Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience

Faculty of Health Sciences

Dr Henning Holle
Reader in Psychology

+44 (0)1482 466152
h.holle@hull.ac.uk

The Challenge

We aim to understand the biological processes underlying cognition and perception, how these processes are established, how they differ in (a-)typically developing populations, and whether they are critically linked to particular brain areas.

The Approach

Members of the group use electrophysiological (EEG), neuroimaging (fMRI/fNIRS) as well as neuromodulatory methods (TMS/tDCS). These studies take place in research laboratories in the Department of Psychology as well via existing collaborations with the Hull and East Riding Hospitals NHS Trust.

OUR AIMS

To investigate the fundamental biological processes that underpin human cognition and perception
To identify brain areas causally involved in psychological processes
To study how these processes become established and change over time and as a consequence of disease
To investigate the potential benefit of brain stimulation methods for mitigating disease-related symptoms and enhancing cognition

Projects

Functional neuroanatomy of Language, Gesture and Action

Our research focuses on the brain processes underpinning language, gesture and action, using both human as well as robotic agents. Examples include neural bases of gesture-speech integration, the role of co-speech gesture in second language acquisition and neural correlates of action prediction and anticipation.

Clinical neuroscience of itch perception

We aim to identify brain regions critically involved in the perception of itch, as well as investigating whether itch intensity can be reduced via modulating brain activity or modulating sensory information.

Cognitive Neuroscience of Social cognition

This project investigates the brain processes and mechanisms underpinning social perception, social interaction and the processing of emotions. Current projects are concerned with theory of mind in people with autism, the neural basis of action prediction/anticipation in autism, as well as prediction of robotic actions.

Neural architecture of space representation

This theme focuses on the neural representation of far space (the space outside arm-reaching distance) vs near space (the space within arm-reaching distance). Our research takes a two-tiered approach, involving neuropsychological testing of patients with visuospatial neglect as well as virtual-lesion approaches using neuromodulatory methods such as TMS and tDCS.

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Functional neuroanatomy of language, gesture and action

Holle, Lindsay, Schindler, Riggs, O'Connor, Jellema, Tidoni

Our research focuses on the brain processes underpinning language, gesture and action. Examples include memory consolidation in language learning (Lindsay, Riggs, O'Connor), neural bases of gesture-speech integration (Holle, Schindler, Riggs), the role of co-speech gesture in second language acquisition (Holle, O'Connor) and neural correlates of action prediction and anticipation in humans as well as autonomous machines (Jellema, Schindler, Tidoni).

Clinical neuroscience of itch perception

Holle, Schindler, George

Current projects are concerned with the theory of mind in people with autism (Jellema, Riggs, O'Connor), the neural basis of action prediction/anticipation in autism (Jellema, Schindler) as well as with the neural basis of action prediction/anticipation of (non-)humanlike robots (Tidoni, Holle, Schindler).

Cognitive neuroscience of social cognition

Jellema, Schindler, Riggs, O'Connor, Tidoni

This project investigates the brain processes and mechanisms underpinning social perception, social interaction and the processing of emotions. Current projects are concerned with the perception of robots (Tidoni), theory of mind in people with autism (Jellema, Riggs, O'Connor) as well as the neural basis of action prediction/anticipation in autism (Jellema, Schindler).

Neural architecture of space representation

Schindler, Riggs, Large

This theme focuses on the neural representation of far space (the space outside arm-reaching distance) vs near space (the space within arm-reaching distance). Our research takes a two-tiered approach, involving neuropsychological testing of patients with visuospatial neglect (Schindler) as well as virtual-lesion approaches using neuromodulatory methods such as TMS and tDCS (Schindler, Riggs, Large).

Members

Dr Henning Holle

Reader in Psychology

Group Lead

Senior Lecturer

Lecturer in Psychology

C.Guerrini@hull.ac.uk

Reader

Lecturer

Lecturer in Psychology

richard.oconnor@hull.ac.uk

+44 (0)1482 466718

Professor Kevin Riggs

Professor

k.riggs@hull.ac.uk

+44 (0)1482 465525

Dr Igor Schindler

Head of Department Psychology

i.schindler@hull.ac.uk

+44 (0)1482 465563

Outputs and publications

Avenanti, A., Paracampo, R., Annella, L., Tidoni, E., & Aglioti, S. M. (2018). Boosting and decreasing action prediction abilities through excitatory and inhibitory tDCS of inferior frontal cortex. Cerebral Cortex, 28(4), 1282-1296.

Villa, R., Tidoni, E., Porciello, G., & Aglioti, S. M. (2018). Violation of expectations about movement and goal achievement leads to Sense of Agency reduction. Experimental Brain Research, 236(7), 2123-2135.

Boland, J., Riggs, K. J., & Anderson, R. J. (2018). A brighter future: The effect of positive episodic simulation on future predictions in non-depressed, moderately dysphoric & highly dysphoric individuals. Behav Res Ther, 100, 7-16. doi: 10.1016/j.brat.2017.10.010

Coleshill, M. J., George, D. N., & Mazzoni, G. (2017). Placebo Analgesia From a Rubber Hand. J Pain, 18(9), 1067-1077. doi:10.1016/j.jpain.2017.04.004

Eimontaite, I., Goel, V., Raymont, V., Krueger, F., Schindler, I., & Grafman, J. (2018). Differential roles of polar orbital prefrontal cortex and parietal lobes in logical reasoning with neutral and negative emotional content. Neuropsychologia. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.05.014

Palumbo, L., Macinska, S.T., & Jellema, T. (2018). The role of pattern extrapolation in the perception of dynamic facial expressions in Autism. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, Article number 1918. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01918

Rowley, D. A., Rogish, M., Alexander, T., & Riggs, K. J. (2018). Counter-intuitive moral judgement following traumatic brain injury. J Neuropsychol, 12(2), 200-215. doi: 10.1111/jnp.12117

Jones, O., Schindler, I., & Holle, H. (2018). Transcranial magnetic stimulation over contralateral primary somatosensory cortex disrupts perception of itch intensity. Exp Dermatol. doi: 10.1111/exd.13803

Zhao, W., Riggs, K., Schindler, I., & Holle, H. (2018). Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation over Left Inferior Frontal and Posterior Temporal Cortex Disrupts Gesture-Speech Integration. J Neurosci, 38(8), 1891-1900. doi: 10.1523/jneurosci.1748-17.2017

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Research Students