SPATIAL UPDATING · Update your environment: Neural foundations of spatial updating in real and virtual space

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Project objective

Knowing where one is relative to surrounding objects is a central feature of situational awareness and readiness to act. As we move through an environment, we must constantly update our location and orientation in order to effectively act upon external objects or to avoid getting lost. This process has been termed spatial updating, and it is of major importance in everyday life. For example, when objects go out of view or when people operate in situations that are rendered visually unreliable and impoverished, efficient behaviour crucially depends on accurate spatial updating. In sharp contrast to the wealth of behavioural studies on spatial updating, the underlying cortical system remains poorly understood. Conflicting findings in neurological patients wit h parietal lesions highlight the need for complementary methodological approaches.In addition, lesion studies do not allow to assign specific updating functions to circumscribed brain regions or to assess the dynamic interactions between participating structures. The current project will decipher the cortical network that supports spatial updating with a combination of behavioural research and neuro-imaging experiments. Highly sophisticated methodological techniques will be applied in the context of function al magnetic resonance imaging (i.e. effective connectivity) and diffusion tensor imaging (i.e. probabilistic fibre tracking).This approach will substantially extend our knowledge about how the human brain weights information from a surrounding environment in order to maintain oriented or to build up a corresponding mental representation. In addition, identifying the neural foundations of spatial updating will help to finesse current theories on environmental learning and to characterise the determinants o f inter-individual variability. Ultimately, these results can be used to derive a solid theoretical foundation for rehabilitative treatments in patients with orientation deficits.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

• UNIVERSITäTSKLINIKUM HAMBURG-EPPENDORF · HAMBURGCoordinatorCity levelGermany
• UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA · SANTA BARBARAUnited States

Links

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