Katja Fiehler

Prof. Dr.

Justus-Liebig University Giessen FB 06 Psychology and Sports-Sciences
Otto-Behaghel-Str. 10F
35394 Giessen, Germany

+49 (0)641 99 26 144 +49 (0)641 99 26 119 send e-mail visit website

My research focusses on the interplay of perception and action. I’m interested in how different sensory information are used for space perception and goal-directed actions, such as reaching and grasping. I also investigate how humans predict the sensory outcome of their actions and how these predictive processes shape perception.

My long-term goal is to better understand how the human brain plans, controls, and adapts natural actions in complex environments. To this end, I combine psychophysics with motion tracking in real and virtual environments and apply EEG and fMRI to uncover the underlying neural processes.

project-related publications

Arikan, B. E., Voudouris, D., Straube, B., & Fiehler, K. (2024). Distinct role of central predictive mechanisms in tactile suppression. Iscience, 27(8).find paper

Beyvers, M. C., Fraser, L. E., & Fiehler, K. (2022). Linking signal relevancy and intensitiy in predictive tactile suppressionFrontiers in Human Neuroscience, 16, 795886. find paper, DATA

Beyvers, M. C., Fraser, L., & Fiehler, K. (2022). Linking signal relevancy and intensity in predictive tactile suppression. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 75. find paper

Beyvers, M. C., Koch, I., & Fiehler, K. (2022). Episodic Binding and Retrieval in Sequences of Discrete Movements–Evidence from Grasping Actions. Journal of Cognition, 5(1). find paper

Beyvers, M.C., Voudouris, D., & Fiehler, K. (2023). Sensorimotor memories influence movement kinematics but not associated tactile processing Scientific Reports, 13(1), 17920. find paper, DATA

Eckert, A. L., Fuehrer, E., Schmitter, C., Straube, B., Fiehler, K., & Endres, D. (2025). Modelling sensory attenuation as Bayesian causal inference across two datasets. PloS one, 20(1), e0317924. find paper

Fuehrer, E., Maurer, L. K., & Fiehler, K. (2025). Characterizing SEPs from Pacinian-targeted vibrations. Journal of Neurophysiology, 134(4), 1185-1196. find paper

Fuehrer, E., Voudouris, D., Lezkan, A., Drewing, K., & Fiehler, K. (2022). Tactile suppression stems from specific sensorimotor predictions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119(20), e2118445119. find paper

Klever, L., Beyvers, M. C., Fiehler, K., Mamassian, P., & Billino, J. (2023). Cross-modal metacognition: Visual and tactile confidence share a common scale. Journal of Vision, 23(5), 3-3. find paper

McManus, M., Schuetz, I., Voudouris, D., & Fiehler, K. (2023). How visuomotor predictability and task demands affect tactile sensitivity on a moving limb during object interaction.Royal Society Open Science, 10(12): 231259. find paper, DATA

Schuetz, I., & Fiehler, K. (2022). Eye tracking in virtual reality: Vive pro eye spatial accuracy, precision, and calibration reliability. Journal of Eye Movement Research, 15(3). find paper

Schuetz, I., & Fiehler, K. (2022). Vive pro eye spatial accuracy, precision, and calibration reliability. Journal of Eye Movement Research, 15(3). find paper

Schuetz, I., Karimpur, H., & Fiehler, K. (2023). vexptoolbox: A software toolbox for human behavior studies using the Vizard virtual reality platform. Behavior Research Methods, 55(2), 570-582. find paper

Schuetz, I., McManus, M., Fiehler, K., & Voudouris, D. (2022). Investigating movement-related tactile suppression using commercial VR controllers. Lecture Notes on Computer Science, 13235: 225-233. find paper,

Voudouris, D., & Fiehler, K. (2022). The role of grasping demands on tactile suppression. Human Movement Science, 83, 102957. find paper, DATA

Voudouris, D., Georgiadis, P., Fiehler, K., & Arikan, B. E. (2025). Reliability of tactile perception and suppression measurements. IEEE Transactions on Haptics, 18(3), 671-678 find paper

Voudouris, D., Schuetz, I., Schinke, T., & Fiehler, K. (2023). Pupil dilation scales with movement distance of real but not of imagined reaching movements. Journal of Neurophysiology. find paper

Wachsmann, F. D., Fiehler, K., & Voudouris, D. (2025). Postural demands modulate tactile perception in the lower limb in young and older adults. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 1-10. find paper

Wachsmann, F. D., Fiehler, K., & Voudouris, D. (2025). Temporal modulation of tactile perception during balance control. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 1-14. find paper

Wachsmann, F. D., Fiehler, K., & Voudouris, D. (2025). Modulation of tactile sensitivity in the lower limbs during goal-directed movements. bioRxiv, 2025-07. find paper

former project-related publications

Arikan, B. E., van Kemenade, B. M., Fiehler, K., Kircher, T., Drewing, K., & Straube, B. (2021). Different contributions of efferent and reafferent feedback to sensorimotor temporal recalibration. Scientific Reports, 11(1), 1-15. find paper

Arikan, B. E., Voudouris, D., Voudouri-Gertz, H., Sommer, J., & Fiehler, K. (2021). Reach-relevant somatosensory signals modulate activity in the tactile suppression network. NeuroImage, 236, 118000. find paper

Broda, M.D., Fiehler, K., & Voudouris, D. (2020). The influence of afferent input on somatosensory suppression during grasping. Scientific Reports, 10(1), 1-11. find paper, DATA

Fiehler, K., Brenner, E., & Spering, M. (2019). Prediction in goal-directed action. Journal of vision, 19(9), 10-10. find paper

Fraser, L. E., & Fiehler, K. (2018). Predicted reach consequences drive time course of tactile suppression. Behavioural brain research, 350, 54-64. find paper

Gertz , H., Lingnau, A., & Fiehler , K. (2017). Decoding movement goals from the fronto-parietal reach network. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 11, 84. find paper

Gertz, H. & Fiehler, K. (2015). Human posterior parietal cortex encodes the movement goal in a pro-/anti-reach task. Journal of Neurophysiology, 114, 170-183. find paper

Gertz, H., Fiehler, K., & Voudouris, D. (2018). The role of visual processing on tactile suppression. PloS one, 13(4), e0195396. find paper

Gertz, H., Hilger, M., Hegele, M.*, & Fiehler, K.* (2016). Violating instructed human agency: An fMRI study on ocular tracking of biological and nonbiological motion stimuli. Neuroimage, 138, 109-122. (*shared last authorship) find paper

Gertz, H., Voudouris, D., & Fiehler, K. (2017). Reach-relevant somatosensory signals modulate tactile suppression. Journal of Neurophysiology, 117(6), 2262-2268. find paper

Göttker, A., Fiehler, K. & Voudouris, D (2020). Contribution of somatosensory information for goal-directed hand and eye movements. Journal of Neurophysiology, 124(4), 1092-1102. find paper, DATA

Khoozani, P. A., Schrater, P. R., Endres, D., Fiehler, K., & Blohm, G. (2019). Models of allocentric coding for reaching in naturalistic visual scenes. In Proceedings of the 2019 Conference on Cognitive Computational Neuroscience, 4 pages.

Khoozani, P. A., Voudouris, D., Blohm, G., & Fiehler, K. (2020). Reaching around obstacles accounts for uncertainty in coordinate transformations. Journal of Neurophysiology, 123(5), 1920-1932. find paper, DATA

Klever, L., Voudouris, D., Fiehler, K., & Billino, J. (2019). Age effects on sensorimotor predictions: What drives increased tactile suppression during reaching? Journal of vision, 19(9), 9-9. find paper

Metzger, A., Mueller, S., Fiehler, K., & Drewing, K. (2019). Top-down modulation of shape and roughness discrimination in active touch by covert attention. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 81(2), 462-475. find paper

Mueller , S. & Fiehler .K. (2017). Gaze-dependent coding of proprioceptive reach targets after effector movement: Testing the impact of online information, movement timing, and target distance. PLOS ONE, 12(7), e0180782. find paper

Mueller, S. & Fiehler, K. (2014a). Effector movement triggers gaze-dependent spatial coding of tactile and proprioceptive-tactile reach targets. Neuropsychologia, 62, 184-193. find paper

Mueller, S. & Fiehler, K. (2014b). Gaze-dependent spatial updating of tactile targets in a localization task. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, Article 66, 1-10. find paper

Mueller, S., & Fiehler, K. (2016). Mixed body-and gaze-centered coding of proprioceptive reach targets after effector movement. Neuropsychologia, 87, 63-73. find paper

Mueller, S., de Haas, B., Metzger, A., Drewing, K., & Fiehler, K. (2019). Neural correlates of top-down modulation of haptic shape versus roughness perception. Human Brain Mapping, 40(18), 5172-5184. find paper

Straube, B., van Kemenade, B. M., Arikan, B. E., Fiehler, K., Harris, L. R., Leube, D., & Kircher, T. (2017). Predicting the multisensory consequences of one's own action: BOLD suppression in auditory and visual cortices. PLOS ONE, 12(1), e0169131. find paper

Voudouris D., & Fiehler K. (2017b). Spatial specificity of tactile enhancement during reaching. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 79(8), 2424-2434. find paper

Voudouris D., & Fiehler K. (2017a). Enhancement and suppression of tactile signals during reaching. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 43(6), 1238. find paper

Voudouris, D. & Fiehler, K. (2021). Dynamic temporal modulation of somatosensory processing during reaching. Scientific Reports, 11(1), 1-12. find paper, DATA

Voudouris, D., Broda, M. D., & Fiehler, K. (2019). Anticipatory grasping control modulates somatosensory perception. Journal of Vision, 19,(5), 4-4. find paper

Voudouris, D., Goettker, A., Mueller, S., & Fiehler, K. (2016). Kinesthetic information facilitates saccades towards proprioceptive-tactile targets. Vision research, 122, 73-80. find paper

Predictive somatosensory processing during voluntary movements

Prof. Dr. Fiehler and Dr. Voudouris

Prof. Dr.

Katja Fiehler

Prof. Dr. Katja Fiehler