Research

Every new born has to learn to construct its own body model based on multisensory information (perception) and to evaluate it by action. We believe that cyber-physical interactions – involving the control of an alternative ‘body’ in virtual, augmented, or remote environments – may be seen as involving a similar active learning process. We want to understand this process through virtual reality-based experiments and computational modelling of our participants’ behavioural and brain responses.

To experimentally investigate this process, we use virtual reality environments specifically designed to promote switching between alternative ‘bodies’. During these experiments, we record behavioural (e.g., by state-of-the-art sensors such as data gloves) and brain responses (e.g., by functional magnetic resonance imaging or electroencephalography), as well as our participants’ self-reports. This allows us to look at how our manipulations affect behaviour, brain activity, and subjective experience together. To reach a deeper, mechanistic understanding of these data, we use computational modelling inspired by frameworks like predictive coding and active inference.

Selected publications

Limanowski, J., Litvak, V., & Friston, K. (2020). Cortical beta oscillations reflect the contextual gating of visual action feedback. NeuroImage, 222, 117267. (Link)

Limanowski, J., & Friston, K. (2020). Attentional weighting of vision vs proprioception during action. Cerebral Cortex, 30(3), 1637–1648. (Link)

Limanowski, J., & Friston, K. (2020). Active inference under visuo-proprioceptive conflict: Simulation and empirical results. Scientific Reports, 10, 4010. (Link)

Limanowski, J., Lopes, P., Keck, J., Baudisch, P., Friston, K., & Blankenburg, F. (2020). Action-dependent processing of touch in the human parietal operculum and posterior insula. Cerebral Cortex, 30(2), 607–617. (Link)

Limanowski, J., & Friston, K. (2020). Attenuating oneself: An active inference perspective on “selfless” experiences. Philosophy and the Mind Sciences, 1(I), 6. (Link)