Research
Topics of particular interest to the lab include understanding how we learn and automate movements through extensive practice, addressing the adverse effects of ageing and stroke on movement control, and learning how imagining actions, and observing the actions of others, affects our movement system. We address these questions using a multidisciplinary combination of behavioral experiments (reaction and movement time measurements using computer and motion tracking apparatus), meta-analytic approaches (with particular emphasis on the meta-analysis of brain imaging data using the Activation likelihood Estimation approach), non-invasive brain stimulation (Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation), and neuroimaging techniques (functional and structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging). Research in the lab has been supported by grants from the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (FNRS), the FSR, The European Research Commission’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship scheme, The Society for the Neural Control of Movement, and the Wellcome Trust.
Team members
Principal Investigator
Postdoctoral Fellows:
PhD Students
Collaborations
Several projects are conducted with international collaborators in:
- the USA (Johns Hopkins),
- the UK (University of Birmingham)
- Germany (Forschungszentrum Julich)
- Through local collaborations within Belgium (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven).
Ongoing projects
- Validating Accelerometry as a tool for measuring the effects of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
- Cognitive Interactions in Motor Imagery
- Inhibitory control during Action Simulation
Key publications
- Inhibition, Shifting and Updating: inter and intra-domain commonalities and differences from an Executive Functions activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis. Rodríguez-Nieto G*, Seer C*, Sidlauskaite J, Vleugels L, Van Roy A, Hardwick RM#, Swinnen S# (equal contributions: * Co-first authors, # Co-senior authors). NeuroImage (2022), 264, 119665, 1-17.
- Age-related increases in reaction time result from slower preparation, not delayed initiation. Hardwick RM, Forrence AD, Costello MG, Zachowski K, Haith AM. Journal of Neurophysiology (2022), 128: 582–592.
- Consistent Under-reporting of Task Details in Motor Imagery Research. Van Caenegem EE, Hamoline G, Waltzing BM, Hardwick RM. Neuropsychologia, (2022), 177, 108425, 1-6
- Skill Acquisition is Enhanced by Reducing Trial-to-Trial Repetition. Vleugels LWE, Swinnen SP, Hardwick RM. Journal of Neurophysiology (2020), 123(4), 1460-1471.
- Time-Dependent Competition Between Goal-Directed and Habitual Response Preparation. Hardwick RM, Forrence AD, Krakauer JW, Haith AH. Nature Human Behaviour (2019), 3, 1252-1262.