Page 12 - Establishing the Institute for Brain and Neural Sciences

Humans have an insatiable appetite for sensory input—our very survival depends on it. We derive pleasure from learning new things, and, as a species, prefer to view scenes, hear sounds, taste foods, and touch and smell environments that provide the most information and novelty. Sensory perception provides the immediate ingestion of information, driving our behaviors as we seek out the new.
2 CENTER FOR RESEARCH ON PERCEPTION
AND ACTION
How do we sense—inside and out—and how does the brain combine input from di erent sensory modalities to form
a coherent picture?
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W ith a goal of developing a comprehensive understanding
of how sensory input translates into action, Weizmann scientists will explore a variety of forms of sensory processing, including research on vision, audition, olfaction, taste, and touch, as well
as sensorimotor integration and navigation.
The actions we perform, be it writing or dancing, require careful planning and execution of a series of computations and neural cascades. Our scientists will work to unveil the process of motor movement—from the decision to
take an action in higher brain areas, to the execution of a movement via
commands transmitted to the spinal cord, followed by muscle activation. But oftentimes these functions go awry. This center’s work will inform research on sensory disorders
and motor diseases ranging from blindness, insensitivity to pain,
and congenital or aging-related hearing losses, to paralysis and dysgraphia. Utlimately, this center will contribute to the development of sensory substitution techniques, the alleviation of chronic pain, and overcoming major motor diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, as well as the development of arti cial substitutes, such as robotic arms and brain-machine interfaces.