“Who Am I? Where Am I? – Neurobiological and Philosophical Concepts of the Self”

Mind Science Foundation – “Distinguished Debates in Consciousness”

Cross-modal Plasticity

Much of the human brain cortex is devoted to visual processing, leading to the question of what happens to the visual cortex in people who are blind? Brain imaging studies have shown that the visual cortex of people who became blind early in life responds to a variety of non-visual auditory, tactile, and verbal tasks. This sensory reorganization is called cross-modal plasticity. It is still unknown how the cross-modal responses map onto the normal functional subdivisions of the visual cortex. I am currently conducting neuroimaging (fMRI) experiments to address this question. My experiments also study the long-term effects of cross-modal plasticity in formerly blind individuals with sight recovery.

Development and Application of Real-Time fMRI

One of the applications we are currently focusing on is to provide feedback of fMRI signal in real-time from a specific brain region (e.g. anterior cingulate) to healthy individuals and patients with chronic pain and anxiety disorders to investigate whether people can learn to control the activation of a localized brain region and whether there is a corresponding change in cognition and behavior. In addition, in patients, we are investigating whether there is a resultant change in their symptoms (e.g. pain).
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: This ongoing project is funded by NIH/NINDS 9R44NS050642-03, NIH/NIDA N43DA-4-7748, and NIH/NIDA N44DA and the Mind Science Foundation.