Abstract: In this talk I will describe three ongoing projects that are broadly related to the three programmatic areas of the CaNCTA. The first project examines the technique of recording EEG and fMRI simultaneously. Examples from affective neuroscience and visual attention will be used to illustrate our current approach to integrate complex data from different imaging modalities. The second project examines neural responses to cognitive fatigue resulting from prolonged performance of a cognitively demanding task. We demonstrate that the brain copes with the fatigue-induced impairment of the task-related network by recruiting additional neural resources to maintain performance and that such compensation mechanisms eventually fail as cognitive fatigue further worsens. The third project examines recent efforts at taking neuroscience into the real world. Wireless EEG were recorded simultaneously from all the students in a high school biology class over 11 class periods in the span of one semester. Brain-to-brain synchrony was evaluated and shown to be associated with social and educational assessments.

 

Dr. Ding’s research focuses on applying engineering approaches to understand the neural basis of cognitive functions and their impairments by neurological and psychiatric disorders. Specific areas of interest include the following: 1) multimodal neuroimaging (single unit, multiunit, LFP, EEG, ECOG, and MRI), 2) Granger causality and other novel methods of brain signal analysis, 3) neuronal oscillations, 4) large-scale brain networks, 5) cognitive aging, 6) pain processing, and 7) cognitive impairments in Parkinson’s disease and other disorders.