Plasticity Lab

We are the Plasticity Lab, led by Prof Tamar Makin. We study the extent to which brain areas supporting perception and action are shaped by experience. Our research focuses on hand representation and how it is modulated by hand loss and consequential compensatory behaviour. We aim to develop a mechanistic understanding of the neural basis of hand function and dysfunction, and understand how we could use technology to increase hand functionality in able and disabled individuals at all ages. In particular, we want to know what happens to the cortical territories of the hand following arm amputation, and understand how the brain best supports the acquisition of new skills necessary for amputees to adapt to their disability, including prosthetic limb usage and augmentative technology such as the Third Thumb. We are also interested in further understanding why amputees experience vivid sensations of their missing hand many decades after amputation. To understand these processes better, we combine experimental models, performed on healthy participants, and related clinical populations (e.g. individuals with congenital hand loss and the blind). Our research seeks to define the boundaries of plasticity - our brain's ability to adapt how it processes inputs based on changed experience. We are primarily based at the MRC CBU at the University of Cambridge, with strong links with University of Oxford's neuroimaging centre (FMRIB/WIN), and the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, where the lab was previously hosted.