FLEX-U · Flexibility to multisensory contestual information in people with sensory disabilities.

One of the brain's main challenges is decoding and integrating information from different sensory modalities to create a coherent perceptual representation. In this perspective, the study of people with sensory disabilities can be considered a model to investigate the mechanisms behind the ability to modify and adapt behavior to external stimuli. When a system is flexible, it can modify itself to gain greater benefit based on environmental conditions. However, when the system does not develop in a typical manner, as in sensory disabilities, it may be less flexible, causing problems beyond perceptual processing and affect aspects of everyday life. Starting with this assumption, FLEX-U unites a novel combination between psychophysics and statistical/modeling analysis to investigate the flexibility/rigidity of the sensory processing mechanisms in people with and without sensory disabilities. The project's main aim will be divided into three specific objectives (SOs). SO1: Understanding of sensory flexibility in the typical individuals; SO2: Modelling of sensory inputs to predict flexible behavior; SO3: Understanding the influence of contextual information on the flexibility of sensory systems in people with sensory impairment and develop rehabilitative training. These objectives will be achieved thanks to the transfer of knowledge between the partner (UNSYD) and the host (IIT) institutions involving advanced expertise in experimental psychology, behavioral modelling, rehabilitative training, as well as solid scientific and clinical collaboration networks. The outcomes of FLUX-U will advance, not only, our knowledge about human perception and multisensory processing at the scientific level, but will help to develop a new rehabilitative training based on multisensory inputs that on a wider scale could improve confidence and quality of life in people with sensory impairments.