Subcortical control of human reaching?

ARC Discovery Project

Research Team: Professor Tim Carroll, Professor Guy Wallis, Dr Samuele Contemori, Professor Gerald Loeb, Professor Brian Corneil

Funding Body: ARC Discovery Project

Years: 2024-2026

This project will test a radical new hypothesis about how the human brain generates visually guided behaviour. Conventional thinking assumes that visuomotor control of limb movements occurs exclusively within the cerebral cortex. However, the project team's recent observations of extremely rapid visually guided muscle activity strongly imply that the human brain controls reaching movements via more primitive midbrain and brainstem structures. The project's hypotheses challenge long-standing ideas about the functional organisation of the human brain and may have wide-ranging implications for the design of human-machine interfaces as well as training protocols in rehabilitation, industry, and sport.

Project members

Professor Timothy Carroll

Professor and Deputy Head of School
School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences
Centre Director of Centre for Sensorimotor Performance
Centre for Sensorimotor Performance

Professor Guy Wallis

Professor & Director of Research
School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences
Affiliate of Centre for Sensorimotor Performance
Centre for Sensorimotor Performance

Dr Samuele Contemori

Affiliate of Centre for Sensorimotor Performance
Centre for Sensorimotor Performance