Dr Hannes Saal
School of Psychology
Senior Lecturer
+44 114 222 6504
Full contact details
School of Psychology
F05
Pam Liversidge Building
Mappin Street
Sheffield
S1 3JD
- Profile
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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
- 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.
- Speed invariance of tactile texture perception. Journal of Neurophysiology, jn.00161.2017-jn.00161.2017. View this article in WRRO
- 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
- Importance of spike timing in touch: an analogy with hearing?. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 40, 142-149. View this article in WRRO
- Rate and timing of cortical responses driven by separate sensory channels. eLife, 4. View this article in WRRO
- Biomimetic approaches to bionic touch through a peripheral nerve interface. Neuropsychologia, 79, 344-353.
- 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.
- Multiplexing Stimulus Information through Rate and Temporal Codes in Primate Somatosensory Cortex. PLoS Biology, 11(5), e1001558-e1001558.
Conference proceedings papers
- View this article in WRRO Nonlinear scaling of resource allocation in sensory bottlenecks. Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS 19) (pp 7543-7552). Vancouver, Canada, 8 December 2019 - 14 December 2019.
All publications
Journal articles
- 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. View this article in WRRO
- 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. View this article in WRRO
- Rate and timing of cortical responses driven by separate sensory channels. eLife, 4. View this article in WRRO
- 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.
- Texture perception at the foot sole: Comparison between walking, sitting, and to the hand. Journal of Neurophysiology.
- 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)
- View this article in WRRO Nonlinear scaling of resource allocation in sensory bottlenecks. Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS 19) (pp 7543-7552). Vancouver, Canada, 8 December 2019 - 14 December 2019.
- 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.
Posters
Datasets
Preprints
- 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.
- 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.