Position:
Ph.D. student
- Christian Keysers
Primates constantly observe each other’s actions. The movements of other conspecifics provide critical information for them. Humans in particular 'read' the actions of others and able to act together with other humans (Puce and Perrett, 2003). Talking, dancing, playing football and many other collective actions are examples of what are called joint actions: actions where two or more people coordinate their actions in space and time to produce a change in the environment (Sebanz et al., 2006). Astonishingly we can engage in many joint actions effortlessly although each of these activities requires coordination of two separate bodies and minds. This fascinating ability is the focus of my current experiment exploring the neural basis of joint actions by using fMRI.
Puce, A. and Perrett, D. (2003). Electrophysiology and brain imaging of biological motion. Philos. Trans. R Soc Lond B Biol Sci, 358(1431):435–445.
Sebnaz, N., Bekkering, H., Knoblich, G. . (2006). Trends in Cognitive Neuroscience, Vol 10(2), 70-76.
Academic Profile:
Briefly, my broad interest is the brain systems that are dedicated to process information in the social domain. Moreover since in daily life social information is communicated in an interactive and spontaneous manner I am keen on experimental settings let us grasp that interaction in a near-real life fashion.
Posters:
- Shared emotions increase MEG coherences in couples: a semi-interactive study. Leiberg, S., Kokal, I., Anders, S.
- Synchronized Drumming Enhances Activity in the Caudate and Facilitates Prosocial Commitment - If the Rhythm Comes Easy
- Acting together in and beyond the Mirror Neuron System. Kokal I., Gazzola V., Keysers C. NeuroImage 47, 2009, 2046-2056
- Kokal I, Keysers C (2010) Granger Causality Mapping during Joint Actions Reveals Evidence for Forward Models That Could Overcome Sensory-Motor Delays. PLoS ONE 5(10): e13507
- Kokal I, Engel A, Kirschner S, Keysers C. Synchronized Drumming Enhances Activity in the Caudate and Facilitates Prosocial Commitment - If the Rhythm Comes Easy (under review)