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How do babies learn about their bodies? Newborns probably do not have a holistic perception of their body; instead they are starting to pick up correlations in the streams of individual sensory modalities (in particular visual, tactile, proprioceptive). The structure in these streams allows them to learn the first models of their bodies. The mechanisms behind these processes are largely unclear. In collaboration with developmental and cognitive psychologists, we want to shed more light on this topic by developing robotic models.
Through implementations in humanoid robots, the goal is to develop a concrete, embodied model of the development of multimodal (tactile-proprioceptive-visual) representations of the body and the space surrounding it. The models will be validated in behavioral scenarios that directly correspond to studies in infants (e.g., removal of stimulus from body parts). This is an example of the so-called synthetic methodology ("understanding by building") (see Hoffmann & Pfeifer 2018 for more details [author-version-pdf]).
An overview of body models in humans, animals, and robots is in this book chapter: Hoffmann, M. (2021), Body models in humans, animals, and robots: mechanisms and plasticity, in Yochai Ataria; Shogo Tanaka & Shaun Gallagher, ed., 'Body Schema and Body Image: New Directions', Oxford University Press, pp. 152-180. [arxiv-pdf]
I served as theTopic Editor of the Frontiers Research Topic Body Representations, Peripersonal Space, and the Self: Humans, Animals, Robots.
Editorial: Hoffmann, M.; Lanillos, P.; Jamone, L.; Pitti, A. & Somogyi, E. (2020), 'Body Representations, Peripersonal Space, and the Self: Humans, Animals, Robots', Frontiers in Neurorobotics 14, 35. [Open Access]
E-book: Hoffmann, M., Pitti, A., Jamone, L., Somogyi, E., Lanillos, P., eds. (2020). Body Representations, Peripersonal Space, and the Self: Humans, Animals, Robots. Lausanne: Frontiers Media SA. [Link - Frontiers Research Topic and e-book download]
The Learning Body Models: Humans, Brains, and Robots seminar at Lorentz center in Oct 2018 has been a great success!
Works related to this topic:
Khoury, J., Popescu, S. T., Gama, F., Marcel, V. and Hoffmann, M. (2022), Self-touch and other spontaneous behavior patterns in early infancy, in 'IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL)', pp. 148-155. [IEEE Xplore][pdf@researchgate]
Marcel, V.; O'Regan, Kevin, J. & Hoffmann, M. (2022), Learning to reach to own body from spontaneous self-touch using a generative model, in 'IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL)', pp. 328-335. [IEEE Xplore][pdf@researchgate]
Gama, F.; Shcherban, M.; Rolf, M. & Hoffmann, M. (2023), 'Goal-directed tactile exploration for body model learning through self-touch on a humanoid robot', IEEE Transactions on Cognitive and Developmental Systems 15 (2), 419-433. [IEEE Xplore - Open access]
Nguyen, P. D.; Hoffmann, M.; Pattacini, U. & Metta, G. (2019), Reaching development through visuo-proprioceptive-tactile integration on a humanoid robot – a deep learning approach, in 'Joint IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning and Epigenetic Robotics (ICDL-EpiRob)', pp. 163-170. [preprint]
Hoffmann, M.; Straka, Z.; Farkas, I.; Vavrecka, M. & Metta, G. (2018), 'Robotic homunculus: Learning of artificial skin representation in a humanoid robot motivated by primary somatosensory cortex', IEEE Transactions on Cognitive and Developmental Systems 10 (2), 163-176. [IEEE Xplore][postprint-pdf][long video][short video]
Other publications (not referenced above)
Overview publications
Hoffmann, M. & Longo, M. R. (2022), Body models in humans and robots, in Adrian Alsmith & Matthew R. Longo, ed., 'The Routledge Handbook of Bodily Awareness', Routledge, pp. 185-197. [arxiv-pdf][publisher page]
Hoffmann, M. & Pfeifer, R. (2018), Robots as powerful allies for the study of embodied cognition from the bottom up, in A. Newen, L. de Bruin; & S. Gallagher, ed., 'The Oxford Handbook 4e Cognition', Oxford University Press, pp. 841-862.[author-version-pdf][please send me an email to get a nicely formatted version from the publisher][Oxford Uni Press]
Hoffmann, M. (2017), The role of self-touch experience in the formation of the self, in 'The Development of the Self Workshop at IEEE ICDL-EpiRob 2017'. [arxiv-pdf]
Hoffmann, M.; Chinn, L. K.; Somogyi, E.; Heed, T.; Fagard, J.; Lockman, J. J. & O'Regan, J. K. (2017), Development of reaching to the body in early infancy: From experiments to robotic models, in 'Joint IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning and Epigenetic Robotics (ICDL-EpiRob)', pp. 112-119. [postprint]
Developmental psychology
Somogyi, E.; Hamilton, M.; Chinn, L. K.; Jacquey, L.; Heed, T.; Hoffmann, M.; Lockman, J. J.; Fagard, J. & O'Regan, J. K. (2023), 'Tactile training facilitates infants' ability to reach to targets on the body', Child development. [DOI][online ahead of print]
Chinn, L. K.; Hoffmann, M.; Leed, J. E. & Lockman, J. J. (2019), 'Reaching with one arm to the other: Coordinating touch, proprioception, and action during infancy', Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 183, 19-32. [Science Direct]
Chinn, L. K.; Noonan, C.F.; Hoffmann, M. & Lockman, J. J. (2019), 'Development of infant reaching strategies to tactile targets on the face', Front. Psychol. 10, 9. [Open Access]
Somogyi, E.; Jacquey, L.; Heed, T.; Hoffmann, M.; Lockman, J.; Granjon, L.; Fagard, J. & O'Regan, J. K. (2018), 'Which limb is it? Responses to vibrotactile stimulation in early infancy', British Journal of Developmental Psychology 36(3), 384-401. [Open Access]
Embodied computational modeling
Malinovska, K.; Farkas, I.; Harvanova, J. & Hoffmann, M. (2022), A connectionist model of associating proprioceptive and tactile modalities in a humanoid robot, in 'IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL)', pp. 336-342.[IEEE Xplore]
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