Development, Aging & Learning

We develop a large arsenal of sophisticated motor behaviors from the moment we are born. In the elderly, however, motor skills are jeapordized, calling for an in-depth research for age-related changes in motor control.

Gait and Balance in Children

FirSteps – The Emergence of Walking in Children

The first independent step of a child may be small, but it represents a giant leap for its development. This project addresses the emergence of coordination patterns and motor primitives or muscle synergies in typically developing children and in children with cerebral palsy.

Learn2Walk – Brain meets spine

We analyze brain and muscular activity in typically developing children and in children with cerebral palsy. We seek to unravel the reorganization of cortical and cortico-muscular activity accompanying the development of walking with the ultimate aim to design novel rehabilitation techniques for cerebral palsy.

Motor Learning in the Elderly

Age effects in bimanual coordination

We study the relationship between altered inter- and intra-hemispheric structural and functional connectivities in the motor the network. Our focus is on the correlation between connectivies and declined motor performance in the elderly.

Move-Age

Understanding Ageing and Mobility. Funded by the EU as part of the Erasmus Mundus program, this international training network involves 40-odd PhD students studying age-related changes in human movement.