PhD Student at the Institute for Neural Computation at Ruhr University Bochum

The project will form the research component of doctoral studies at the Institute for Neural Computation at Ruhr University Bochum (https://www.ini.rub.de/, https://www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/en ), which is a vibrant interdisciplinary environment with a broad range of research groups. The project is part of the European Training Network REPAIRS (RE-learning Perception-Action In Rehabilitation from a Systems perspective)) (https://repairs-etn.eu/ ), which will train 15 highly-skilled PhD students in fundamental research on how individuals re-learn perception and action and in cutting-edge rehabilitation practice using a systems perspective. The project also provides ample training opportunities in transferable and networking skills.

How the targets of reaching movements are selected is being studied to understand the neural basis for decision making. The classical theoretical framework is based on accumulating perceptual information along a decision dimension until a criterion level is reached. Behavioral and neural evidence suggests, however, that the time course of perceptual information matters and that this information is continuously coupled into motor processes even after movement initiation. This is exemplified in the mouse tracking paradigm, in which the decision process unfolds while a movement is ongoing.