Colloquium Cognitive Systems

Role of textures and slip motion for the control of hand movements

Alessandro Moscatelli, Ph.D. (University of Rome)

Abstract. Motor control of the hand requires the integration of multiple sensory information from muscle, joints and the skin, and internal model of the motor command. Whenever we touch an object or we slide our fingertip on it, features of the touched surface like its texture, softenss, and slip motion produce an illusory sensation of hand position and motion. Across different studies, we evaluated the systematic changes in the hand velocity profile and the motion path depending on tactile features of the stimuli stimuli. These phenomena can be explained by an optimal model that implies the integration of touch, proprioception, and internal models for the control of hand motion.

Bio. M.D., Ph.D., Alessandro Moscatelli is tenure track researcher (RTDb) at Department of Systems Medicine, University of Rome “Tor Vergata” and junior group leader at Department of Neuromotor Physiology, Santa Lucia Foundation IRCCS, Rome, Italy. He is a board member of the EuroHaptics Society (2018–present). Alessandro Moscatelli received a Medical Doctor degree and a postgraduate master’s degree from the University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’, in 2006 and 2008 respectively, both cum laude. He received the PhD in Neuroscience from University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’ in 2010, under supervision of Prof. F. Lacquaniti. From 2011 to 2015, he worked as Post Doc at the Department of Cognitive Neuroscience and CITEC of the Bielefeld University, led by Prof. M.O. Ernst. His research interests include haptic, the integration of proprioception and touch, tactile and visual perception of motion, and motor control of the hand.