Skilled Action & Memory Lab

Picture (top): Philip Patenall for the online cover of Nature Reviews Neurology highlighting our paper http://rdcu.be/F2RB

Countless number of action sequences are retrieved and performed daily from memory for tool use, speech, typing and handwriting, athletic and musical performance. How does the human brain enable us to encode, retrieve and control these skills? What changes in neural signalling and informational organisation underlie disorders or sequence learning and organisation, such as developmental coordination disorder (DCD)/ dyspraxia, stroke and Parkinson's Disease?

The goal of the “Skilled Action & Memory” lab is to deliver a better understanding of the neural and informational processes underlying skilled sequencing and timing of behaviour, and develop entry-points for interventions that to boost learning and performance in patients and the healthy population.

To address these goals we use sequence learning paradigms in combination with brain, muscular and behavioural recordings (fMRI, MEG/EEG, EMG, dynamics, kinematics, motor timing) and informational pattern analyses. This work is complemented by collaborations with colleagues who utilise computational, clinical and animal neurophysiology approaches to tackle related questions across disciplines.