Frédéric Crevecoeur (UCLouvain)

Title: Neural mechanisms of sensorimotor control: towards a theory linking neural activity to motor behaviour

Abstract:

Contemporary neuroscience increasingly aims to build integrative frameworks that explain the relationship between neural activity and behaviour. Among the most widely used paradigms for quantifying behaviour in humans and other animals, motor control occupies a central position, because systems and control theory make it possible to formulate quantitative hypotheses about how the brain transforms sensory information into motor commands. In this presentation, I will discuss two examples linking neural activity to sensorimotor control. The first illustrates how abnormal movements observed in patients with Essential Tremor may originate from failures in estimating the state of the arm within the neural controller, giving rise to oscillations comparable to those observed in patients’ limbs. The second shows how motor cortex–like neural activity recorded during reaching movements in monkeys can emerge from a simple model that combines a neural network with a biomechanical plant. Both results offer quantitative insights that can help generate novel hypotheses about neural control of movement. Together, these examples illustrate how computational models provide powerful tools for interpreting physiological signals, with important implications for both basic neuroscience and translational research.

This seminar will take place in Room S09 at the Faculty of Sciences.