Saal, Hannes, Dr

Dr Hannes Saal

School of Psychology

Senior Lecturer

h.saal@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 6504

F05, Pam Liversidge Building

Full contact details

Dr Hannes Saal
School of Psychology
F05
Pam Liversidge Building
Mappin Street
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S1 3JD

Profile: I am a Cognitive Scientist and run the . I studied Cognitive Science at the University of Osnabrück, Germany and then obtained my MSc and PhD in Neuroinformatics at the University of Edinburgh. I was then a postdoctoral scholar in Sliman Bensmaia’s lab at the University of Chicago, before joining the University of ��߲ݴ�ý to set up my own lab. For most of my career I have worked on the sense of touch, using methods from computational neuroscience, robotics, and machine learning.

Qualifications

BSc Cognitive Science (Osnabrueck, Germany)
MSc Neuroinformatics (Edinburgh)
PhD Neuroinformatics (Edinburgh)

Research interests: I work on mathematical models of sensory coding and perception; my main research area is the sense of touch, where I use human psychophysics, computational modelling, and applied machine learning in order to elucidate the fundamental computations allowing us to make sense of our environment through touch.

Publications

Show: Featured publications All publications

Featured publications

Journal articles

Cleland LD, Rowland HM, Mazzà C & Saal HP (2023) . Journal of The Royal Society Interface, 20(203).
Katic N, Siqueira RK, Cleland L, Strzalkowski N, Bent L, Raspopovic S & Saal H (2023) . iScience, 26(1).
Corniani G, Casal MA, Panzeri S & Saal HP (2022) . PLoS Computational Biology, 18(12).
Edmondson LR, Jiménez Rodríguez A & Saal HP (2022) . eLife, 11.
Wesselink DB, Sanders Z-B, Edmondson LR, Dempsey-Jones H, Kieliba P, Kikkert S, Themistocleous AC, Emir U, Diedrichsen J, Saal HP & Makin TR (2022) . Science Advances, 8(16).
Corniani G & Saal HP (2020) . Journal of Neurophysiology.
Boundy-Singer ZM, Saal HP & Bensmaia SJ (2017) . Journal of Neurophysiology, jn.00161.2017-jn.00161.2017.
Saal HP, Delhaye BP, Rayhaun BC & Bensmaia SJ (2017) . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA, 114(28), E5693-E5702.
Graczyk EL, Schiefer MA, Saal HP, Delhaye BP, Bensmaia SJ & Tyler DJ (2016) . Science Translational Medicine, 8(362).
Saal HP, Wang X & Bensmaia SJ (2016) . Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 40, 142-149.
Saal HP, Harvey MA & Bensmaia SJ (2015) . eLife, 4.
Saal HP & Bensmaia SJ (2015) . Neuropsychologia, 79, 344-353.
Saal HP & Bensmaia SJ (2014) . Trends in Neurosciences, 37(12), 689-697.
Weber AI, Saal HP, Lieber JD, Cheng J-W, Manfredi LR, Dammann JF & Bensmaia SJ (2013) . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(42), 17107-17112.
Harvey MA, Saal HP, Dammann JF & Bensmaia SJ () . PLoS Biology, 11(5), e1001558-e1001558.

Conference proceedings papers

Edmondson L, Jimenez-Rodriguez A & Saal H (2019) Nonlinear scaling of resource allocation in sensory bottlenecks. Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS 19) (pp 7543-7552). Vancouver, Canada, 8 December 2019 - 14 December 2019.

All publications

Journal articles

Cleland LD, Rowland HM, Mazzà C & Saal HP (2023) . Journal of The Royal Society Interface, 20(203).
Han C, English G, Saal HP, Indiveri G, Gilra A, von der Behrens W & Vasilaki E (2023) . PLoS Computational Biology, 19(5).
Sanders Z, Dempsey‐Jones H, Wesselink DB, Edmondson LR, Puckett AM, Saal HP & Makin TR (2023) . Human Brain Mapping.
Katic N, Siqueira RK, Cleland L, Strzalkowski N, Bent L, Raspopovic S & Saal H (2023) . iScience, 26(1).
Corniani G, Casal MA, Panzeri S & Saal HP (2022) . PLoS Computational Biology, 18(12).
Edmondson LR, Jiménez Rodríguez A & Saal HP (2022) . eLife, 11.
Edmondson LR & Saal HP (2022) . Neuron, 110(11), 1743-1745.
Wesselink DB, Sanders Z-B, Edmondson LR, Dempsey-Jones H, Kieliba P, Kikkert S, Themistocleous AC, Emir U, Diedrichsen J, Saal HP & Makin TR (2022) . Science Advances, 8(16).
Corniani G & Saal HP (2020) . Journal of Neurophysiology.
Saal HP, Suresh AK, Solorzano LE, Weber AI & Bensmaia SJ (2017) . Neuroscience.
Boundy-Singer ZM, Saal HP & Bensmaia SJ (2017) . Journal of Neurophysiology, jn.00161.2017-jn.00161.2017.
Saal HP, Delhaye BP, Rayhaun BC & Bensmaia SJ (2017) . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA, 114(28), E5693-E5702.
Delhaye BP, Saal HP & Bensmaia SJ (2016) . Journal of Physiology-Paris.
Graczyk EL, Schiefer MA, Saal HP, Delhaye BP, Bensmaia SJ & Tyler DJ (2016) . Science Translational Medicine, 8(362).
Suresh AK, Saal HP & Bensmaia SJ (2016) . J Neurophysiol, 116(6), 2647-2655.
Saal HP, Wang X & Bensmaia SJ (2016) . Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 40, 142-149.
Saal HP, Harvey MA & Bensmaia SJ (2015) . eLife, 4.
Saal HP & Bensmaia SJ (2015) . Neuropsychologia, 79, 344-353.
Callier T, Saal HP, Davis-Berg EC & Bensmaia SJ (2015) . Journal of Neurophysiology, 113(7), 3013-3020.
Saal HP & Bensmaia SJ (2014) . Trends in Neurosciences, 37(12), 689-697.
Manfredi LR, Saal HP, Brown KJ, Zielinski MC, Dammann JF, Polashock VS & Bensmaia SJ (2014) . Journal of Neurophysiology, 111(9), 1792-1802.
Weber AI, Saal HP, Lieber JD, Cheng J-W, Manfredi LR, Dammann JF & Bensmaia SJ (2013) . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(42), 17107-17112.
Mackevicius EL, Best MD, Saal HP & Bensmaia SJ (2012) . Journal of Neuroscience, 32(44), 15309-15317.
Saal HP, Vijayakumar S & Johansson RS (2009) . Journal of Neuroscience, 29(25), 8022-8031.
Cleland LD, Rupani M, Blaise CR, Ellmers TJ & Saal HP () . Journal of Neurophysiology.
Harvey MA, Saal HP, Dammann JF & Bensmaia SJ () . PLoS Biology, 11(5), e1001558-e1001558.

Chapters

Saal H (2022) , Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience (pp. 3182-3185).
Saal H (2015) , Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience (pp. 2756-2759). Springer New York
Saal H (2013) , Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience (pp. 1-4).

Conference proceedings papers

Corniani G, Lee Z, Carre MJ, Lewis R, Delhaye BP & Saal HP (2022) Imaging Sub-surface Skin Strain Patterns During Fingertip Sliding. HAPTICS: SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, APPLICATIONS, EUROHAPTICS 2022, Vol. 13235 (pp 358-361)
Edmondson L, Jimenez-Rodriguez A & Saal H (2019) Nonlinear scaling of resource allocation in sensory bottlenecks. Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS 19) (pp 7543-7552). Vancouver, Canada, 8 December 2019 - 14 December 2019.
Davis-Berg EC, Sachar C, Callier T, Saal HP & Bensmaia SJ (2014) Dynamic adaptation of exploratory movements for texture perception. INTEGRATIVE AND COMPARATIVE BIOLOGY, Vol. 54 (pp E49-E49)
Saal HP, Heess NMO & Vijayakumar S (2011) (pp 81-96)
Saal HP, Jo-Anne Ting & Vijayakumar S (2010) . 2010 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 18 October 2010 - 22 October 2010.
Saal HP, Ting JA & Vijayakumar S (2010) Active sequential learning with tactile feedback. Journal of Machine Learning Research, Vol. 9 (pp 677-684)
Strohmayr MW, Saal HP, Potdar AH & van der Smagt P (2010) . 2010 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 18 October 2010 - 22 October 2010.

Posters

Edmondson L, Saal H & Jimenez-Rodriguez A NeurIPS 2019 poster: Nonlinear scaling of resource allocation in sensory bottlenecks.

Datasets

Saal H & Corniani G .

Preprints

Cleland LD, Rupani M, Blaise C, Ellmers TJ & Saal H (2024) , Center for Open Science.
Corniani G, Lee ZS, Carré MJ, Lewis R, Delhaye BP & Saal HP (2024) , eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd.
Corniani G, Lee ZS, Carré MJ, Lewis R, Delhaye BP & Saal HP (2024) , eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd.
Tummala N, Reardon G, Dandu B, Shao Y, Saal HP & Visell Y (2023) , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Saal HP, Birznieks I & Johansson RS (2023) , eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd.
Saal HP, Birznieks I & Johansson RS (2023) , eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd.
Corniani G, Lee ZS, Carre MJ, Lewis R, Delhaye BP & Saal HP (2023) , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Saal HP, Birznieks I & Johansson RS (2023) , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Cleland LD, Rowland HM, Mazzà C & Saal HP (2023) , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Han C, English G, Saal HP, Indiveri G, Gilra A, von der Behrens W & Vasilaki E () .
Edmondson LR, Rodríguez AJ & Saal HP () .
Wesselink DB, Sanders Z-B, Edmondson LR, Dempsey-Jones H, Kieliba P, Kikkert S, Themistocleous AC, Emir U, Diedrichsen J, Saal HP & Makin TR () .
Corniani G & Saal HP () .
Corniani G, Casal MA, Panzeri S & Saal HP () , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

Research group: Neuroscience and Cognition

Grants

Innovate UK (2023-24): PathStance - Transforming a simple, prescribed NHS wearable, into a sensor-rich, at-home rehabilitation device. Smart Grant. With Matt Carre and Claire Brockett (Mechanical Engineering).
Leverhulme Trust (2022-2025): The computational origins of the cortical homunculus. Research project grant. Principal Investigator.
EU Horizon 2020 (2019-2023): NeuTouch - Understanding neural coding of touch as enabling technology for prosthethics and robotics. Innovative Training Network. With Tony Prescott (Computer Science) and EU-wide consortium.

Teaching activities

I am the course director for our MSc programmes in Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience, as well as Cognitive Neuroscience and Human Neuroimaging.

I currently teach PSY6308 - Computational Neuroscience 2 and PSY6309 - Mathematical Modelling and Research Skills.

Professional activities and memberships

I am a member of:

��߲ݴ�ý Robotics

Insigneo Institute for in-silico Medicine

Neuroscience Institute

PhD Opportunities

I am happy to receive applications for PhD study in my area of research.

We advertise PhD opportunities (Funded or Self-Funded) on

For further information, please see the department PhD Opportunities page.

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School of Psychology

School of Psychology

Dr Hannes Saal

Featured publications

Journal articles

Conference proceedings papers

All publications

Journal articles

Chapters

Conference proceedings papers

Posters

Datasets

Preprints

Neuroscience and Cognition

Links

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