Gesa Hartwigsen
Short-term plasticity in neural networks for cognition – insights from healthy young, aging, and lesioned brains
Brain Dynamics Graduate School is happy to announce a new online talk in our Seminar Series:
- Prof. Dr. Gesa Hartwigsen
Cognitive and Biological Psychology, Faculty of Life Sciences & Lise Meitner Research Group Cognition and Plasticity, MPI for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig
"Short-term plasticity in neural networks for cognition – insights from healthy young, aging, and lesioned brains"
3rd February 2023, 12:00
Zoom Meeting
(https://uni-leipzig.zoom.us/j/7247651047
Meeting ID: 724 765 1047)
Abstract:
The human brain is flexible. Neural networks adapt to changing cognitive demands by flexibly recruiting different regions and connections. In this talk, I will discuss how we can study functional network plasticity with combined neurostimulation and neuroimaging. I will argue that short-term plasticity enables flexible adaptation to challenging conditions in human cognition. My key hypothesis is that disruption of higher-level cognitive functions such as language can be compensated for by the recruitment of domain-general networks in our brain. Examples from healthy young brains illustrate how neurostimulation can be used to temporarily interfere with normal processing, probing short-term network plasticity at the systems level. I will also discuss examples from aging brains where plasticity helps to compensate for loss of function. Finally, examples from lesioned brains after stroke provide insight into the brain’s potential for long-term plasticity and recovery of function. Collectively, these results challenge the view of a modular organization of the human brain and argue for a flexible redistribution of function via systems plasticity.