The Intention & Action group is focused on understanding the mechanisms supporting the integration of rules, percepts, and concepts into actions.
We study how humans cognitively select and neurally implement actions designed to change the physical environment (instrumental actions) or to evoke mental states in other agents (communicative actions). Our working hypothesis is that both instrumental and communicative actions are selected and implemented according to perceptual-conceptual knowledge influencing sensorimotor processes at the earliest stages of movement planning. Empirically, we address these issues by studying both neurotypical and neurodivergent individuals, using non-invasive neurophysiological techniques (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Magneto-Encephalography, Transcranial Brain Stimulation).
Highlights from our work on instrumental actions include the finding that planning and perceiving actions rely on a common predictive mechanism focused on the goal state of the action, grounded on the current physical configuration of the body. In the domain of communicative actions, we have shown that people communicate by jointly controlling an interaction-specific shared conceptual frame that allows them to make sense of the signals they exchange. Recently, we have also become interested in the control of emotional actions, thought as a problem of rapid response selection based on abstract rules that need to override predominant action tendencies. In this domain, we have show that people select emotionally-relevant behaviours while continuously controlling alternative unchosen options.