The modulation of action on sensory processing

Numerous human activities rely on an interaction with automated systems. Automation technology shifted the role of operators from active controllers to passive supervisors of highly automated systems. This shift greatly reduced operators’ experience of control and in turn their anticipatory power. Notably, the fact of not being in direct control of the operations performed by the machine may decrease operators’ ability to predict the decisions and consequences of the actions of the machine, and may also decrease the processing of sensory information. This, in turn, reduces the ability of operators to anticipate potential problems and the actions to perform in case of failure. Within this framework, this internship aims at investigating the role of actions in sensory processing. The internship will take place at the French aerospace lab (ONERA) in Salon-de-Provence. The successful candidate will join the Cognitive Engineering and Applied Neuroscience team of the ONERA and will be supervised by Andrea Desantis. Travel to Marseille will be essential as the experiments will be conducted at the Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone.
The trainee will be required to:
– Conduct a review of the literature on the modulation of action on sensory processing.
– Participate in the design, programming, data collection and analysis of a psychophysical experiment
The internship will start in january/february 2024 for a duration of 5.5 months

Master in cognitive science or related disciplines; Engineering degree

The ONERA is the French national aerospace research centre. It is a public establishment with industrial and commercial operations, and carries out application-oriented research to support enhanced innovation and competitiveness in the aerospace and defense sectors. The successful candidate will join the Cognitive Engineering and Applied Neuroscience (ICNA) team in Salon-de-Provence. The ICNA investigate the sensorimotor and cognitive mechanisms involved in human-machine and human-human interactions with the aim of providing guidelines for the design of pilot assistance systems. It conducts research at different levels, i.e. from fundamental research in neuroscience to applied research in ergonomics, and is based on a strongly multidisciplinary approach. The candidate will have also the opportunity to spend time at the Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone in Marseille where the experiments will be conducted.