EU/MUR-funded project PrefAcE

Interactions with our surroundings are at the basis of adaptive behaviours. In our day-to-day life, we effortlessly perform thousands of simple and complex actions within a fraction of a second. Yet, in this very short time, we need to process a myriad of information that spans the sensory, cognitive, and motor domain. This process is driven by a flow of predictions about the next phase of our movement, how it will affect our internal state and the external world. While theoretical models of predictive coding in the human brain have been studied for perception, the interactions between the sensory, cognitive and motor systems, and the neural computation underlying predictive coding for action are still unknown. Yet, evolution is also based on action, therefore predictive mechanisms must be important also for motor control. PrefAcE will combine neuroimaging techniques, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and magnetoencephalography (MEG), and advanced analysis approaches to understand how the human brain uses and retrieves sensory and memory-based information to make predictions about upcoming actions. A crucial aspect of PrefAcE is the implementation of experiments that will allow studying the manipulation of real tangible objects in the confined space of the MRI and MEG environment, resembling real-world sensory and motor experiences. This knowledge will set the foundations for a new way of thinking about brain organization. The long-term objective of PrefAcE is to contribute to informing guidelines for motor training and learning strategies in a variety of scenarios and populations, including individuals undergoing motor rehabilitation following brain disorders that affect the central nervous system. Ultimately, the results of PrefAcE will shed light on developmental disorders that affect internal models used for predictive coding and self-generated actions.