Our Research Focus
At the core of our work is a simple but powerful idea: perception is constructed by the brain. Every time we encounter a sensory stimulus, the brain doesn’t transmit that stimulus directly. Instead, it builds an internal representation, an interpretation, that becomes our conscious percept. You may touch with your hand, but what you feel is created by your brain.
We study this transformative process that links sensation to perception within a constantly shifting neural landscape. The brain’s internal model of the external world is encoded through complex patterns of neural activity, often referred to as the neural code.
Although this code is frequently simplified as a linear mapping from stimulus to spikes, in reality it is highly nonlinear, even at the earliest stages of sensory processing.
This complexity increases dramatically within the thalamocortical circuit, a critical hub through which nearly all sensory information passes on its way to the cortex.
Our research combines experimental approaches with computational modeling to uncover how somatosensory information is encoded across the neuraxis, from the skin to the cortex, with a particular emphasis on the dynamic and integrative role of the thalamus.
Latest News
-
What does awe do to our brains?
1 April 2025
Media
Podcast: A neuroengineered future
Technology Turbocharging Research
How neurotechnologies have transformed basic neuroscience research.