Professor Alan Wing

Professor Alan Wing

School of Psychology
Professor of Human Movement

Contact details

Address
School of Psychology
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Qualifications

BSc (Edinburgh), PhD (McMaster)

Research

Sensory processes and internal models for movement control.

I am interested in anticipatory aspects of human movement control evident in tasks ranging from fine adjustments in grip when manipulating an object with the hands to whole body postural adjustments in keeping balanced when lifting an object while standing. Such actions are critically dependent on the orderly, coordinated recruitment of many muscles. However also important is the selection and integration of sensory information coming from visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive sources. This sensory input may be used as feedback to adjust movements that fail to attain their target. But the information also serves to correct inaccurate stored information about the environment and/or the effector system, so reducing the likelihood of correction being required on another occasion. An important goal for research is to understand how the brain uses sensory input to develop and maintain accurate representations (internal models) for adaptive planning and control of movement. When we imagine an action, there is a feeling of it taking place that has a distinct time course; indeed it has been shown that the duration of imagined action is very similar to the corresponding real movement. It is conceivable that internal models that underlie overt movement contribute to imagining movement and current research asks whether imagined movement evolves in parallel with sensory induced changes in internal models.

Publications

Highlight publications

Deflorio, D, Di Luca, M & Wing, AM 2022, 'Skin properties and afferent density in the deterioration of tactile spatial acuity with age', The Journal of Physiology, pp. 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1113/JP283174

Deflorio, D, Di Luca, M & Wing, A 2022, 'Skin and mechanoreceptor contribution to tactile input for perception: a review of simulation models', Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, vol. 16, 862344. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2022.862344

Roberts, R, Loomes, A, Allen, H, Di Luca, M & Wing, A 2020, 'Contact forces in roughness discrimination', Scientific Reports, vol. 10, no. 1, 5108 . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-61943-x

Howe, J, Chua, W, Sumner, E, Drozdowska, B, Laverick, R, Bevins, RL, Jean-baptiste, E, Russell, M, Rotshtein, P & Wing, AM 2022, 'The efficacy of a task model approach to ADL rehabilitation in stroke apraxia and action disorganisation syndrome: a randomised controlled trial', PLOS One, vol. 17, no. 3, e0264678. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0264678

Wing, A, Witek, M, Stables, R & Bradbury, A 2022, Ensemble timing in string quartets. in M Phillips & M Sergeant (eds), Music and Time: Psychology, Philosophy, Practice. Boydell & Brewer, pp. 73-96. <https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781783277087/music-and-time/>

Recent publications

Article

Roberts, RD, Loomes, AR, Kwok, HF, Wing, AM & Allen, HA 2023, 'Evidence for vibration coding of sliding tactile textures in auditory cortex', Frontiers in Neuroscience, vol. 17, 1282566. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2023.1282566

Rosenthal, O, Wing, A, Wyatt, J, Punt, T, Brownless, B, Koko, C & Miall, R 2019, 'Boosting robot-assisted rehabilitation of stroke hemiparesis by individualized selection of upper limb movements: a pilot study', J Neuroeng Rehabil, vol. 16, no. 1, 42. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12984-019-0513-0

Arnold, A, Wing, A & Rotshtein, P 2017, 'Building a Lego wall: Sequential action selection', Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, vol. 43, no. 5, pp. 847-852. https://doi.org/10.1037/xhp0000382

Baber, C, Russell, M, Wing, A, Hermsdorfer, J & Khattab, A 2017, 'Creating Affording Situations: Coaching through Animate Objects', Sensors, vol. 17, no. 2308, 2308, pp. 1-17. https://doi.org/10.3390/s17102308

Johannsen, L, Coward, S, Martin, G, Wing, A, van Casteren, A, Sellers, W, Ennos, R, Crompton, R & Thorpe, S 2017, 'Human bipedal instability in tree canopy environments is reduced by “light touch” fingertip support', Scientific Reports, vol. 7, 1135. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-01265-7

Rosenthal, O, Wing, A, Wyatt, J, Punt, T & Miall, R 2017, 'Mapping upper-limb motor performance after stroke - a novel method with utility for individualized motor training', Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation, vol. 14, 127. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12984-017-0335-x

Wright, RL, Brownless, SB, Pratt, D, Sackley, CM & Wing, AM 2017, 'Stepping to the Beat: Feasibility and Potential Efficacy of a Home-Based Auditory-Cued Step Training Program in Chronic Stroke', Frontiers in neurology, vol. 8, 412. https://doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2017.00412

Honisch, J, Elliott, MT, Jacoby, N & Wing, AM 2016, 'Cue properties change timing strategies in group movement synchronisation', Scientific Reports, vol. 6, 19439. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep19439

Chapter

Elliott, MT, Ward, D, Stables, R, Fraser, D, Jacoby, N & Wing, AM 2018, Analysing multi-person timing in music and movement: Event based methods. in A Vatakis, F Balcı, M Di Luca & Á Correa (eds), Timing and Time Perception: Procedures, Measures, and Applications. Brill, pp. 177-215. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004280205_010

Comment/debate

Rosenthal, O, Wing, AM, Wyatt, JL, Punt, D, Brownless, B, Ko-Ko, C & Miall, RC 2019, 'Correction to:: Boosting robot-assisted rehabilitation of stroke hemiparesis by individualized selection of upper limb movements - A pilot study (Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation DOI: 10.1186/s12984-019-0513-0)', Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation, vol. 16, no. 1, 51. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12984-019-0521-0

Conference contribution

Ortenzi, V, Filipovica, M, Abdlkarim, D, Pardi, T, Takahashi, C, Wing, A, Di Luca, M & Kuchenbecker, KJ 2022, Robot, pass me the tool: handle visibility facilitates task-oriented handovers. in HRI '22: Proceedings of the 2022 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction. ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, ACM/IEEE, pp. 256–264, HRI '22, 7/03/22. https://doi.org/10.5555/3523760.3523797

Abdlkarim, D, Ortenzi, V, Pardi, T, Filipovica, M, Wing, A, Kuchenbecker, KJ & Di Luca, M 2021, PrendoSim: proxy-hand-based robot grasp generator. in O Gusikhin, H Nijmeijer & K Madani (eds), Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics. SciTePress Digital Library, pp. 60-68, 18th International Conference on Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics, 6/07/21. https://doi.org/10.5220/0010549800600068

Baber, C, Khattab, A, Hermsdörfer, J, Wing, A & Russell, M 2017, Coaching through smart objects. in PervasiveHealth '17: Proceedings of the 11th EAI International Conference on Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare. ACM International Conference Proceeding Series, Association for Computing Machinery , pp. 298-306, 11th EAI International Conference on Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare, PervasiveHealth 2017, Barcelona, Spain, 23/05/17. https://doi.org/10.1145/3154862.3154938

Preprint

Tomczak, M, Li, MS, Bradbury, A, Elliott, M, Stables, R, Witek, M, Goodman, T, Abdlkarim, D, Luca, MD, Wing, A & Hockman, J 2022 'Annotation of soft onsets in string ensemble recordings' arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2211.08848

Software

Abdlkarim, D, Filipovica, M, Pardi, T, Ortenzi, V, Wing, A, Kuchenbecker, KJ & Di Luca, M, PrendoSim, 2021, Software. <https://prendosim.github.io>

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