Supervisors: Martin Schürmann, Andrew Reid, Christopher Madan (School of Psychology)

Description:

The PhD project will study how the brain/cognition relationship changes across the lifespan. Using an open data archive containing neuroimaging data from 600+ participants, the project will combine information obtained with multiple brain imaging modalities: functional MRI (fMRI), which measures brain activity indirectly through its effects on blood vessels; magnetoencephalography (MEG), which measures the magnetic field around the head generated by brain activity; and diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI), which measures the anatomical “wiring” of the brain. Due to the combination of methods, in particular with the inclusion of MEG as a method with high temporal resolution, the planned approach goes beyond earlier studies in this field of research. Machine learning will be used to determine which aspects of brain networks (across all imaging modalities studied) best predict individual cognitive ability. Finally, we will use this approach to test existing theories of how brain networks reorganize with age, with a focus on age-related changes of brain lateralization or shifts between anterior and posterior brain activation.

Requirements:

• Matlab or Python programming skills and a quantitative background (physics, mathematics, computer science or engineering) are desirable.

Reading:

• Salat DH, Buckner RL, Snyder AZ, Greve DN, Desikan RSR, Busa E, et al. Thinning of the cerebral cortex in aging. Cereb Cortex. 2004;14: 721–730.
• Sowell ER, Peterson BS, Thompson PM, Welcome SE, Henkenius AL, Toga AW. Mapping cortical change across the human life span. Nat Neurosci. 2003;6: 309–315.
• Madan CR, Kensinger EA. Predicting age from cortical structure across the lifespan. Eur J Neurosci. 2018;36: 364.
• Dosenbach NUF, Nardos B, Cohen AL, Fair DA, Power JD, Church JA, et al. Prediction of individual brain maturity using fMRI. Science. 2010;329: 1358–1361.
• Tsvetanov KA, Henson RNA, Tyler LK, Davis SW, Shafto MA, Taylor JR, et al. The effect of ageing on fMRI: Correction for the confounding effects of vascular reactivity evaluated by joint fMRI and MEG in 335 adults. Hum Brain Mapp. 2015;36: 2248–2269.
• Cabeza R. Hemispheric asymmetry reduction in older adults: The HAROLD model. Psychol Aging. 2002;17: 85–100.
• Davis SW, Dennis NA, Daselaar SM, Fleck MS, Cabeza R. Que PASA? The posterior-anterior shift in aging. Cereb Cortex. 2008;18: 1201–1209.

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Tagged as: Cognition