Movement and sport sciences

The main research fields of our group are motor learning and motor control. Our aim is to find ways to facilitate the learning process of new movements and to optimize the learning rate or the performance. For this purpose, experiment participants are executing different motor exercises like postural control movements and force or accuracy tasks. A special focus is set to the understanding of “how” and “where” in the neural system the learning or the adaptation process of motor control takes place. In our laboratories, we examine the underlying corticoneural mechanisms in motor control with several neurophysiological and imaging techniques such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS).

Main lines of research

• Neural adaptations in response to long-term balance learning in young and old: behavioral, structural, functional and neurophysiological differences (SNF grant)
• Behavioral and neural responses to external postural perturbations among the lifespan (collaboration with the University of Konstanz, Germany and the Brock University St. Catharines, Canada)
• Trainability and specificity of balance tasks in the short- and long-term
• Consolidation and interference of motor control tasks
• Biomechanical analysis of jumps and locomotion