

Another research axis investigates visuomotor coordination and the control of object manipulation, with a particular emphasis on how humans adapt to changes in environmental dynamics. This includes the study of eye-hand coordination, sensorimotor adaptation, and motor planning in altered gravity environments. The goal is to understand how the nervous system maintains performance and stability in response to novel or unpredictable conditions.

A third research direction develops theoretical and computational models of motor control, grounded in experimental data. This work seeks to uncover the principles of feedback control, motor learning, and neural variability, using both human and robotic systems. It aims to explain how the brain generates robust and flexible motor behavior, and how these processes are shaped by sensory feedback and internal models.

The group’s research has applications in neurorehabilitation, where insights into sensorimotor integration inform the design of training protocols and assistive technologies; in the quantitative diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases, through the development of precise behavioral and neural biomarkers; and in human spatial exploration, where understanding sensorimotor adaptation supports the development of tools and strategies for manipulation and navigation in novel environments, including space.