Neural Control of Movement Laboratory

Research areas

  • Examination of the effects of posture (standing vs sitting) on the control of saccadic eye movements in the elderly. Collaborators: Jimenez, Palmisano, Hollands, McAndrew, Stapley
  • Identification of a model of postural control that accounts for unexpected changes in a final goal of an arm movement. Collaborators: Stapley, Palmisano, McAndrew.
  • Identification of multiple muscle synergies for reaching in multiple directions during stance. Collaborators: Stapley, Hilt, Pozzo
  • The role of the trunk muscles when reaching in multiple directions. Collaborators: Stamenkovic, Stapley
  • Strategies for coordinating posture and movement in young people in different situations: i) with full vision of the arm and environment, and ii) with only vision of the target (no other visual information about arm, body position or the environment). Collaborators: Stapley, Palmisano, Kim, Markoulli, McAndrew, Hollands.
  • Testing a behavioural model of posture and movement control in the elderly. We will test how the elderly control for unexpected perturbations to balance caused by changes to planned arm movements. Collaborators: McAndrew, Palmisano, Kim, Markoulli, Hollands. This is the major focus of a current NHMRC application.
  • Effects of Stroke on the coordination of movement and balance. Collaborators: McAndrew, Carmody, Stapley.
  • Initiating studies of cortical contributions to balance during reaching. Using the Transcranial Magnetic Stimulator, we'll be starting pilot experiments to identify areas of the motor cortex that evoke responses in the arms and legs during human reaching movements. Collaborators on this are: Darryl McAndrew (NCML, GSM), Rodney Croft (Psychology), Stephen Palmisano (Psychology).

Staff

Collaborators

  • Associate Professor Stephen Palmisano (School of Psychology, UOW)
  • Dr Juno Kim (Optometry and Vision Science, UNSW)
  • Dr Maria Markoulli (Optometry and Vision Science, UNSW)
  • Prof Andrew Bonney (School of Medical, Indigenous and Health Sciences, UOW)
  • Prof Thierry Pozzo (INSERM, Université de Bourgogne, Dijon, France)
  • Prof Romuald Lepers (INSERM, Université de Bourgogne, Dijon, France)
  • Prof Rodney Croft (Australian Centre for Electromagnetic Bioeffects Research, School of Psychology)
  • Dr Pauline Hilt (INSERM, Université de Bourgogne, Dijon, France)
  • Dr John Carmody (The Wollongong Hospital)