This proposal requests NSF funding to support a special workshop on the neural control of object recognition and action, to be held in September 2009 at Georgia Institute of Technology. Humans have the capacity to both recognize tools and comprehend how they are used to achieve a behavioral goal. However, many people suffer from disorders related to the failure in integrating cognitive and motor processes, particularly after brain injury. The two well studied deficits in this regard are apraxia, impairment in goal-directed movement, and agnosia, impairment in object recognition. Currently, researchers tend to treat apraxia and agnosia as separate phenomena, and they build separate theories to account for them. A better understanding is possible if researchers consider the many similarities in agnosia and apraxia, as there is much that can be learned from more collaborative work in the two domains. An immediate goal of this workshop is to foster communication between researchers who study apraxia and agnosia by 1) encouraging and developing collaboration between the two fields, and 2) promoting research that integrates concepts and accounts from both fields, and 3) identifying the neural substrates of impairment and recovery that may underlie both apraxia and agnosia.
The understanding of the target questions of the workshop will have significant implications for both basic science and public health. Apraxia and agnosia have debilitating effects on patients in their daily lives, and these deficits require the joint efforts from researchers in neuropsychology, neuroscience, and kinesthetic sciences. The proposed workshop has a highly interdisciplinary nature and is likely to promote new and existing collaborations. The funding will bring international experts to the meeting, and enable students and postdocs to participate in the meeting by including reduced fees and opportunities for travel support. The speakers and the organizing committee include women and members of underrepresented minorities. Finally, a critical outcome of the workshop is to develop collaborative clusters to advance the field in both basic neuroscience and clinical applications.
