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Reposted by Plasticity Lab

Nature @nature.com · Aug 21

A brain-imaging study of people with amputated arms has upended a long-standing belief

go.nature.com/3Jp9NPG

The brain’s map of the body is surprisingly stable — even after a limb is lost

Study challenges the textbook idea that the brain region that processes body sensations reorganizes itself after limb amputation.

go.nature.com

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Plasticity Lab @plasticity-lab.bsky.social · Aug 21

Super pleased to see this heroic effort finally in print!! Many thanks to Hunter, our amazing study participants, and everyone else who made this fantastic study come true.

Hunter Schone @hunterschone.bsky.social · Aug 21

Now out in @natneuro.nature.com

What happens to the brain’s body map when a body-part is removed?

Scanning patients before and up to 5 yrs after arm amputation, we discovered the brain’s body map is strikingly preserved despite amputation

www.nature.com/articles/s41593-025-02037-7

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Reposted by Plasticity Lab

Sam McDougle @actlab.bsky.social · Jul 24

Happy to announce that my lab @ Yale Psychology (actcompthink.org) will be accepting PhD applications this year (for start in Fall '26)!

Come for the fun experiments on human learning, memory, & skilled behavior, stay for the best 🍕 in the US.

Please reach out if you have any questions!

Homepage of the Action, Computation, & Thinking (ACT) Lab, Yale department of psychology

actcompthink.org

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Plasticity Lab @plasticity-lab.bsky.social · Jul 22

Awesome to see our own @daniclode.bsky.social featured as a highlight of the UN #AIforGood Summit!
Check out the summary of her talk—plus other key discussions on how AI can restore agency, enhance accessibility, and foster deeper human connection:
www.linkedin.com/posts/ai-for...

LIVE from the #AIforGood Global Summit! | AI for Good

LIVE from the #AIforGood Global Summit! What was just covered at Frontier Stage? AI for restoring agency, enhancing accessibility, and empowering deeper human connection. Here’s a summary of the sess...

www.linkedin.com

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Plasticity Lab @plasticity-lab.bsky.social · Jul 17

In summary:
– Force control offers better early motor performance
– EMG fosters learning generalization
– Raw EMG contains hidden potential
Read the full preprint at doi.org/10.1101/2025.06.16.658246. Thanks to all co-authors and participants!
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doi.org

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Plasticity Lab @plasticity-lab.bsky.social · Jul 17

So, what does this tell us?
EMG control may be harder initially, but it offers a richer signal and better transfer of learning. With optimised hardware and software, it could be a powerful interface for future augmentation device control.
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Plasticity Lab @plasticity-lab.bsky.social · Jul 17

And how do users perceive the Thumb? Participants reported a strong sense of agency (control over the Thumb) but no body ownership (it didn’t feel like part of the body). All categories of embodiment were rated similarly for both EMG and FS.
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Plasticity Lab @plasticity-lab.bsky.social · Jul 17

Using predictive modelling, we found the force control signal could predict performance, whilst the processed EMG control signal could not predict EMG performance.
But importantly, the raw EMG signal could act as a predictor. This suggests pre-processing might discard important information.
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Plasticity Lab @plasticity-lab.bsky.social · Jul 17

To provide a mechanistic insight into this generalisation, we cross-correlated the toe-movement signal and muscle signal, and observed a high correlation during EMG control, suggesting participants are expressing force-related toe movements while using the EMG control, contributing to learning!
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Plasticity Lab @plasticity-lab.bsky.social · Jul 17

But we also saw that the control method participants started with impacted learning transfer to their second control method.
Beginning with EMG control led to superior transfer when switching to force control – suggesting muscle control is a better tutor for generalisable learning.
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Plasticity Lab @plasticity-lab.bsky.social · Jul 17

On the proportional control task completed before and after training, force control continued to demonstrate a clear advantage. However, participants showed similar learning gains across both control modalities.
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Plasticity Lab @plasticity-lab.bsky.social · Jul 17

Surprisingly, an additional cognitive load during the collaboration motor task did not affect performance for either control modality. Participants also performed similarly in the cognitive load arithmetic task, regardless of control.
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Plasticity Lab @plasticity-lab.bsky.social · Jul 17

Across all training tasks, both control methods enabled use of the Third Thumb, but force control consistently yielded better task performance.
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Plasticity Lab @plasticity-lab.bsky.social · Jul 17

EMG-based control is closer to the neural source; muscle activity precedes motion. Our initial hypothesis: EMG should enable more intuitive and efficient learning.
We compared both control modalities across multiple motor tasks using a counterbalanced within-participants design.
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Plasticity Lab @plasticity-lab.bsky.social · Jul 17

The Third Thumb is designed to extend and enhance the motor abilities of an already fully functional hand. It was initially designed to be proportionally controlled by movement of the wearer’s toes via force sensors.
But what if we tapped into muscle signals directly instead?
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Plasticity Lab @plasticity-lab.bsky.social · Jul 17

Can you control an extra robotic finger just by flexing your leg muscles?
In our new study, we put EMG-based muscle control to the test, comparing it to traditional toe force sensor control for operating the Third Thumb (designed by @daniclode.bsky.social).
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Reposted by Plasticity Lab

Maggie Szymanska @maggieszymanska.bsky.social · Jul 15

Great start to #IMRF2025 with Symposium 2 all about body representation and some amazing talks! Really enjoyed hearing about how sounds can affect it, e.g. with the auditory pinocchio illusion 🔊, something quite different than what I work on but so fun!

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Plasticity Lab @plasticity-lab.bsky.social · Jul 9

Exciting day at the fascinating UN #AIforGood summit! @daniclode.bsky.social presented on designing for augmentation and the Third Thumb, Tamar then presented our research looking at the neural embodiment of robotic limbs! Smashing it 🦾

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Plasticity Lab @plasticity-lab.bsky.social · Jul 7

Thrilled to share our most recent work led by our brilliant PhD student @mariamolinasan.bsky.social, exploring generalisation of motor learning with a robotic limb, featuring The Third Thumb 🦾

Maria Molina-Sanchez @mariamolinasan.bsky.social · Jul 7

Can humans use artificial limbs for body augmentation as flexibly as their own hands?
🚨 Our new interdisciplinary study put this question to the test with the Third Thumb (@daniclode.bsky.social), a robotic extra digit you control with your toes!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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Plasticity Lab @plasticity-lab.bsky.social · Jul 4

Our PhD students @maggieszymanska.bsky.social and Julien Russ ready to present their posters today at #BRNet2025! Find them in the poster room at 2pm, talking about phantom limb pain and using EMG to control the Third Thumb 🧠

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Plasticity Lab @plasticity-lab.bsky.social · Jul 3

Having a great time in Utrecht at #BRNet2025! Today, our very talented postdoc @celiafoster.bsky.social and amazing PhD student Ema Jugovic presented their posters. Really great work showcasing our new Third Thumb studies 🧠

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Reposted by Plasticity Lab

Maggie Szymanska @maggieszymanska.bsky.social · Jul 3

Great talk by Matej Hoffman starting off Day 2 of #BRNet2025. Really exciting to see our BOLDkids research on congenital limb difference mentioned as well! Also - what an amazing venue 😊

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Plasticity Lab @plasticity-lab.bsky.social · Jun 27

Our lab had a fantastic time this week presenting our current work at @uksensorimotor25.bsky.social in Oxford 🧠

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Reposted by Plasticity Lab

Tal Seidel Malkinson @seideltal.bsky.social · Jun 11

🧠New postdoc position - come work with us in France! 🥐👩‍🔬

Two-Year Postdoc Position on the Role of Temporal Integration in Visual Attention Using Human Intracerebral Recordings | EURAXESS euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/351721

📆Starting Date: October 2025
⏱️Application deadline: 31 Aug 2025

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Plasticity Lab @plasticity-lab.bsky.social · Jun 19

Check-out our latest research! 🧠 @lucydowdall.bsky.social's PhD work looking at the sensory representation of an artificial limb is now up on bioRxiv! doi.org/10.1101/2025.06.16.658246 🦾 see her thread below highlighting some of our key findings

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