Mar
21
Thu
CMU: NI: Victor M. Bearg Neuroscience Lecture: John Krakauer: “Combining novel behavioral training with technology for neurological recovery”
Mar 21 @ 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM

Please join us for the Victor M. Bearg Neuroscience Lecture.


Dr. John Krakauer
John C. Malone Professor of Neurology, Neuroscience, 
& Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Director of the Brain, Learning, Animation, and Movement Lab
The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine  

Thursday, March 21st
4:00 pm, Roberts Hall, Singleton Room
or join via Zoom:https://cmu.zoom.us/j/99764207187?pwd=Q0gwcUZwaGRuL2hvV3pqUTFWcEVRQT09 
Meeting ID: 997 6420 7187 
Passcode: 898767

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Combining novel behavioral training with technology for neurological recovery
It is becoming increasingly apparent from animal models and human studies that behavioral improvement in the setting of a neurological condition is a function of the dose, intensity, and type of training. Neurotechnology can be used to design new behavioral training experiences and approaches, and to physiologically augment the responsivity of the CNS to training for either neurorestorative effects or better neuroprosthetic use. These interactions between behavior, training and technology are of great interest for both scientific and clinical reasons.

About John Krakauer
Dr. Krakauer is currently John C. Malone Professor, Professor of Neurology, Neuroscience, and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and Director of the Brain, Learning, Animation, and Movement Lab (www.BLAM-lab.org) at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is also an External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute and a Visiting Scholar at The Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown. He is Chief Medical Advisor to MindMaze. His areas of research interest are: (1) Experimental and computational studies of motor control and motor learning in humans (2) Tracking long-term motor skill learning and its relation to higher cognitive processes such as decision-making. (3) Prediction of motor recovery after stroke (4) Mechanisms of spontaneous motor recovery after stroke in humans and in mouse models (5) New neuro-rehabilitation approaches for patients in the first 3 months after stroke.(6) Philosophy of mind, philosophy of neuroscience.

Dr. Krakauer is also co-founder of the company MSquare Health (acquired by MindMaze) and of the creative engineering Hopkins-based project named KATA. KATA and MSquare are both predicated on the idea that animal movement based on real physics is highly pleasurable and that this pleasure is hugely heightened when the animal movement is under the control of our own movements. A simulated dolphin and other cetaceans developed by KATA has led to a therapeutic game that has been interfaced with an exoskeletal robot in a multi-site rehabilitation trial for early stroke recovery, and with motion tracking for cognitive therapy in the normal aged. Dr. Krakauer was profiled in the New Yorker in 2015 and his book, “Broken Movement: The Neurobiology of Motor Recovery after Stroke” was published by the MIT Press in the November 2017. He is slowly working on a new book on the mind and intelligence for Princeton University Press.  

If you are interested in meeting with Dr. Krakauer, please reach out to Aimee Dorney, adorney@andrew.cmu.edu.

Singleton Room is in Roberts Hall (labeled “REH” in cell C6): https://www.cmu.edu/visit/campus-map-april-2023

The easiest way to this space is to enter the main entrance of Hamerschlag Hall (marked “HH”) from The Mall, walk to the back of the building and take the stairs or elevator to “B level”. From there a short hallway takes you to Roberts Hall and the Singleton Room. 
[Note: To enter The Mall there are several paths. One is across The Cut from Forbes Ave, and another that may be convenient from Pitt is to pass straight through Porter Hall (“PH”) from Frew Street.]

Mar
22
Fri
CNBC Postdoc Writing Group
Mar 22 @ 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM

CNBC Postdoc Writing Group

Fridays, 2-4pm

Contact: Andrew Gerlach (arg151@pitt.edu)

Location is typically Zoom: https://pitt.zoom.us/j/5307316889 (Passcode: 1234)

Description: Two hour block dedicated to writing papers, grants, reviews, etc. We use the Pomodoro system of 25 min blocks with 5 min breaks in between to chitchat.

There’s a group of ~10 people who attend semi-regularly. On any given week, it’s typical to have 3-5 people. It’s used for accountability and setting aside a dedicated chunk of time for writing (although some people use it for analysis or whatever else they may need to focus on). It’s also been helpful in building a postdoc community.

Please reach out to Andrew with any questions!

Mar
27
Wed
CMU: BME: Neural Engineering Virtual Seminar: Xing Chen: “Artificial vision via high-channel-count visual cortical stimulation in primates”
Mar 27 @ 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Mar
28
Thu
Pitt Psychology: Dissertation Defense: Caroline Ren: “Understanding the Neural Basis of Math Competence in Both Children and Adults”
Mar 28 @ 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM

Dissertation Defense

By

Caroline Ren

Thursday, March 28th at 9 a.m.

Murdoch Building: Room 424

Zoom linkhttps://pitt.zoom.us/my/melissa.libertus

 

Understanding the Neural Basis of Math Competence in Both Children and Adults

 

               Developing math skills at an early age is important, as it lays the foundation for acquiring advanced quantitative abilities and success in modern society. However, substantial individual differences in math performance and learning abilities exist, and the neural bases for these differences remain unclear. To address this, in my dissertation, we collected functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from 104 adults and 88 children using a number localizer task. Participants’ math competence was measured using the math subtests of the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement in a separate behavioral session. To delineate the neural underpinnings of math competence, I identified two sets of brain regions: a conservative set (Tier 1 regions) that consistently emerged in both children and adults during number processing as revealed by univariate and conjunction analyses, and a broad set (Tier 2 regions) to pinpoint additional distinct brain regions beyond Tier 1, using a peak-finding algorithm applied to the averaged statistical activation maps from both children and adults. These regions were represented by spheres with a 10mm radius (515 voxels in total per sphere). Tier 1 regions included the left inferior occipital gyrus, the right inferior parietal cortex, and the right intraparietal sulcus. Tier 2 regions comprised the left fusiform gyrus, the right inferior/middle occipital gyrus, and the left middle occipital gyrus. I then conducted Pearson correlations to assess the relations between the mean connectivity strength for each tier and between tiers, and math abilities in both children and adults. For adults, there was a significant positive correlation between Tier 2 connectivity and math abilities, indicating that stronger connectivity within visual processing areas is associated with better math skills in adults. Interestingly, for children, there were significant negative correlations between Tier 1 and cross-tier connectivity, and math abilities. These analyses offer a comprehensive understanding of the neural underpinnings of math competence across various levels and developmental stages. More importantly, the findings may serve as neural markers of math abilities and could have important implications for the identification and intervention of math learning difficulties in both children and adults.

 

 

 

Committee: 

Dr. Melissa Libertus (Chair)

Dr. Julie Fiez

Dr. Marc Coutanche

Dr. Gavin Price

CMU NI: Wilsaan Joiner: Distinguished Speaker Series: “Children with Unilateral Congenital Below Elbow Limb Deficiency (UCBED) Can Proportionally Control the Residual Muscles of the Missing Hand” @ MI 328
Mar 28 @ 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM

Join us for the NI Distinguished Speaker Series.

Wilsaan Joiner

Professor of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior; Neurology

University of California, Davis

Thursday, March 28th @ 4:00 PM
Mellon Institute, 328 or Zoom

https://cmu.zoom.us/j/94256797197?pwd=a0JiZFF4NEJ6ZmZ3b0dDV2J6eW01UT09
Meeting ID: 942 5679 7197
Passcode: 520044

Children with Unilateral Congenital Below Elbow Limb Deficiency (UCBED) Can Proportionally Control the Residual Muscles of the Missing Hand

Children with a unilateral congenital below elbow deficiency (UCBED) have one typically developed limb and one that ends below the elbow, at the proximal level or mid forearm. Given that their affected muscles have never actuated an intact hand, it has been assumed these patients have limited control of their residual muscles. Here, we examined the extent to which patients could use visual feedback of their muscle state to proportionally control their affected muscles. We used ultrasound imaging and machine learning to provide patients control over a cursor using either the affected or unaffected limb. As children transitioned between two selected muscle states/percent activation (e.g., an open hand: 0% activation, and full power grasp: 100% activation), the cursor moved along one axis. Following calibration, we asked participants to move the cursor to targets which appeared at intermediate activation levels (e.g., 50%). We show that without prior training, patients (N=8; ages 8-20) can accurately reach and maintain multiple target cursor positions with their affected muscles. Specifically, we observed that across participants there was a significant main effect of goal location on average cursor position for the affected limb (p < 0.01), revealing that patients can use visual feedback to proportionally control the state of their residual muscles. These results suggest that despite never actuating a hand with their affected muscles, children with UCBED can both control these muscles, and can use sensory information to modulate this control. These results contribute to the advancement of dexterous and intuitive prosthetic devices for this patient population.

About Professor Wilsaan Joiner

Dr. Wilsaan Joiner’s research group conducts translational research that investigates the integration of sensory and motor signals, and the role these signals play in guiding goal-directed movements. Dr. Joiner obtained his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University and the National Eye Institute. Before joining the departments of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior; and Neurology at UC Davis, Dr. Joiner was an associate professor at George Mason University. At UC Davis Dr. Joiner is a CAMPOS Scholar and was recently selected as a Chancellor’s Fellow. His current research is funded by several grants from NASA, the Alzheimer’s Association, the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

If you are interested in meeting with Dr. Joiner, please reach out to Aimee Dorney, adorney@andrew.cmu.edu.  

Mar
29
Fri
CNBC Postdoc Writing Group
Mar 29 @ 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM

CNBC Postdoc Writing Group

Fridays, 2-4pm

Contact: Andrew Gerlach (arg151@pitt.edu)

Location is typically Zoom: https://pitt.zoom.us/j/5307316889 (Passcode: 1234)

Description: Two hour block dedicated to writing papers, grants, reviews, etc. We use the Pomodoro system of 25 min blocks with 5 min breaks in between to chitchat.

There’s a group of ~10 people who attend semi-regularly. On any given week, it’s typical to have 3-5 people. It’s used for accountability and setting aside a dedicated chunk of time for writing (although some people use it for analysis or whatever else they may need to focus on). It’s also been helpful in building a postdoc community.

Please reach out to Andrew with any questions!

Apr
1
Mon
CNBC Brain Bag Spring Semester 2024
Apr 1 @ 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM

In-person MI 348 or 328; Zoom: https://pitt.zoom.us/j/93422291137

Apr
5
Fri
CNBC Postdoc Writing Group
Apr 5 @ 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM

CNBC Postdoc Writing Group

Fridays, 2-4pm

Contact: Andrew Gerlach (arg151@pitt.edu)

Location is typically Zoom: https://pitt.zoom.us/j/5307316889 (Passcode: 1234)

Description: Two hour block dedicated to writing papers, grants, reviews, etc. We use the Pomodoro system of 25 min blocks with 5 min breaks in between to chitchat.

There’s a group of ~10 people who attend semi-regularly. On any given week, it’s typical to have 3-5 people. It’s used for accountability and setting aside a dedicated chunk of time for writing (although some people use it for analysis or whatever else they may need to focus on). It’s also been helpful in building a postdoc community.

Please reach out to Andrew with any questions!

Apr
8
Mon
CNBC Brain Bag Spring Semester 2024
Apr 8 @ 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM

In-person MI 348 or 328; Zoom: https://pitt.zoom.us/j/93422291137

Apr
11
Thu
CNBC Alumni Lecture: Dr. Elisha Merriam, NIH
Apr 11 @ 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM

Details to come soon!