RESEARCH INTERESTS

At present there are general discussions about self/agency, consciousness, the evolution of mind, will/volition and human freedom, which can be seen as an interdisciplinary interest in these key issues of research, for example in biology, neurology, psychology and philosophy (neurophilosophy).

Based on those subjects our research deals with the human brain function in voluntary movements and procedural learning (motor learning) which is processed in the frontal lobe. Especially the rapid temporal dynamics of the cortical motor areas – the (pre-)supplementary motor area (SMA), the cingulate motor area (CMA) and the primary motor area (MI) measured by electroencephalography (EEG) or magnetoencephalography (MEG) – are the focus of my work.

To keep an eye on our every day life, we often perform two or more actions in parallel while focussing our conscious supervision on only one of them (e.g. walking, cycling or typing). The question arises, how do we manage to maintain sufficient control for such less consciously monitored actions? In the beginning of a procedural learning process, voluntary guidance is highly needed for the planning of the action, the accurate performance and the error detection. Experiments about the acquisition of novel motor skills show that, the more a new movement is learned by practicing, the more the conscious monitoring by the SMA decreases. The end point is the state, called ‘over trained movement.’ We realise these actions automatic and do not need to consciously supervise them all the time.

RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP

2008 FISB research fellowship of the University Vienna for the project (FNr:227):
‘Neuroelectric Study of Intentionality – Varying Conscious Load on Movement: Conscious Action versus Automatic Performance.’

TEACHING

ST 2009 Tutor at the lecture and practical course: ‘Digital Acquisition of Human Surface Morphology and Behaviour.‘

ST 2008, WT 2008/09 Tutor at the lecture: ‘Seminar for Masters, Diploma- and PhD-students in Anthropology.‘