Göttingen Graduate Center for Neurosciences, Biophysics, and Molecular Biosciences

Gail, Alexander, Prof. Dr.

Professor for Sensorimotor Neuroscience and Neuroprosthetics


  • 1997: Physics Diploma, Philipps University, Marburg
  • 2002: Dr. rer. nat. (Physics) Philipps University, Marburg
  • 2002-2003: Postdoc (Neurophysics Laboratory of R. Eckhorn, Marburg)
  • 2003-2006: Postdoc (Laboratory of R. Andersen, Pasadena, CA, USA)
  • since 2006: Head of Sensorimotor Research Group, German Primate Center and Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience
  • since 2012: Professor for Sensorimotor Neuroscience and Neuroprosthetics, University of Göttingen
  • since 2022: Speaker of the collaborative research center SFB-1528 “Cognition of Interaction”




Major Research Interests

Decision making, action planning, sensorimotor integration, spatial cognition, motor cognition, social cognition, brain-computer interfaces, neuroprosthetics;
Methods: awake monkey electrophysiology, extracellular multi-channel microelectrode recordings, psychophysics in human and non-human primates, free behavior


Homepage Department/Research Group

http://www.dpz.eu/smg
http://www.bccn-goettingen.de/Groups/gail
www.sfb1528.uni-goettingen.de



Selected Recent Publications


  • Vogg R, Lüddecke T, Henrich J, Dey S, Nuske M, Hassler V, Murphy D, Fischer J, Ostner J, Schülke O, Kappeler PM, Fichtel C, Gail A, Treue S, Scherberger H, Wörgötter F, Ecker AS (2025) Computer Vision for Primate Behavior Analysis in the Wild. Nature Methods. DOI: 10.1038/s41592-025-02653-y
  • Amann LK, Casasnovas V, Gail A (2025) Visual target and task-critical feedback uncertainty impair different stages of reach planning in motor cortex. Nature Communications 16, 3372. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-58738-x
  • Guo H, Kuang S, Gail A (2025) Sensorimotor environment but not task rule reconfigures population dynamics in rhesus monkey posterior parietal cortex. Nature Communications 16, 1116. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-56360-5
  • Schneider F, Calapai A, Mundry R, Gail A, Kagan I, Treue S (2024) Confidence over competence: Real-time integration of social information in human continuous perceptual decision-making. eLife. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.101021.1
  • Taghizadeh B, Fortmann O, Gail A (2024) Position- and scale-invariant object-centered spatial selectivity in monkey frontoparietal cortex dynamically adapts to task demand. Nature Communications 15: 3357. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-47554-4
  • Gail A (2022) Turning decisions into actions. PLoS Biol 20(12): e3001927. DOI: 10.1371/¬journal.-pbio.¬3001927