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SUMMARY:Imaging and Stimulating adaptive brain plasticity  -  Professor He
 idi Johansen-Berg\, Oxford Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain (FMRIB)\
 , University of  Oxford
DTSTART:20150424T140000Z
DTEND:20150424T153000Z
UID:TALK57774@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Louise White
DESCRIPTION:Abstract\n\nImaging and stimulating adaptive brain plasticity\
 n\nAnimal studies show that the adult brain shows remarkable plasticity in
 \nresponse to learning or recovery from injury. Non-invasive brain imaging
 \ntechniques can be used to detect systems-level structural and functional
 \nplasticity in the human brain. This talk will focus on how brain imaging
 \nhas allowed us to monitor healthy brains learning new motor skills\, to\
 nassess how brains recover after damage\, such as stroke\, and how they ad
 apt\nto change\, such as limb amputation.\n\nAlthough imaging is useful to
  detect such adaptations\, many brain imaging\nmeasures are non-specific a
 nd do not allow us to pinpoint the underlying\ncellular changes that are d
 riving observed effects. The talk will also\ndiscuss studies in animal mod
 els in which both imaging and histological\napproaches can be used to shed
  light on the underlying biological drivers\nfor structural plasticity det
 ected using MRI.\n\nFinally\, the talk will discuss how brain stimulation 
 can be used to\nmanipulate brain remodelling.  For example\, using transcr
 anial direct\ncurrent stimulation (tDCS) to the motor cortex we can speed 
 people¹s\nlearning of a new task\, alter their brain chemistry\, or impro
 ve function\nin stroke patients. FMRI identifies changes in cortical activ
 ity that may\nmediate these functional benefits. In future\, imaging could
  be used to\nguide individually targeted brain stimulation to enhance adap
 tive brain\nplasticity.\n\nBiography\n\nHeidi Johansen-Berg is Professor o
 f Cognitive Neuroscience and Wellcome Senior Research Fellow at the Univer
 sity of Oxford. She heads the Plasticity Group at the FMRIB Centre and wil
 l take over as Director of FMRIB in May this year.  Her group is intereste
 d in how the brain changes with learning or recovery of function. \n\n
LOCATION:Ground Floor Lecture Theatre\, Department of Psychology
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