Dr Hannes Saal
School of Psychology
Senior Lecturer
h.saal@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 6504
+44 114 222 6504
F05, Pam Liversidge Building
Full contact details
Dr Hannes Saal
School of Psychology
F05
Pam Liversidge Building
Mappin Street
Sheffield
S1 3JD
School of Psychology
F05
Pam Liversidge Building
Mappin Street
Sheffield
S1 3JD
- Profile
-
I am a Cognitive Scientist and run the Active Touch Laboratory. I studied Cognitive Science at the University of Osnabrück, Germany and then obtained my MSc and PhD in Neuroinformatics at the University of Edinburgh. I was then a postdoctoral scholar in Sliman Bensmaia’s lab at the University of Chicago, before joining the University of Sheffield to set up my own lab. For most of my career I have worked on the sense of touch, using methods from computational neuroscience, robotics, and machine learning.
- Qualifications
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- BSc Cognitive Science (Osnabrueck, Germany)
- MSc Neuroinformatics (Edinburgh)
- PhD Neuroinformatics (Edinburgh)
- Research interests
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I work on mathematical models of sensory coding and perception; my main research area is the sense of touch, where I use human psychophysics, computational modelling, and applied machine learning in order to elucidate the fundamental computations allowing us to make sense of our environment through touch.
- Publications
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Show: Featured publications All publications
Featured publications
Journal articles
- Local postural changes elicit extensive and diverse skin stretch around joints, on the trunk and the face. Journal of The Royal Society Interface, 22(223).
- Texture perception at the foot sole: comparison between walking, sitting, and to the hand. Journal of Neurophysiology, 132(3), 643-652. View this article in WRRO
- Complexity of spatio-temporal plantar pressure patterns during everyday behaviours. Journal of The Royal Society Interface, 20(203).
- Modelling foot sole cutaneous afferents: FootSim. iScience, 26(1).
- Population coding strategies in human tactile afferents. PLoS Computational Biology, 18(12).
- Expansion and contraction of resource allocation in sensory bottlenecks. eLife, 11. View this article in WRRO
- Malleability of the cortical hand map following a finger nerve block. Science Advances, 8(16).
- Tactile innervation densities across the whole body. Journal of Neurophysiology.
- Simulating tactile signals from the whole hand with millisecond precision. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA, 114(28), E5693-E5702. View this article in WRRO
- The neural basis of perceived intensity in natural and artificial touch. Science Translational Medicine, 8(362). View this article in WRRO
- Touch is a team effort: interplay of submodalities in cutaneous sensibility. Trends in Neurosciences, 37(12), 689-697.
- Spatial and temporal codes mediate the tactile perception of natural textures. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(42), 17107-17112.
All publications
Journal articles
- Local postural changes elicit extensive and diverse skin stretch around joints, on the trunk and the face. Journal of The Royal Society Interface, 22(223).
- Texture perception at the foot sole: comparison between walking, sitting, and to the hand. Journal of Neurophysiology, 132(3), 643-652. View this article in WRRO
- Complexity of spatio-temporal plantar pressure patterns during everyday behaviours. Journal of The Royal Society Interface, 20(203).
- Modelling novelty detection in the thalamocortical loop. PLoS Computational Biology, 19(5).
- Similar somatotopy for active and passive digit representation in primary somatosensory cortex. Human Brain Mapping.
- Modelling foot sole cutaneous afferents: FootSim. iScience, 26(1).
- Population coding strategies in human tactile afferents. PLoS Computational Biology, 18(12).
- Expansion and contraction of resource allocation in sensory bottlenecks. eLife, 11. View this article in WRRO
- Getting a grasp on BMIs: Decoding prehension and speech signals. Neuron, 110(11), 1743-1745.
- Malleability of the cortical hand map following a finger nerve block. Science Advances, 8(16).
- Tactile innervation densities across the whole body. Journal of Neurophysiology.
- The effect of contact force on the responses of tactile nerve fibers to scanned textures. Neuroscience. View this article in WRRO
- Speed invariance of tactile texture perception. Journal of Neurophysiology, jn.00161.2017-jn.00161.2017.
- Simulating tactile signals from the whole hand with millisecond precision. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA, 114(28), E5693-E5702. View this article in WRRO
- Key considerations in designing a somatosensory neuroprosthesis. Journal of Physiology-Paris. View this article in WRRO
- The neural basis of perceived intensity in natural and artificial touch. Science Translational Medicine, 8(362). View this article in WRRO
- Edge orientation signals in tactile afferents of macaques.. J Neurophysiol, 116(6), 2647-2655. View this article in WRRO
- Importance of spike timing in touch: an analogy with hearing?. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 40, 142-149.
- Rate and timing of cortical responses driven by separate sensory channels. eLife, 4(-), ---.
- Biomimetic approaches to bionic touch through a peripheral nerve interface. Neuropsychologia, 79, 344-353.
- Kinematics of unconstrained tactile texture exploration. Journal of Neurophysiology, 113(7), 3013-3020.
- Touch is a team effort: interplay of submodalities in cutaneous sensibility. Trends in Neurosciences, 37(12), 689-697.
- Natural scenes in tactile texture. Journal of Neurophysiology, 111(9), 1792-1802.
- Spatial and temporal codes mediate the tactile perception of natural textures. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(42), 17107-17112.
- Millisecond Precision Spike Timing Shapes Tactile Perception. Journal of Neuroscience, 32(44), 15309-15317.
- Information about Complex Fingertip Parameters in Individual Human Tactile Afferent Neurons. Journal of Neuroscience, 29(25), 8022-8031.
- Multiplexing Stimulus Information through Rate and Temporal Codes in Primate Somatosensory Cortex. PLoS Biology, 11(5), e1001558-e1001558.
Chapters
- Somatosensory Neurons: Spike-Timing, Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience (pp. 3182-3185).
- Somatosensory Neurons: Spike-Timing, Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience (pp. 2756-2759). Springer New York
- Somatosensory Neurons: Spike Timing, Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience (pp. 1-4).
Conference proceedings papers
- Imaging Sub-surface Skin Strain Patterns During Fingertip Sliding. HAPTICS: SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, APPLICATIONS, EUROHAPTICS 2022, Vol. 13235 (pp 358-361)
- Dynamic adaptation of exploratory movements for texture perception. INTEGRATIVE AND COMPARATIVE BIOLOGY, Vol. 54 (pp E49-E49)
- Multimodal Nonlinear Filtering Using Gauss-Hermite Quadrature (pp 81-96)
- Active estimation of object dynamics parameters with tactile sensors. 2010 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 18 October 2010 - 22 October 2010.
- Active sequential learning with tactile feedback. Journal of Machine Learning Research, Vol. 9 (pp 677-684)
- The DLR touch sensor I: A flexible tactile sensor for robotic hands based on a crossed-wire approach. 2010 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 18 October 2010 - 22 October 2010.
- Nonlinear scaling of resource allocation in sensory bottlenecks. Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 32 (NIPS 2019). Vancouver, Canada, 8 December 2019 - 8 December 2019. View this article in WRRO
Posters
- NeurIPS 2019 poster: Nonlinear scaling of resource allocation in sensory bottlenecks.
Datasets
Preprints
- Memory at your fingertips: how viscoelasticity affects tactile neuron signaling, eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd.
- Can we tell where our bodies end and the world begins? Evidence for precise three dimensional internal body models, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
- Local postural changes elicit extensive and diverse skin stretch around joints, on the trunk, and the face, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
- Texture perception at the foot sole: Comparison between walking, sitting, and to the hand, Center for Open Science.
- Sub-surface deformation of individual fingerprint ridges during tactile interactions, eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd.
- Sub-surface deformation of individual fingerprint ridges during tactile interactions, eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd.
- Pre-neuronal biomechanical filtering modulates and diversifies whole-hand tactile encoding, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
- Memory at your fingertips: how viscoelasticity affects tactile neuron signaling, eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd.
- Memory at your fingertips: how viscoelasticity affects tactile neuron signaling, eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd.
- Sub-surface deformation of individual fingerprint ridges during tactile interactions, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
- Memory at your fingertips: how viscoelasticity affects tactile neuron signaling, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
- Complexity of spatiotemporal plantar pressure patterns during everyday behaviours, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
- Modelling novelty detection in the thalamocortical loop.
- Expansion and contraction of resource allocation in sensory bottlenecks.
- Malleability of the cortical hand map following a finger nerve block.
- Tactile innervation densities across the whole body.
- Population coding strategies in human tactile afferents, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
- Local postural changes elicit extensive and diverse skin stretch around joints, on the trunk and the face. Journal of The Royal Society Interface, 22(223).
- Research group
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Neuroscience and Cognition
- Grants
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- Innovate UK (2023-24): PathStance - Transforming a simple, prescribed NHS wearable, into a sensor-rich, at-home rehabilitation device. Smart Grant. With Matt Carre and Claire Brockett (Mechanical Engineering).
- Leverhulme Trust (2022-2025): The computational origins of the cortical homunculus. Research project grant. Principal Investigator.
- EU Horizon 2020 (2019-2023): NeuTouch - Understanding neural coding of touch as enabling technology for prosthethics and robotics. Innovative Training Network. With Tony Prescott (Computer Science) and EU-wide consortium.
- Teaching activities
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I am the course director for our MSc programmes in Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience, as well as Cognitive Neuroscience and Human Neuroimaging.
I currently teach PSY6308 - Computational Neuroscience 2 and PSY6309 - Mathematical Modelling and Research Skills.
- Professional activities and memberships
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I am a member of:
- PhD Opportunities
I am happy to receive applications for PhD study in my area of research.
We advertise PhD opportunities (Funded or Self-Funded) on FindAPhD.com
For further information, please see the department PhD Opportunities page.