Neuroscience Ireland Conference 2025
Conference Speaker Profile
Dr. Ingrid Odermatt
ETH Zurich, Switzerland
The Neural Control of Movement Lab
Talk Title
Modulation of sensorimotor representations through motor imagery-based neurofeedback
Talk Abstract
Sensorimotor representations can be activated even in the absence of somatosensory input or motor output through mere top-down processes, such as motor imagery. This has inspired the development of training interventions that aim to improve sensorimotor function without relying on overt movements, including motor imagery-based neurofeedback.
However, there is limited knowledge on the underlying neuroplastic changes of sensorimotor representations induced by neurofeedback training. In this talk, I will use 'mental finger individuation' - the selective activation of individual finger representations through motor imagery - as a model to study neuroplasticity. First, I will present the reliability of finger representations activated through motor imagery and the neural similarity to those activated through motor execution. Then, I will demonstrate neural changes induced by TMS-based neurofeedback training that provides finger-specific feedback on corticomotor excitability.
Our findings have implications for the use of motor imagery in sensorimotor training interventions that do not rely on overt movements, as well as for brain-computer interface planning and control.
Speaker Biography
Ingrid received her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Psychology from the University of Bern, Switzerland. She then pursued a PhD in Neuroscience in the Neural Control of Movement Lab at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, where she investigated the brain's ability to activate and modulate sensorimotor representations in the absence of overt movements and somatosensory input. Using fMRI and TMS, she studied neuroplasticity in the sensorimotor system induced by neurofeedback training.
In 2025, she joined the Brain and Behaviour Group at Queen's University Belfast, UK, as a postdoctoral researcher, where she continues to investigate neurofeedback training interventions aimed at improving sensorimotor function.