Plasticity Lab

The brain’s map of the body is surprisingly stable — even after a limb is lost Study challenges the textbook idea that the brain region that processes body sensations reorganizes itself after limb amputation.

A brain-imaging study of people with amputated arms has upended a long-standing belief

go.nature.com/3Jp9NPG

Super pleased to see this heroic effort finally in print!! Many thanks to Hunter, our amazing study participants, and everyone else who made this fantastic study come true.

Happy to announce that my lab @ Yale Psychology (actcompthink.org) will be accepting PhD applications this year (for start in Fall '26)!

Come for the fun experiments on human learning, memory, & skilled behavior, stay for the best 🍕 in the US.

Please reach out if you have any questions!

LIVE from the #AIforGood Global Summit! | AI for Good LIVE from the #AIforGood Global Summit! What was just covered at Frontier Stage? AI for restoring agency, enhancing accessibility, and empowering deeper human connection. Here’s a summary of the sess...

Awesome to see our own @daniclode.bsky.social featured as a highlight of the UN #AIforGood Summit!
Check out the summary of her talk—plus other key discussions on how AI can restore agency, enhance accessibility, and foster deeper human connection:
www.linkedin.com/posts/ai-for...

In summary:
– Force control offers better early motor performance
– EMG fosters learning generalization
– Raw EMG contains hidden potential
Read the full preprint at doi.org/10.1101/2025.06.16.658246. Thanks to all co-authors and participants!
12/12

So, what does this tell us?
EMG control may be harder initially, but it offers a richer signal and better transfer of learning. With optimised hardware and software, it could be a powerful interface for future augmentation device control.
11/12

And how do users perceive the Thumb? Participants reported a strong sense of agency (control over the Thumb) but no body ownership (it didn’t feel like part of the body). All categories of embodiment were rated similarly for both EMG and FS.
10/12

Using predictive modelling, we found the force control signal could predict performance, whilst the processed EMG control signal could not predict EMG performance.
But importantly, the raw EMG signal could act as a predictor. This suggests pre-processing might discard important information.
9/12

To provide a mechanistic insight into this generalisation, we cross-correlated the toe-movement signal and muscle signal, and observed a high correlation during EMG control, suggesting participants are expressing force-related toe movements while using the EMG control, contributing to learning!
8/12

But we also saw that the control method participants started with impacted learning transfer to their second control method.
Beginning with EMG control led to superior transfer when switching to force control – suggesting muscle control is a better tutor for generalisable learning.
7/12

On the proportional control task completed before and after training, force control continued to demonstrate a clear advantage. However, participants showed similar learning gains across both control modalities.
6/12

Surprisingly, an additional cognitive load during the collaboration motor task did not affect performance for either control modality. Participants also performed similarly in the cognitive load arithmetic task, regardless of control.
5/12

Across all training tasks, both control methods enabled use of the Third Thumb, but force control consistently yielded better task performance.
4/12

EMG-based control is closer to the neural source; muscle activity precedes motion. Our initial hypothesis: EMG should enable more intuitive and efficient learning.
We compared both control modalities across multiple motor tasks using a counterbalanced within-participants design.
3/12

The Third Thumb is designed to extend and enhance the motor abilities of an already fully functional hand. It was initially designed to be proportionally controlled by movement of the wearer’s toes via force sensors.
But what if we tapped into muscle signals directly instead?
2/12

Can you control an extra robotic finger just by flexing your leg muscles?
In our new study, we put EMG-based muscle control to the test, comparing it to traditional toe force sensor control for operating the Third Thumb (designed by @daniclode.bsky.social).
1/12

Great start to #IMRF2025 with Symposium 2 all about body representation and some amazing talks! Really enjoyed hearing about how sounds can affect it, e.g. with the auditory pinocchio illusion 🔊, something quite different than what I work on but so fun!

Exciting day at the fascinating UN #AIforGood summit! @daniclode.bsky.social presented on designing for augmentation and the Third Thumb, Tamar then presented our research looking at the neural embodiment of robotic limbs! Smashing it 🦾

Thrilled to share our most recent work led by our brilliant PhD student @mariamolinasan.bsky.social, exploring generalisation of motor learning with a robotic limb, featuring The Third Thumb 🦾

Our PhD students @maggieszymanska.bsky.social and Julien Russ ready to present their posters today at #BRNet2025! Find them in the poster room at 2pm, talking about phantom limb pain and using EMG to control the Third Thumb 🧠

Having a great time in Utrecht at #BRNet2025! Today, our very talented postdoc @celiafoster.bsky.social and amazing PhD student Ema Jugovic presented their posters. Really great work showcasing our new Third Thumb studies 🧠

Great talk by Matej Hoffman starting off Day 2 of #BRNet2025. Really exciting to see our BOLDkids research on congenital limb difference mentioned as well! Also - what an amazing venue 😊

Our lab had a fantastic time this week presenting our current work at @uksensorimotor25.bsky.social in Oxford 🧠

Nancy, France

🧠New postdoc position - come work with us in France! 🥐👩‍🔬

Two-Year Postdoc Position on the Role of Temporal Integration in Visual Attention Using Human Intracerebral Recordings | EURAXESS euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/351721

📆Starting Date: October 2025
⏱️Application deadline: 31 Aug 2025

Check-out our latest research! 🧠 @lucydowdall.bsky.social's PhD work looking at the sensory representation of an artificial limb is now up on bioRxiv! doi.org/10.1101/2025.06.16.658246 🦾 see her thread below highlighting some of our key findings

6 Arms, 3 Thumbs: I Tested The Future of Robotic Limbs | Superhuman | WIRED Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

Great video by @wired.com showcasing the Third Thumb! 👍👍👍We're super grateful to be able to work with the amazing Dani Clode and investigate how our brains 🧠 accomodate motor control of an extra robotic finger! The segment on the Third Thumb starts at 6:02 - you can watch here: rb.gy/t8gdhs

Hristo’s presenting his poster today and tomorrow at #NCMPan25! Come and check out his work on information content in sensorimotor cortex in controls and people with amputations at 2-F-72 @ncmsociety.bsky.social

Come check out Celia’s poster today and tomorrow at #NCMPan25 and learn about touch localisation abilities with the Third Thumb! 1-F-73 @ncmsociety.bsky.social @celiafoster.bsky.social

Applications close tomorrow for our summer internship position! plasticity-lab.com/internship

Applications are open for the Plasticity Lab summer internship at the University of Cambridge @mrccbu.bsky.social 🦾 Work with an interdisciplinary team on motor augmentation and wearable tech, exploring enhancement of movement capabilities 🧠 Apply by April 15th: plasticity-lab.com/internship