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Caltech

Computation and Neural Systems Seminar

Monday, December 12, 2011
4:00pm to 5:00pm
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Beckman Behavioral Biology B180
Dynamical functional organization of the human brain
Vinod Menon, Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Neurology & Neurological Sciences and Neuroscience, Sanford,
Understanding how the human brain produces cognition must ultimately depend on knowledge of its large-scale organization and wiring. Brain areas engaged during cognitive tasks also form coherent large-scale brain networks that can be readily identified using intrinsic functional and structural connectivity. I describe how recent research on intrinsic connectivity is beginning to provide new insights into the functional and structural architecture of the human brain and its development. I will the describe neurocognitive network models which help to synthesize a large body of extant findings of brain activity and connectivity into a unified framework for understanding fundamental aspects of human cognition. I will demonstrate the usefulness of this approach by describing a dynamic network model for saliency detection, attentional capture, and cognitive control. Finally, I will describe how network analysis of functional and structural connectivity can be used to elucidate key principles underlying the development of stable brain architecture and illustrate how neurocognitive network models provide novel insights into the maturation of cognitive control in the developing brain.
For more information, please contact Tanya Owen by phone at 626-395-8817 or by email at [email protected].