We do need to have some access to our performed actions so as to make the necessary corrections. Our actions generate sensory data that need to be quickly processed. In a recent project we address how sensory consequences of our motor actions are processed and which attributes of these sensory consequences are coupled with external sensory data. Experiments involve cross-sensory and sensory-motor recalibrations.
Another aspect of interest is the spatial and temporal contributions of moving stimuli on our perception of the near-space, the one in which our actions take place. Within the context of an European Project funded by the ESF, we are interested in whether the same spatio-temporal contributions apply for perception and action.
How do we combine different sorts of retinal (monocular and binocular) and other sensory information (e.g. haptic feedback) in order to perform interceptive tasks? This is the main question addressed in this line. Interceptive timing implicitly involves localising the moving targets in space and time. In addition, not only can we combine sensed data but also use different sort of previous knowledge for recalibrating our actions with respect to sensory data. This reserach is done in collaboration with David Field and John Wann, and Eli Brenner and Jeroen BJ Smeets.
In collaboration with Elisabet Tubau and Bernhard Hommmel, I explore how performance of sequential actions can be improved. These aspects involve learning the correct order and fine-control on the execution of serial actions, specifically the benefits of multisensory rythmic patterns in order to overcome stimuli interferences.
This lines is closely related to how the sensory consequences of our actions are processed. We need to know how sensory data defined by spatio-temporal structures are perceived in some dimensions. This research is carried out in collaboration with my former PhD student Daniel Linares.
Finally, a fully understanding of motion perception must consider how motion signals from different sensory modalities are combined. In this line we study some of these sensory interactions between visual and auditory motion cues in speed perception. This study is carried out together with Salvador Soto-Faraco