Johan Pel

Background

About Johan Pel

An optimally tuned sensorimotor system supports motor tasks such as eye movements for visual search, goal-directed arm reaching and standing balance. The sensorimotor integration research group aims to unravel mechanisms of neural disorders related to sensorimotor processing. Our expertise in eye-tracking technology has opened up avenues of research in which we address questions with high societal impact. Our questions with clinical impact can be segregated into those that tackle neuroscience topics at the input (sensory), central, and output (motor) level. At the sensory side we showed to what extent the visual field and responsiveness to visual stimuli is affected by glaucoma, as measured with our novel Eye-Movement Perimetry (EMP) system. Similarly, we have developed an eye-tracking method to non-verbally measure visual processing in infants; this method to elucidate disease mechanisms in children with brain disorders. Here, a normative database of 330 neurotypical children serve as a reference. Another question we have been able to address, is what the differences are in visuomotor integration between early-stage Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. State of the art techniques that are used within our group include imprinted scleral lenses to assess torsional eye movements in clinical practise, a state-of-the-art motion platform and behavioural evaluations, including quantitative assessment of visuomotor integration performances and properties of vestibulo-ocular interactions. Our approaches may allow us to determine how different sensory modalities interact and how they contribute to the development and control of motor functions.