POST

Perception of Space and Time

01/06/2023 to 30/05/2027

Humans and animals gain information about surrounding space by integrating the spatio-temporal structure of sensory inputs experienced at different locations. In hearing, the time and intensity differences recorded at both ears are processed to locate sound sources and determine the nature of the surrounding space. In the tactile modality, the spatial properties of an object are determined from the temporal and proprioceptive information obtained through tactile finger movements across the object surface. How and where this information is brought together in the brain is so far only insufficiently understood. The project will use neurophysiological imaging methods such as magnetoencephalography (MEG) and electroencephalography (EEG) to investigate the formation of a spatial percept from spatiotemporal structures of the sensory input and from proprioceptive information. It is hypothesized that key areas for the emergence of a spatial stimulus percept are the stimulus modality-specific primary sensory cortices, the precuneus and the right hemispheric parietal cortex, respectively the right temporo-parietal-occipital junction.