The research group "Perception and Action" is sponsored by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. The first funding period was from 2004-2007. The current second funding period started in January of 2008. Goal of the research group is understanding the relationship between visual and motor processing.

The research training network "NeuroAct" is sponsored by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. It was started in 2003 and renewed in 2007. It is situated at the universities of Marburg and Giessen, joining labs from Psychology, Nurophysics, Human Movement Science and Linguistics.
We are trying to answer the question how sensory stimuli are processed and - after being modulated by  processes of memory, learning, attention, emotion and language - used to control behavior.

The Marie-Curie-Network "Coordination for optimal decisions in dynamic environments" (CODDE) brings together leading scientists from across Europe to understand the brain processes that enable us to perceive and act in the dynamic world. The CODDE network studies the links between sensory input, brain activity and motor output. It does this by combining behavioural techniques, brain imaging, movement recording and computational modelling. The network consists of 8 University partners and 4 Industrial partners. The network trains young scientists and conducts cutting edge research. It does this through collaboration and cooperation between multiple partner sites. We meet on a regular basis, exchange students and organise advanced training courses.

The project "Gaze-based communication" (GazeCom) is funded by the European Commission within the Information Society Technologies (IST) priority of the 6th Framework Programme. Our objectives are to (i) show that gaze guidance has a high impact on what is perceived and communicated effectively; (ii) advance the level of understanding of the human visual system to the point where gaze guidance becomes feasible, and (iii) build prototype systems that exploit these insights and demonstrate the potential for applications. If these objectives can be reached, we believe the resulting technology will fundamentally change the way in which information can be communicated in the future information society.

The European Summer School exposes young vision researchers—at the late pre-doctoral or early post-doctoral level—to the principal methods and seminal issues of contemporary visual neuroscience. In addition, it seeks to build a basic fluency in the emerging lingua franca of computational neuroscience. The range of topics is broad, literally from spikes to awareness, and the pace correspondingly brisk. This intensive experience should allow participants take a broader view of, and make more informed decisions about, their future research direction. 

The European Summer School is taught by leading researchers in neurobiology, neuropsychology, psychophysics, and theoretical neuroscience. Two thematically related topics are covered each day, with approximately 3 hours allotted to each (including discussion time). An after-dinner discussion provides an opportunity to contrast and compare the day’s lectures. In addition, students pursue computational and theoretical projects (based on Matlab) during the afternoon, to experiment with key concepts and techniques of computational neuroscience.

DFG project Cortical mechanisms of color vision (2001-2009): Ziel der hier vorgestellten Arbeiten ist die Erforschung der kortikalen Verarbeitung von Farbinformation. Zum einen soll geklärt werden welche farbspezifischen Mechanismen die aus der Retina kommenden Signale weiterverarbeiten, um zu einer präzisen und stabilen Repräsentation von Farbe im visuellen Kortex zu gelangen. Es wird untersucht inwieweit diese Information dann für andere Wahrnehmungsaufgaben, wie der Berechnung von Form und Bewegung, zur Verfügung gestellt wird. Farbe soll also nicht losgelöst von anderen Bildmerkmalen betrachtet werden. Vielmehr soll geklärt werden wie diese Merkmale integriert werden um zu einer einheitlichen Repräsentation unserer natürlichen Umwelt zu gelangen.

DFG project "Perception of natural scenes (2002-2006): Ziel der hier vorgestellten Arbeiten ist die Erforschung der visuellen Verarbeitung von Bildern natürlicher Szenen. Fast alles, was wir über die Informationsverarbeitung visueller Reize im menschlichen Gehirn wissen, entspringt psychophysischen und neurophysiologischen Forschungsarbeiten, die nur sehr einfache Stimuli verwendet haben, wie z.B. Sinusgitter, Lichtpunkte, oder Liniensegmente. Doch in den letzten Jahren hat sich gezeigt, dass oftmals selbst unter diesen reduzierten Stimulusbedingungen nicht-lineare Verarbeitungsmechanismen das Verhalten des Sehsystems im Ganzen dominieren. Folglich gilt es primär zu klären, inwieweit das Wissen um die, in Näherung linearen, frühen Stufen visueller Verarbeitung bei der Erklärung komplexer visueller Sehleistungen, wie z.B. der Wahrnehmung natürlicher Bilder, von Nutzen ist. Konkret werden wir versuchen, durch eine Reihe experimenteller Variationen einer Kategorisierungsaufgabe in Tier/Nicht-Tier Bilder, herauszufinden, welche Bildmerkmale vom menschlichen Sehsystem zur Lösung dieser Aufgabe herangezogen werden. Diese werden dann verglichen mit den Bildmerkmalen, die rein statistisch optimal zur Lösung der Aufgabe geeignet sind.

Perception for Recognition and Action (PRA) is a Research Training Network funded by the European Commission from 2003 to 2006. The network is composed of 8 research groups and involves more than 20 scientists, 10 of whom were hired specifically for this network. Our aim is to understand better the brain mechanisms underlying perception and action and the link between the two.

ModKog was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research from 2002 to 2005. The project is based on interdisciplinary research on visual attention and envisages applications in the area of medical diagnosis and visual communication. Within ModKog, we closly collaborate with the Institute of Neuro- and Bioinformatics of Lübeck University, and SensoMotorik Instruments in Teltow/Berlin. Our objectives in ModKog are summarized under Itap.