Program Duration: 2-5 years
This is an interactive program that trains Fellows in clinical and bench-to-bedside research focused on understanding normal mechanisms of behavioral, cognitive and motor function as well as mechanisms of disability associated with neurological conditions like stroke and neurodegenerative disorders. Fellows study the mechanisms underlying learning and other plastic changes in the human central nervous system in health and disease, the function of the human reward system, and novel therapeutic approaches for recovery of cognitive and motor functions. Present focus includes the study of wakeful neural replay and its role in consolidation of skill and learning in health and disease.
Instruction is given on the use of techniques in the context of investigations using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and direct current (tDCS) stimulation, structural MRI, TMS in combination with fMRI, MR spectroscopy, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), PET scanning, and magnetoencephalography (MEG). More recently, behavioral investigations have been implemented using crowdsourcing allowing collection of large and well powered data samples. These techniques are learned to understand mechanisms of neuroplasticity, memory formation and consolidation and to facilitate human brain function leading to more successful neurorehabilitation and cognitive improvements. Advances in this understanding in healthy volunteers are subsequently tested in patients with neurological conditions such as stroke and memory disorders.
Areas of Current Research
- Motor learning in the context of Neurorehabilitation of stroke and dementia
- The role of the reward system in disorders of cognition, movement, and behavioral control
- Neural replay and its role in memory formation and consolidation
- Neural activity predicting future errors in skilled motor performance
- Use of closed-loop transcranial cortical stimulation to facilitate cognitive processes
- Episodic Memory
- Interaction of the Episodic Memory and Procedural Systems
FACULTY AND GME PAGE
Leonardo G. Cohen, M.D., Chief, Human Cortical Physiology and Neurorehabilitation Section, cohenl@ninds.nih.gov. PubMed Articles
Eric M. Wassermann, M.D., Chief, Behavioral Neurology Unit, wassermanne@ninds.nih.gov. PubMed Articles