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Brain Sciences
Special Issues
Multisensory Perception of the Body and Its Movement
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Multisensory Perception of the Body and Its Movement

A special issue of Brain Sciences (ISSN 2076-3425). This special issue belongs to the section "Sensory and Motor Neuroscience".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 27 June 2025 | Viewed by 3099

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Monica Gori

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Unit for Visually Impaired People, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, 16152 Genoa, Italy
Interests: multisensory integration; rehabilitation technology; development; blindness; visual impairment; perception; cortical plasticity
Dr. Lara Coelho

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor Assistant
UVIP Unit Visually Impaired People, Italian Institute of Technology, 16163 Genoa, Italy
Interests: body representation; haptic processing; multisensory integration; perception and action; visual impairments
Dr. Silvia Zanchi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor Assistant
Unit of Visually Impaired People (U-VIP), Italian Institute of Technology, 16163 Genoa, Italy
Interests: spatial navigation; multisensory integration; visual impairments; vestibular system; mobility

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

There are well-known benefits to multisensory integration in daily activities, as successfully integrating multiple senses enhances the interaction between our body and the external environment. However, the underlying mechanisms affecting bodily perception and movement still require further exploration, as understanding these processes is necessary to investigate their critical role in daily actions, maintaining balance, and navigating through space.

In this Special Issue, we welcome studies integrating multisensory perception of the environment and the body in the presence or absence of locomotion and movement, alongside submissions exploring the effects of sensory disabilities on bodily perception and spatial navigation, which will provide crucial insights into how sensory impairments alter these processes. Studies conducted on children, adults, and special populations that employ both behavioral and neurophysiological methods are welcome.

Dr. Monica Gori
Guest Editor

Dr. Lara Coelho
Dr. Silvia Zanchi
Guest Editor Assistants

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Brain Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • body
  • space
  • spatial navigation
  • development
  • blindness multisensory

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 2133 KiB  
Article
Real-Time Mobile Robot Obstacles Detection and Avoidance Through EEG Signals
by Karameldeen Omer, Francesco Ferracuti, Alessandro Freddi, Sabrina Iarlori, Francesco Vella and Andrea Monteriù
Brain Sci. 2025, 15(4), 359; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci15040359 - 30 Mar 2025
Viewed by 1142
Abstract
Background/Objectives: The study explores the integration of human feedback into the control loop of mobile robots for real-time obstacle detection and avoidance using EEG brain–computer interface (BCI) methods. The goal is to assess the possible paradigms applicable to the most current navigation system [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: The study explores the integration of human feedback into the control loop of mobile robots for real-time obstacle detection and avoidance using EEG brain–computer interface (BCI) methods. The goal is to assess the possible paradigms applicable to the most current navigation system to enhance safety and interaction between humans and robots. Methods: The research explores passive and active brain–computer interface (BCI) technologies to enhance a wheelchair-mobile robot’s navigation. In the passive approach, error-related potentials (ErrPs), neural signals triggered when users comment or perceive errors, enable automatic correction of the robot navigation mistakes without direct input or command from the user. In contrast, the active approach leverages steady-state visually evoked potentials (SSVEPs), where users focus on flickering stimuli to control the robot’s movements directly. This study evaluates both paradigms to determine the most effective method for integrating human feedback into assistive robotic navigation. This study involves experimental setups where participants control a robot through a simulated environment, and their brain signals are recorded and analyzed to measure the system’s responsiveness and the user’s mental workload. Results: The results show that a passive BCI requires lower mental effort but suffers from lower engagement, with a classification accuracy of 72.9%, whereas an active BCI demands more cognitive effort but achieves 84.9% accuracy. Despite this, task achievement accuracy is higher in the passive method (e.g., 71% vs. 43% for subject S2) as a single correct ErrP classification enables autonomous obstacle avoidance, whereas SSVEP requires multiple accurate commands. Conclusions: This research highlights the trade-offs between accuracy, mental load, and engagement in BCI-based robot control. The findings support the development of more intuitive assistive robotics, particularly for disabled and elderly users. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multisensory Perception of the Body and Its Movement)
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13 pages, 1754 KiB  
Article
Cross-Modal Interactions and Movement-Related Tactile Gating: The Role of Vision
by Maria Casado-Palacios, Alessia Tonelli, Claudio Campus and Monica Gori
Brain Sci. 2025, 15(3), 288; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci15030288 - 8 Mar 2025
Viewed by 725
Abstract
Background: When engaging with the environment, multisensory cues interact and are integrated to create a coherent representation of the world around us, a process that has been suggested to be affected by the lack of visual feedback in blind individuals. In addition, the [...] Read more.
Background: When engaging with the environment, multisensory cues interact and are integrated to create a coherent representation of the world around us, a process that has been suggested to be affected by the lack of visual feedback in blind individuals. In addition, the presence of voluntary movement can be responsible for suppressing somatosensory information processed by the cortex, which might lead to a worse encoding of tactile information. Objectives: In this work, we aim to explore how cross-modal interaction can be affected by active movements and the role of vision in this process. Methods: To this end, we measured the precision of 18 blind individuals and 18 age-matched sighted controls in a velocity discrimination task. The participants were instructed to detect the faster stimulus between a sequence of two in both passive and active touch conditions. The sensory stimulation could be either just tactile or audio–tactile, where a non-informative sound co-occurred with the tactile stimulation. The measure of precision was obtained by computing the just noticeable difference (JND) of each participant. Results: The results show worse precision with the audio–tactile sensory stimulation in the active condition for the sighted group (p = 0.046) but not for the blind one (p = 0.513). For blind participants, only the movement itself had an effect. Conclusions: For sighted individuals, the presence of noise from active touch made them vulnerable to auditory interference. However, the blind group exhibited less sensory interaction, experiencing only the detrimental effect of movement. Our work should be considered when developing next-generation haptic devices. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multisensory Perception of the Body and Its Movement)
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18 pages, 2885 KiB  
Article
Effect of Vibro-Tactile Stimulation Sequence and Support Surface Inclination on Gait and Balance Measures
by Christopher P. Engsberg, Nathaniel H. Hunt, Steven Barlow and Mukul Mukherjee
Brain Sci. 2025, 15(2), 138; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci15020138 - 30 Jan 2025
Viewed by 800
Abstract
The plantar surfaces of the feet are important for balance control during walking, specifically by allowing for the perception of pressure movements during stance. Background/Objectives: The current study aimed to perturb CoP movement perception in healthy individuals by applying vibrations to the [...] Read more.
The plantar surfaces of the feet are important for balance control during walking, specifically by allowing for the perception of pressure movements during stance. Background/Objectives: The current study aimed to perturb CoP movement perception in healthy individuals by applying vibrations to the soles of the feet in different stimulation sequences: a natural pattern that followed CoP movement (gait-like) and a perturbing pattern that did not follow the CoP (random) during walking. We hypothesized that the gait-like stimulation sequence would be similar to walking without any stimulation and therefore have no effect on balance measures and that the random sequence would negatively affect balance measures such as the anteroposterior (AP) and mediolateral (ML) margins of stability (MoSs) and foot placement area. Methods: Subjects walked at a level angle and 5.0 and 8.0 degrees of incline and with low visual conditions to increase reliance on tactile sensations from the feet. Results: No significant effect of the stimulation sequence was found at any incline, while there was a significant effect of incline. As the incline increased from level to 5 deg, subjects reduced their AP MoS measured at heel strikes from 4.36 ± 0.56 cm to 1.95 ± 1.07 cm and increased their foot placement area from 24.04 ± 11.13 cm2 to 38.98 ± 17.47 cm2. However, the AP MoS measured at midstance did not significantly change as the incline increased. Conclusions: The stimulation sequence had no effect on the dependent measures, but the subjects could still feel the vibrations on the plantar surfaces during walking; this implies that similar stimulation techniques could be a useful method for applying directive biofeedback without negatively impacting gait. Overall, this study demonstrates the detailed control of our tactile system and the adaptability of healthy individuals while walking with a perturbing stimulation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multisensory Perception of the Body and Its Movement)
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