My motivation is to understand the philosophical and physical aspect of how brain works and apply this knowledge to a specific problem. I have started to work on a project of great significance whose results may help to diagnose dyscalculia from a new perspective. Dyscalculia is a disorder in children which is difficult to diagnose since those suffering from this typically have normal and even higher IQ levels. In the current stage of the project I have been analyzing EEG data recorded at University in Groningen, Holland. Trying to understand the components and putting them together is a challenging task, and my first objective is to characterize the brain activity, i.e. the neural dynamics and its complexity associated with the functional neural processes that breakdown in Dyscalculia. Summer School:Last summer I was promoted a summer school in Marseille which improved my understanding of brain dynamics and gave me a general
perspective of data analysis techniques. International Collaborations:Recently we have started an international collaboration with a well known researcher,Avishai Henik from Department of Psychology of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, in dyscalculia in an attempt to compare and combine results with data from patients.
My current research is focused on the relationship between meter/rhythm in speech and music. Over the past year, I have conducted a behavioral and EEG experiment that examines how stress patterns in song can facilitate or hinder intelligibility of sung language.
During the current academic year, I have been involved in writing up my first project dealing with visuomotor processing in monkeys performing a categorization task, and have been following up on comments from the co-authors. A poster was prepared and presented at the Society for Neuroscience last fall to communicate the results obtained. During late fall and throughout Spring, I have been working on my second project studying directional interactions between parietal and low level visual areas on MEG data obtained from human subjects.
We studied the spatio-temporal dynamics of the rest state activity by using a large scale network modeling based on realistic primate brain connectivity. We investigated the properties of the network dynamics under consideration of signal transmission speeds and noise. Mathematical and numerical methods such as linear stability analysis and signal processing analysis are used.
Over the past year I have been working on two projects. The first is the preparation of a paper for publication. This work shows the functional modulation of early striate activity by top-down anticipatory influences in the ventral visual stream of 3 monkeys. The second project is a collaboration with Dr. Charles Gray of the University of Montana. This study investigates the interaction of the dorsal and ventral visual streams and the prefrontal cortex during a visual working memory task. We have prepared multiple grants based on this work.
I personally collected data for two fmri experiments; the excitator model and the MTBI study. I also oversaw data collection for Heather Chapin and Jeanna'Winchester experiments.
I have been working with Aging Adults (ages 45-55yrs), Older Adults (70-90yrs) and Older Adults suffering from Alzheimer's disease (70-90yrs). We have collected functional MRI, Diffusion Tensor Imaging, and Hi-resolution Volumetric Anatomical data for each subject. All subjects receive extensive neuropsychological assessments including the Ray Auditory Verbal Learning Test, the Standard Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale and the Mini-Mental State Exam. The patient population (Alzheimer's) was also prescreened using Positron Emission Tomography. This work is the culmination of the predoctoral thesis and will be submitted for the Defense sometime this year.
