Sensorimotor control and mechanisms: from neuropsychology to neurophysiology

In this seminar, I will present my journey as a scientist since my PhD to my actual position as a post-doc researcher in Rochelle Ackerley’s team. The objective here is simply to introduce myself to the other members of the LNC. My research interest is primarily focused on the mechanisms underlying sensorimotor actions and activities, which include all types of motor activities that lead to develop skills in terms of movement control and that may depend upon sensory feedback for refinement, from simple, e.g. object manipulation, to more complex ones, e.g. playing a music instrument. My journey as a scientist has led me to study various aspects of motor control and sensory feedback under neuropsychological and neurophysiological perspectives. As a psychologist (PhD), I studied the neuropsychological functions underlying the planning and execution of rhythmic actions. As a neurophysiologist (post-doc), I learned to record from and to stimulate nerve fibers in awake humans (microneurography and microstimulation techniques) to study sensory feedback within action-related topics (active touch, object manipulation in nerve-wired prosthetics users, slip detection, etc.). Now in Marseille, within the ArtTouch project, I hope to further develop my technical skills as a microneurographer by recording from diverse fiber sub-types (proprioceptors, C fibers) or using more complex stimuli (water, skin-to-skin contacts), as well as to further develop knowledge on sensorimotor related topics (touch, active touch, experience-driven plasticity in experts, origin of the phantom sensations in amputee individuals, etc.).