Plasticity Lab
@plasticity-lab.bsky.social
We’re the Plasticity Lab at Cambridge University, led by Tamar Makin. We study the neural basis of hand function and dysfunction, exploring how technology can enhance movement functionality for able and disabled individuals of all ages: plasticity-lab.com
Markerless tracking shouldn’t feel like a coding project!
We released TrackStudio (arxiv.org/abs/2511.07624), a fully graphical, open-source toolkit for markerless human motion tracking. It enables use of current 2D/3D tools and video synchronisation without coding.
We released TrackStudio (arxiv.org/abs/2511.07624), a fully graphical, open-source toolkit for markerless human motion tracking. It enables use of current 2D/3D tools and video synchronisation without coding.
November 17, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Markerless tracking shouldn’t feel like a coding project!
We released TrackStudio (arxiv.org/abs/2511.07624), a fully graphical, open-source toolkit for markerless human motion tracking. It enables use of current 2D/3D tools and video synchronisation without coding.
We released TrackStudio (arxiv.org/abs/2511.07624), a fully graphical, open-source toolkit for markerless human motion tracking. It enables use of current 2D/3D tools and video synchronisation without coding.
Our lab has been lucky to know and work with Kirsty Mason for many years - she’s an incredible woman whose strength and openness have taught us so much about recovery and resilience 💛 If you can, please check out her GoFundMe and show some support! gofund.me/0283e864d
Donate to From Trauma to Triumph: My 18-Year Life Day Journey, organized by Kirsty Mason
❤️ When Everything Changed
As I type this, on the 7th November 2… Kirsty Mason needs your support for From Trauma to Triumph: My 18-Year Life Day Journey
gofund.me
November 11, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Our lab has been lucky to know and work with Kirsty Mason for many years - she’s an incredible woman whose strength and openness have taught us so much about recovery and resilience 💛 If you can, please check out her GoFundMe and show some support! gofund.me/0283e864d
Reposted by Plasticity Lab
A brain-imaging study of people with amputated arms has upended a long-standing belief
go.nature.com/3Jp9NPG
go.nature.com/3Jp9NPG
The brain’s map of the body is surprisingly stable — even after a limb is lost
Study challenges the textbook idea that the brain region that processes body sensations reorganizes itself after limb amputation.
go.nature.com
August 21, 2025 at 10:07 AM
A brain-imaging study of people with amputated arms has upended a long-standing belief
go.nature.com/3Jp9NPG
go.nature.com/3Jp9NPG
Super pleased to see this heroic effort finally in print!! Many thanks to Hunter, our amazing study participants, and everyone else who made this fantastic study come true.
Now out in @natneuro.nature.com
What happens to the brain’s body map when a body-part is removed?
Scanning patients before and up to 5 yrs after arm amputation, we discovered the brain’s body map is strikingly preserved despite amputation
www.nature.com/articles/s41593-025-02037-7
🧵1/18
What happens to the brain’s body map when a body-part is removed?
Scanning patients before and up to 5 yrs after arm amputation, we discovered the brain’s body map is strikingly preserved despite amputation
www.nature.com/articles/s41593-025-02037-7
🧵1/18
August 21, 2025 at 10:07 AM
Super pleased to see this heroic effort finally in print!! Many thanks to Hunter, our amazing study participants, and everyone else who made this fantastic study come true.
Reposted by Plasticity Lab
Happy to announce that my lab @ Yale Psychology (actcompthink.org) will be accepting PhD applications this year (for start in Fall '26)!
Come for the fun experiments on human learning, memory, & skilled behavior, stay for the best 🍕 in the US.
Please reach out if you have any questions!
Come for the fun experiments on human learning, memory, & skilled behavior, stay for the best 🍕 in the US.
Please reach out if you have any questions!
Homepage of the Action, Computation, & Thinking (ACT) Lab, Yale department of psychology
actcompthink.org
July 24, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Happy to announce that my lab @ Yale Psychology (actcompthink.org) will be accepting PhD applications this year (for start in Fall '26)!
Come for the fun experiments on human learning, memory, & skilled behavior, stay for the best 🍕 in the US.
Please reach out if you have any questions!
Come for the fun experiments on human learning, memory, & skilled behavior, stay for the best 🍕 in the US.
Please reach out if you have any questions!
Awesome to see our own @daniclode.bsky.social featured as a highlight of the UN #AIforGood Summit!
Check out the summary of her talk—plus other key discussions on how AI can restore agency, enhance accessibility, and foster deeper human connection:
www.linkedin.com/posts/ai-for...
Check out the summary of her talk—plus other key discussions on how AI can restore agency, enhance accessibility, and foster deeper human connection:
www.linkedin.com/posts/ai-for...
LIVE from the #AIforGood Global Summit! | AI for Good
LIVE from the #AIforGood Global Summit!
What was just covered at Frontier Stage? AI for restoring agency, enhancing accessibility, and empowering deeper human connection. Here’s a summary of the sess...
www.linkedin.com
July 22, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Awesome to see our own @daniclode.bsky.social featured as a highlight of the UN #AIforGood Summit!
Check out the summary of her talk—plus other key discussions on how AI can restore agency, enhance accessibility, and foster deeper human connection:
www.linkedin.com/posts/ai-for...
Check out the summary of her talk—plus other key discussions on how AI can restore agency, enhance accessibility, and foster deeper human connection:
www.linkedin.com/posts/ai-for...
Can you control an extra robotic finger just by flexing your leg muscles?
In our new study, we put EMG-based muscle control to the test, comparing it to traditional toe force sensor control for operating the Third Thumb (designed by @daniclode.bsky.social).
1/12
In our new study, we put EMG-based muscle control to the test, comparing it to traditional toe force sensor control for operating the Third Thumb (designed by @daniclode.bsky.social).
1/12
July 17, 2025 at 10:57 AM
Can you control an extra robotic finger just by flexing your leg muscles?
In our new study, we put EMG-based muscle control to the test, comparing it to traditional toe force sensor control for operating the Third Thumb (designed by @daniclode.bsky.social).
1/12
In our new study, we put EMG-based muscle control to the test, comparing it to traditional toe force sensor control for operating the Third Thumb (designed by @daniclode.bsky.social).
1/12
Reposted by Plasticity Lab
Great start to #IMRF2025 with Symposium 2 all about body representation and some amazing talks! Really enjoyed hearing about how sounds can affect it, e.g. with the auditory pinocchio illusion 🔊, something quite different than what I work on but so fun!
July 15, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Great start to #IMRF2025 with Symposium 2 all about body representation and some amazing talks! Really enjoyed hearing about how sounds can affect it, e.g. with the auditory pinocchio illusion 🔊, something quite different than what I work on but so fun!
Exciting day at the fascinating UN #AIforGood summit! @daniclode.bsky.social presented on designing for augmentation and the Third Thumb, Tamar then presented our research looking at the neural embodiment of robotic limbs! Smashing it 🦾
July 9, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Exciting day at the fascinating UN #AIforGood summit! @daniclode.bsky.social presented on designing for augmentation and the Third Thumb, Tamar then presented our research looking at the neural embodiment of robotic limbs! Smashing it 🦾
Thrilled to share our most recent work led by our brilliant PhD student @mariamolinasan.bsky.social, exploring generalisation of motor learning with a robotic limb, featuring The Third Thumb 🦾
Can humans use artificial limbs for body augmentation as flexibly as their own hands?
🚨 Our new interdisciplinary study put this question to the test with the Third Thumb (@daniclode.bsky.social), a robotic extra digit you control with your toes!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🧵1/10
🚨 Our new interdisciplinary study put this question to the test with the Third Thumb (@daniclode.bsky.social), a robotic extra digit you control with your toes!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🧵1/10
July 7, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Thrilled to share our most recent work led by our brilliant PhD student @mariamolinasan.bsky.social, exploring generalisation of motor learning with a robotic limb, featuring The Third Thumb 🦾
Our PhD students @maggieszymanska.bsky.social and Julien Russ ready to present their posters today at #BRNet2025! Find them in the poster room at 2pm, talking about phantom limb pain and using EMG to control the Third Thumb 🧠
July 4, 2025 at 10:55 AM
Our PhD students @maggieszymanska.bsky.social and Julien Russ ready to present their posters today at #BRNet2025! Find them in the poster room at 2pm, talking about phantom limb pain and using EMG to control the Third Thumb 🧠
Having a great time in Utrecht at #BRNet2025! Today, our very talented postdoc @celiafoster.bsky.social and amazing PhD student Ema Jugovic presented their posters. Really great work showcasing our new Third Thumb studies 🧠
July 3, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Having a great time in Utrecht at #BRNet2025! Today, our very talented postdoc @celiafoster.bsky.social and amazing PhD student Ema Jugovic presented their posters. Really great work showcasing our new Third Thumb studies 🧠
Reposted by Plasticity Lab
Great talk by Matej Hoffman starting off Day 2 of #BRNet2025. Really exciting to see our BOLDkids research on congenital limb difference mentioned as well! Also - what an amazing venue 😊
July 3, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Great talk by Matej Hoffman starting off Day 2 of #BRNet2025. Really exciting to see our BOLDkids research on congenital limb difference mentioned as well! Also - what an amazing venue 😊
Our lab had a fantastic time this week presenting our current work at @uksensorimotor25.bsky.social in Oxford 🧠
June 27, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Our lab had a fantastic time this week presenting our current work at @uksensorimotor25.bsky.social in Oxford 🧠
Reposted by Plasticity Lab
🧠New postdoc position - come work with us in France! 🥐👩🔬
Two-Year Postdoc Position on the Role of Temporal Integration in Visual Attention Using Human Intracerebral Recordings | EURAXESS euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/351721
📆Starting Date: October 2025
⏱️Application deadline: 31 Aug 2025
Two-Year Postdoc Position on the Role of Temporal Integration in Visual Attention Using Human Intracerebral Recordings | EURAXESS euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/351721
📆Starting Date: October 2025
⏱️Application deadline: 31 Aug 2025
June 11, 2025 at 2:53 PM
🧠New postdoc position - come work with us in France! 🥐👩🔬
Two-Year Postdoc Position on the Role of Temporal Integration in Visual Attention Using Human Intracerebral Recordings | EURAXESS euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/351721
📆Starting Date: October 2025
⏱️Application deadline: 31 Aug 2025
Two-Year Postdoc Position on the Role of Temporal Integration in Visual Attention Using Human Intracerebral Recordings | EURAXESS euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/351721
📆Starting Date: October 2025
⏱️Application deadline: 31 Aug 2025
Check-out our latest research! 🧠 @lucydowdall.bsky.social's PhD work looking at the sensory representation of an artificial limb is now up on bioRxiv! doi.org/10.1101/2025.06.16.658246 🦾 see her thread below highlighting some of our key findings
June 19, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Check-out our latest research! 🧠 @lucydowdall.bsky.social's PhD work looking at the sensory representation of an artificial limb is now up on bioRxiv! doi.org/10.1101/2025.06.16.658246 🦾 see her thread below highlighting some of our key findings
Great video by @wired.com showcasing the Third Thumb! 👍👍👍We're super grateful to be able to work with the amazing Dani Clode and investigate how our brains 🧠 accomodate motor control of an extra robotic finger! The segment on the Third Thumb starts at 6:02 - you can watch here: rb.gy/t8gdhs
6 Arms, 3 Thumbs: I Tested The Future of Robotic Limbs | Superhuman | WIRED
Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.
rb.gy
May 12, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Great video by @wired.com showcasing the Third Thumb! 👍👍👍We're super grateful to be able to work with the amazing Dani Clode and investigate how our brains 🧠 accomodate motor control of an extra robotic finger! The segment on the Third Thumb starts at 6:02 - you can watch here: rb.gy/t8gdhs
Hristo’s presenting his poster today and tomorrow at #NCMPan25! Come and check out his work on information content in sensorimotor cortex in controls and people with amputations at 2-F-72 @ncmsociety.bsky.social
May 1, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Hristo’s presenting his poster today and tomorrow at #NCMPan25! Come and check out his work on information content in sensorimotor cortex in controls and people with amputations at 2-F-72 @ncmsociety.bsky.social
Come check out Celia’s poster today and tomorrow at #NCMPan25 and learn about touch localisation abilities with the Third Thumb! 1-F-73 @ncmsociety.bsky.social @celiafoster.bsky.social
April 29, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Come check out Celia’s poster today and tomorrow at #NCMPan25 and learn about touch localisation abilities with the Third Thumb! 1-F-73 @ncmsociety.bsky.social @celiafoster.bsky.social
Applications close tomorrow for our summer internship position! plasticity-lab.com/internship
Applications are open for the Plasticity Lab summer internship at the University of Cambridge @mrccbu.bsky.social 🦾 Work with an interdisciplinary team on motor augmentation and wearable tech, exploring enhancement of movement capabilities 🧠 Apply by April 15th: plasticity-lab.com/internship
April 14, 2025 at 10:20 AM
Applications close tomorrow for our summer internship position! plasticity-lab.com/internship
Applications are open for the Plasticity Lab summer internship at the University of Cambridge @mrccbu.bsky.social 🦾 Work with an interdisciplinary team on motor augmentation and wearable tech, exploring enhancement of movement capabilities 🧠 Apply by April 15th: plasticity-lab.com/internship
April 1, 2025 at 12:43 PM
Applications are open for the Plasticity Lab summer internship at the University of Cambridge @mrccbu.bsky.social 🦾 Work with an interdisciplinary team on motor augmentation and wearable tech, exploring enhancement of movement capabilities 🧠 Apply by April 15th: plasticity-lab.com/internship
Reposted by Plasticity Lab
Want to hear more about how feedback can guide learning in RNNs for motor adaptation. Here is our new paper in Nat. Com. with Barbara Feulner and @juangallego.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A neural implementation model of feedback-based motor learning - Nature Communications
How the brain adapts our movements to new conditions remains unclear. Here, the authors show that a recurrent neural network that controls its output using error-based feedback can learn to count...
www.nature.com
February 21, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Want to hear more about how feedback can guide learning in RNNs for motor adaptation. Here is our new paper in Nat. Com. with Barbara Feulner and @juangallego.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...
We truly believe neurotechnology developments should be shaped by the end-users, not just the researchers! But how can we ensure ground-breaking developments are guided by the people whose lives they will impact the most? Read more here: rb.gy/7zjf6e
Neurotechnology developments shaped by researchers and end-users
Neurotechnology refers to a broad range of technologies designed to interface with the nervous system, with the aim of treating neurological disorders, enhancing cognitive function, and improving over...
rb.gy
February 19, 2025 at 4:53 PM
We truly believe neurotechnology developments should be shaped by the end-users, not just the researchers! But how can we ensure ground-breaking developments are guided by the people whose lives they will impact the most? Read more here: rb.gy/7zjf6e
Our website contains even more information and curated resources to help support researchers in the aim of taking a more user-centered approach towards neurotechnology, in addition to details for how to get involved in this initiative www.inclusive-neurotech.co.uk
January 23, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Our website contains even more information and curated resources to help support researchers in the aim of taking a more user-centered approach towards neurotechnology, in addition to details for how to get involved in this initiative www.inclusive-neurotech.co.uk
Neurotech is rapidly evolving, but user-centred technologies can only succeed if their development actively involves the end user. We’ve published a basic roadmap for supporting inclusive design testing - highlighting key strategies, stakeholders, representation, and measurable outcomes rb.gy/ng1jus
January 23, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Neurotech is rapidly evolving, but user-centred technologies can only succeed if their development actively involves the end user. We’ve published a basic roadmap for supporting inclusive design testing - highlighting key strategies, stakeholders, representation, and measurable outcomes rb.gy/ng1jus