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Project Leader

Prof. Dr. Heinrich H. Bülthoff
Phone: +49 7071 601-601
Fax: +49 7071 601-616
 heinrich.buelthoff[at]tuebingen.mpg.de
 

People

Group members
 
 

CAPA Overview Poster


Five most recent Publications

Nieuwenhuizen FM Person, Mulder M , van Paassen MM and Bülthoff HH Person (May-2013) Influences of Simulator Motion System Characteristics on Pilot Control Behavior Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics 36(3) 667-676.
Berthoz A , Bles W , Bülthoff HH Person, Correia Gracio BJ , Feenstra P , Filliard N , Huhne R , Kemeny A , Mayrhofer M , Mulder M , Nusseck HG Person, Pretto P Person, Reymond G , Schlüsselberger R , Schwandtner J , Teufel H , Vailleau B , van Paassen MM , Vidal M Person and Wentink M (May-2013) Motion Scaling for High-Performance Driving Simulators IEEE Transactions on Human-Machine Systems 43(3) 265-276.
Soyka F Person, Bülthoff HH Person and Barnett-Cowan M Person (May-2013) Temporal processing of self-motion: modeling reaction times for rotations and translations Experimental Brain Research Epub ahead.
Zaal PMT , Nieuwenhuizen FM Person, van Paassen MM and Mulder M (April-2013) Modeling Human Control of Self-Motion Direction With Optic Flow and Vestibular Motion IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics 43(2) 544-556.
Venrooij J Person, Mulder M , Abbink DA , van Paassen MM , van der Helm FCT and Bülthoff HH Person (February-2013) A New View on Biodynamic Feedthrough Analysis: Unifying the Effects on Forces and Positions IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Part B: Cybernetics 43(1) 129-142.

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Cybernetics Approach to Perception and Action

The main goal of the Cybernetic Approach to Perception and Action research group is to get a deeper understanding of self-motion perception by considering the brain as a complex control system, which has sub-components that can be individually evaluated, but which are also part of a larger system. The research group focuses mainly on how to best model human motion perception and how to use such perception models to predict human action in the context of driving a motor vehicle or flying an aircraft. To this end, the group mainly relies on systems and control theory, computer vision, and psychophysical techniques while conducting experiments with the most advanced state of the art motion simulators.
 
CAPA is composed of scientists with backgrounds in biology, computer science, engineering, neuroscience, physics, physiology and psychology. Our research agenda can be thought of being composed of three subgroups which seek to (i) advance current models of human orientation and motion perception in both open and closed loop self motion conditions, (ii) understanding and modeling voluntary and involuntary human manual control actions, and (iii) enhance virtual environments by illusorily expanding the perceived workspace.

Main research areas

Self-Motion Perception and Orientation

The vestibular system enables us to perceive self-motion and to keep our balance even when we are in complete darkness. Understanding its dynamics is important, e.g. for motion simulation, virtual reality environments or patients suffering from vestibular problems. We investigate vestibular perception (direction detection thresholds, reaction times) and describe it with physiologically plausible models which are based on the neuronal activity elicited by vestibular stimulation.

[more]

 

Electrically evoked illusory Self-motion

Normally the vestibular system responds to self-motion by modulating the firing rate of the afferent fibers. However, additional factors might influence the self-motion perception and thereby generate illusory movements. An example of this is provided by Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation (GVS): a transcutaneous electrical stimulus applied over the mastoid process that evokes an illusion of physical roll.

[more]

 

Human Control Behavior in Closed-Loop Tasks

We investigate human closed-loop control strategies by considering behaviour at a skill-based level, which involves elementary human information processing and basic control tasks. By employing multiloop modelling techniques to describe human cognitive behaviour in closed-loop control tasks, we can distinguish between different processing paths in the measured human response.

[more]

 

Mechanisms of biodynamic interference

Inside a moving vehicle humans are subjected to accelerations. These accelerations may interfere with manual control tasks in several ways, reducing manual control performance and thus reducing control accuracy and safety for a large range of vehicles. We measure and model these biodynamic interferences in order to understand and mitigate these effects.

[more]

 

Neuroimaging during self-motion

To better understand brain activity associated with self-motion perception without relying on inducing the perception of self-motion using visual information alone (vection), we combine Electroencephalography (EEG) while physically moving people using a Stewart motion platform.

[more]

Selected Publications

Barnett-Cowan M Person, Fleming RW Person, Singh M and Bülthoff HH Person (April-2011) Perceived Object Stability Depends on Multisensory Estimates of Gravity PLoS ONE 6(4) 1-5.
CiteID: 6849
Barnett-Cowan M Person, Meilinger T Person, Vidal M Person, Teufel H Person and Bülthoff HH Person (May-2011) MPI CyberMotion Simulator: Implementation of a novel motion simulator to investigate path integration in three dimensions Journal of Visualized Experiments . accepted
CiteID: BarnettCowanMVTB2011
Barnett-Cowan M Person, Nolan H , Butler JS Person, Foxe JJ , Reilly RB and Bülthoff HH Person (May-2010): Reaction time and event-related potentials to visual, auditory and vestibular stimuli, Journal of Vision, 10(7) 1400.
CiteID: 6212
Beykirch K Person, Nieuwenhuizen FM Person, Teufel H Person, Nusseck H-GG Person and Bülthoff HH Person (May-2008) A Roll-Lateral Helicopter Side-Step Maneuver on the MPI Motion Simulator AHS 64th Annual Forum, American Helicopter Society International, Alexandria, VA, USA, 64, 2382-2389.
CiteID: 5042
Beykirch K Person, Nieuwenhuizen FM Person, Teufel HJ Person, Nusseck H-G Person, Butler JS Person and Bülthoff HH Person (August-2007) Control of a Lateral Helicopter Sidestep Maneuver on an Anthropomorphic Robot AIAA Modeling and Simulation Technologies Conference and Exhibit 2007, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Reston, VA, USA, 1-8.
pdfCiteID: 4717
Nieuwenhuizen FM Person, Beykirch K Person, Mulder M Person and Bülthoff HH Person (August-2007) Identification of Pilot Control Behavior in a Roll-Lateral Helicopter Hover Task AIAA Modeling and Simulation Technologies Conference and Exhibit 2007, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Reston, VA, USA, 1-11.
pdfCiteID: 4660
Nieuwenhuizen FM Person, Beykirch K Person, Mulder M Person, Paassen MMV , Bonten JLG Person and Bülthoff HH Person (August-2008) Performance Measurements on the MPI Stewart Platform AIAA Modeling and Simulation Technologies Conference and Exhibit 2008, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Reston, VA, USA, 1-11.
pdfCiteID: 5315
Nieuwenhuizen FM Person, Mulder M , van Paassen MM and Bülthoff HH Person (August-2011) The Influence of Motion System Characteristics on Pilot Control Behaviour AIAA Modeling and Simulation Technologies Conference 2011, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Reston, VA, USA, 1-15.
pdfCiteID: NieuwenhuizenMvB2011
Nieuwenhuizen FM Person, van Paassen MM , Beykirch K Person, Mulder M Person and Bülthoff HH Person (August-2009) Towards Simulating a Mid-size Stewart Platform on a Large Hexapod Simulator AIAA Modeling and Simulation Technologies Conference 2009, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Reston, VA, USA, 1-10.
pdfCiteID: 5974
Nolan H , Whelan R , Reilly RB , Bülthoff HH Person and Butler JS Person (May-2009) Acquisition of human EEG data during linear self-motion on a Stewart platform 4th International IEEE/EMBS Conference on Neural Engineering (NER 2009), IEEE, Piscataway, NJ, USA, 585-588.
pdfCiteID: 6374
Pretto P Person, Ogier M Person, Bülthoff HH Person and Bresciani J-P Person (April-2009) Influence of the size of the field of view on motion perception Computers and Graphics 33(2) 139-146.
CiteID: 5694
Soyka F Person, Robuffo Giordano P Person, Beykirch K Person and Bülthoff HH Person (March-2011) Predicting direction detection thresholds for arbitrary translational acceleration profiles in the horizontal plane Experimental Brain Research 209(1) 95-107.
CiteID: 6950
Teufel HJ Person, Nusseck H-G Person, Beykirch KA Person, Butler JS Person, Kerger M Person and Bülthoff HH Person (August-2007) MPI Motion Simulator: Development and Analysis of a Novel Motion Simulator AIAA Modeling and Simulation Technologies Conference and Exhibit 2007, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Reston, VA, USA, 1-11.
pdfCiteID: 4512
Last updated: Wednesday, 16.01.2013