Jared MedinaAssociate Professor

Research Interests

Body representations, touch, embodiment, plasticity, cognitive neuropsychology, brain stimulation, multisensory integration, theory and methods

Research Areas 

Dr. Medina's research examines how the brain represents the body. This is a broad topic that ranges from tactile psychophysics to our understanding of qualia, embodiment and our sense of self. Questions examined in our lab include:

- How do we combine information from multiple sensory systems to represent the size, shape, and position of our bodies?

- How malleable are our body representations? What are the constraints on what we can (or cannot) embody?

- What are the mechanisms of sensory plasticity after brain damage? And what are the perceptual correlates of this plasticity?

- How do neural processes lead to specific tactile qualia?

 To address these and other questions, the Medina lab uses a multidisciplinary approach. This includes work with perceptual illusions (e.g., mirror box illusion, rubber hand illusion), perceptual psychophysics, functional neuroimaging, and brain stimulation (transcranial magnetic stimulation). A core component of my research is examining individuals with brain damage to understand cognitive processing and neural plasticity - with a particular focus on single case studies.

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