Program Duration: 2-5 years
This is an interactive program that trains Fellows in clinical and bench-to-bedside research focused on understanding mechanisms of behavioral, cognitive and motor disability associated with 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.
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). 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 applied to patients with neurological conditions such as stroke and memory disorders.
Areas of Current Research
- Neurorehabilitation of stroke and dementia
- Motor learning
- The role of the reward system in disorders of cognition, movement, and behavioral control
- Neural replay and its role in memory formation and consolidation
- 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