Research Group
Transformed Movements [Move]

Technology creates new sensori-motor tasks in which the execution and the display of movements are spatially separated. Typical is the display of a tool on a monitor and its control by way of indirect visual feedback. Human movements become slow, inaccurate, and strenuous under such conditions. The research of the group aims at an understanding of these performance limits and at the development of methods to overcome them.

Scientific Members

• Martin Fritz
• Kathrin Gajda
• Herbert Heuer (head)
• Thomas Kleinsorge
• Felix Klimmer
• Jenna Lüttgen
• Alwin Luttmann
• Cristina Massen
• Miya Kato Rand
• Sandra Sülzenbrück

Current research

• Field of research "Visual stimuli and reality"
  (Herbert Heuer, Felix Klimmer, Jenna Lüttgen, Katrin Rapp)
  In perceiving and controlling self-performed movements that are displayed on a monitor, characteristics of the visual stimuli can loose their relations to the physical world. For example the normal relation between a visual distance and a motor distance can be lost so that distances are indeterminate. We inquire about spontaneously chosen movement amplitudes in such situations and about ways to re-calibrate the visual stimuli. (more ...)

• Field of research "Transformations ? learning and performance"
  (Herbert Heuer, Martin Fritz, Thomas Kleinsorge, Jenna Lüttgen, Cristina Massen, Sandra Sülzenbrück, Kathrin Gajda)
  Adaptation to the transformation characteristics of a tool appears to be largely implicit. We ask for the joint effects of implicit and explicit adjustments to modifications of the visuo-motor gain and for the performance with a particular kind of tool, a lever that can be rotated and shifted. (more ...)

• Field of research "Age-related changes"
  (Herbert Heuer, Miya Kato Rand)
  Transformed movements with indirect vision seem to be a particular challenge for older workers. In a series of studies within the DFG Priority Program "Altersdifferenzierte Arbeitssysteme" we ask for the boundary conditions under which age-related changes of different types can be observed. (more ...)

• Field of research "Simulation and training"
  (Felix Klimmer, Alwin Luttmann)
  In close cooperation with the intergroup research initiative "Fine-motor skills in medicine" means of improvement of sensori-motor skills in endoscopic, minimally-invasive surgery are explored. (more ...)

Research facilities

• Different systems for the recording of movement
• Generation of force fields for movement
• Stereoscopic presentation of movements
• Phantoms for simulation and training

Recent grants

• "Age-related variations of the control of movements with spatially separated execution and monitoring", DFG (Priority Program "Altersdifferenzierte Arbeitssysteme"), 2005-2011
• "Motor control with tools", DFG, 2008-2010
• Human behavioral modeling for enhancing learning by optimizing human-robot interaction (HUMOUR), EU, 2009-2011

Co-operations

Priority Program "Altersdifferenzierte Arbeitssysteme"
HUMOUR-consortium
Prof. Dr. W. Kunde (TU Dortmund)
Prof. Dr. J. Müsseler (RWTH Aachen)
Prof. Dr. O. Bock (DSHS Köln)

Selected publications

• Massen C: Observing human interaction with physical devices. Exp Brain Res 199: 49-58 (2009).

• Massen C: Effects of instruction on learners' ability to generate an effective pathway in the method of loci. Memory 17: 724-731 (2009).

• Heuer H, Hegele M: Adjustment to a complex visuo-motor transformation at early and late working age. Ergonomics 52: 1039-1054 (2009).

• Massen C, Prinz W: Movements, actions and tool-use actions: an ideomotor approach to imitation. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 384: 2349-2358 (2009).

• Sülzenbrück S, Heuer H: Learning the visuomotor transformation of virtual and real sliding levers: simple approximations of complex transformations. Exp Brain Res 195: 153-165 (2009).

• Heuer H, Sülzenbrück S: Trajectories in operating a handheld tool. J Exp Psychol: HPP 35: 375-389 (2009).

• Sülzenbrück S, Heuer H: Functional independence of explicit and implicit motor adjustments. Consciousness Cogn 18: 145-159 (2009).

• Heuer H, Hegele M: Adaptation to visuomotor rotations in younger and older adults. Psychol Aging 23: 190-202 (2008).

• Heuer H, Hegele M: Constraints on visuo-motor adaptation depend on the type of visual feedback during practice. Exp Brain Res 185: 101-110 (2008).

• Müsseler J, Kunde W, Gausepohl D, Heuer H: Does a tool eliminate spatial compatibility effects? Eur J Cogn Psychol 20: 211-231 (2008).

• Publications