Project description
Interpreting instructions to the brain
How the brain interprets instructions and sets them to physical action, is a complex process. It is also poorly understood. The EU-funded InstrAct project aims to provide a fundamental description of the information transformation that occurs during this process, combining behavioural paradigms, cutting-edge methodology and analytical tools that have recently been developed. The significance of the research programme is timely as debates abound in the field of neuroscience in connection with the structure of cognitive control and working memory systems. The InstrAct project will also prove conducive to spurring advances in other disciplines such as robotics and artificial intelligence, which can help develop human-like, complex, collaborative artificial systems.
Objective
From air traffic control to large surgery teams, some of the most advanced human collaborative achievements largely rely on our ability to successfully give and follow instructions. Given the combination of novelty, speed, complexity and efficiency, significant effort has been devoted to characterize the mechanisms underlying this ability. However, how the human brain rapidly (i.e. in a matter of seconds) transforms the content of instructions into actions is still poorly understood. This project aims at providing a fundamental description of this transformation by combining recently developed behavioral paradigms and cutting edge methodological and analytical tools. This combination is expected to result in a significant step forward in the understanding of instructions following, compared to the state-of-the-art.
This project is especially timely given its relevance to ongoing debates in cognitive neuroscience regarding the structure of cognitive control and working memory systems. InstrAct will also be highly relevant to other disciplines such as robotics and artificial intelligence, which could benefit from the outcomes of this project to implement human-like, complex collaborative artificial systems, a crucial milestone in these fields.
The success of this proposal relies on the combination of my expertise on multivariate analysis of neuroimaging data with the strong theoretical guidance offered by Dr. Brass’ team at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Ghent University, a critical hub for cognitive control and instructions following in particular. The expected outcome of this project will, first, enhance the role of Ghent University and Europe as a hub for excellent research on instruction following. Second, it will be a boost in crucial aspects of my career, specifically, in the acquisition of new methodological and theoretical competences, allowing me to achieve my long-term goal of becoming an independent researcher.
Fields of science
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesartificial intelligence
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesneurobiologycognitive neuroscience
- social scienceseducational sciences
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicinesurgery
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringrobotics
Keywords
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinator
9000 Gent
Belgium