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SUMMARY:Motor Augmentation: The Brain's Journey Beyond Biological Boundari
 es - Dr Tamar Makin
DTSTART:20231106T180000Z
DTEND:20231106T193000Z
UID:TALK205348@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Drishtant Chakraborty
DESCRIPTION:In our pursuit of motor augmentation\, a key question arises: 
 (When) should we all get artificial limbs? Technology is progressing at a 
 remarkable pace\, providing us with wearable robotic technologies to subst
 itute\, and even supplement\, our own limbs\, freeing humans from the biol
 ogical constraints of their own bodies. But can the human brain embody the
 se exciting technologies as new body parts? I will describe recent neuroim
 aging and behavioural studies we’ve been conducting in amputees who use 
 prosthetic limbs to substitute their missing hand function. These studies 
 provide a first glimpse into neurocognitive opportunities and limitations 
 towards artificial limb embodiment. I will then present ongoing studies ex
 amining what happens to the somatosensory and motor systems of able-bodied
  people using the Third Thumb (by Dani Clode Design) – a hand augmentati
 on device. Collectively\, these studies suggest that although\, in princip
 le\, opportunities exist for harnessing hand neural and cognitive resource
 s to control artificial limbs\, the brain does not assimilate neural repre
 sentations for the artificial limb with those for the biological body\, hi
 ghlighting exciting future opportunities for expanding our bodies beyond o
 ur biological boundaries.
LOCATION:Wolfson Lecture Theatre\,  Department of Chemistry\, Lensfield Ro
 ad
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