Understanding the brain mechanisms by which our mental events are transformed into goal-directed action remains one of the most significant and exciting challenges facing modern neuroscience. This transformation allows us the ability to interact with other individuals and objects in our surrounding environment, travel from point A to point B (walking, running, driving) and, through the hands of the most gifted artists and musicians, the capacity to fascinate and captivate the world. Thus, elucidating the cognitive underpinnings and neural circuits that drive our complex, goal-oriented behaviours is an important endeavour.

Our lab uses a combination of techniques including behavioural measurements, functional brain imaging (fMRI) and neuromodulation techniques to explore the cognitive and neural bases of a variety of processes—decision-making, perception, memory and learning—that govern the control of action. The results of our research will have applications in the study of injury and disease states that affect the mind and body.

Human somatosensory cortex is modulated during motor planning

Gale, D.J., Flanagan, J.R. & Gallivan, J.P.

The Journal of Neuroscience

Muting, not fragmentation, of functional brain networks under general anesthesia

Areshenkoff, C.A., Nashed, J.Y., Hutchison, R.M., Hutchison, M., Levy, R., Cook, D.J., Menon, R.S., Everling, S. & Gallivan, J.P.

Neuroimage

Reaching for known unknowns: Rapid reach decisions accurately reflect the future state of dynamic probabilistic information

Wiskpinski, N.J., Stone, S.A., Bertrand, J.K., Zuk, A.A., Lavoie, E. B., Gallivan, J.P. & Chapman, C.S.

Cortex

Motor planning modulates neural activity patterns in early human auditory cortex

Gale, D.J., Areshenkoff, C.A., Honda, C., Johnsrude, I. S., Flanagan, J.R. & Gallivan, J.P.

Cerebral Cortex

Motor memories in manipulation tasks are linked to contact goals between objects

McGarity-Shipley, M., Heald, J., Ingram, J., Gallivan, J.P., Wolpert, D.M., & Flanagan, JR.

The Journal of Neurophysiology

Dynamic reconfiguration, fragmentation and integration of whole-brain modular structure across depths of unconsciousness

Standage, D., Areshenkoff, C.N., Nashed, J.Y., Hutchison, R.M., Hutchison, M., Heinke, D., Menon, R.S., Everling, S., & Gallivan, J.P.

Cerebral Cortex

Human decision making anticipates future performance in motor learning

Moskowitz, J., Gale, D.J., Gallivan, J.P., Wolpert, D.M. & Flanagan, J.R.

PLoS Computational Biology

Separate motor memories are formed when implicitly controlling different locations on a tool

Proud, K., Heald, J., Ingram, J., Gallivan, J.P., Wolpert, D.M. & Flanagan, J.R.

Journal of Neurophysiology

Selective modulation of early visual cortical activity by movement intention

Gallivan, J.P., Chapman, C.S., Gale, D., Flanagan, J.R. & Culham, J.C.

Cerebral Cortex

Models, movements and minds: Bridging the gap between decision making and action

Wispinksi, N., Gallivan, J.P. & Chapman, C.S.

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

Decision-making in sensorimotor control

Gallivan, J.P., Chapman, C.S., Wolpert, D.M. & Flanagan, J.R.

Nature Reviews Neuroscience

The Dorsal 'Action' Pathway

Gallivan, J.P. & Goodale, M.A.

Handbook of Clinical Neurology

Functional coupling between frontoparietal and occipitotemporal pathways during action and perception

Hutchison, R.M. & Gallivan, J.P.

Cortex

Grip force during reaching with target uncertainty provides evidence for motor optimization over averaging

Nashed, J.Y., Diamond, J.S., Gallivan, J.P., Wolpert, D.M. & Flanagan, J.R.

Scientific Reports

Increased functional connectivity after stroke correlates with behavioural scores in a non-human primate model

Hernandez-Castillo, C.R., Nashed, J.Y., Fernandez-Ruiz, J., Wang, J., Gallivan, J.P. & Cook, D.J.

Scientific Reports

Neural representation of geometry and surface properties in object and scene perception

Lowe, M.X., Rasjic, J., Gallivan, J.P., Ferber, S. & Cant, J.S.

Neuroimage