Biography
I am a cognitive neuroscientists, specialising in the area of lifelong learning and brain plasticity. My work aims to understand the role of learning and experience in enabling humans of all ages to translate sensory experience into complex decisions and adaptive behaviours. In my lab, we combine multimodal brain imaging (structural and functional MRI, EEG, TMS), established behavioural paradigms from cognitive psychology and state-of-the art computational science to understand the link between brain structure, neural function and behaviour. This multidisciplinary approach advances our understanding of the brain mechanisms that promote lifelong learning and has translational applications in educational and clinical practice (i.e. development of diagnostic tools of cognitive health and training programmes in healthy ageing and neurodegenerative disease).
Research
My work aims to understand the role of learning and experience in enabling humans of all ages to translate sensory experience into complex decisions and adaptive behaviours. Adaptive cognitive abilities are critical for survival and social interactions, yet extracting meaning from the complex, and frequently ambiguous, input of the natural world is a computationally demanding task that is far from understood. I address this challenge through an interdisciplinary approach that combines behavioural paradigms with multimodal brain imaging (MRI, EEG, MEG, TMS) and state-of-the-art computational methods. I apply these techniques to study the young and ageing brain and understand learning and cortical plasticity across the lifespan.
- learning and brain plasticity
- visual perception and cognition
- cognitive ageing
- brain imaging
- computational neuroscience
