Projects
Decoding neural responses to sounds in patients with disorders of consciousness for diagnostics and unlocking communication KU Leuven
A keystone in the diagnosis of patients with disorders of consciousness is the detection of command following, distinguishing patients in a vegetative state (i.e., awake, showing reflex movements but unconscious) from patients in a minimally conscious state (i.e., showing inconsistent but reproducible first signs of recovery of consciousness). Clinical assessment of these patients relies on the clinician’s ability to detect a behavioral ...
Investigating the mechanism underlying the habituation of neural and behavioral responses to novel stimuli. KU Leuven
Neural stability to retain skills and stimulus associations while adapting to new circumstances is
crucial for an animal’s survival. Neural systems need to be both flexible and stable to adjust rapidly
to new events and preserve learned behaviors, respectively. Plasticity can be evoked through several
mechanisms, including extensive stimulus exposure, which leads to a progressive reduction in
behavioral responses. This is ...
Dissecting the neural basis of flexible threat responses in the superior colliculus KU Leuven
When faced with unexpected threats, animals have reflex-like defensive behaviors that are surprisingly flexible, adapting to context, internal state, and past experiences. These behaviors are controlled by circuits that pass through the superior colliculus, creating a strong link between the eye and motor centers of the midbrain. The circuits responsible for defensive behaviors also receive input from brain regions that provide information ...
Brain-wide neural responses to stimulus novelty KU Leuven
Novel stimuli evoke behavioural responses independent of the sensory modality, e.g. both novel odorants and novel sounds evoke the same exploratory reaction. How does the brain process stimuli such that different sensory modalities give rise to the same behavioural output? Are novelty signals detected separately for each modality or is there a “novelty” center? At which point does information about novelty converge to evoke the same motor ...
Decoding neural responses to sounds in patients with disorders of consciousness for diagnostics and unlocking communication KU Leuven
Command following (i.e., the ability to voluntarily execute a simple command) is an important criterion in the diagnosis of patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC). Indeed, it is assessed clinically through the use of behavioural scales such as the Coma Recovery Scale-Revised (CRS-R) and allows the distinction between patients with unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (UWS) and patients in a minimally conscious state (MCS). However, DOC ...
Decoding neural responses to sounds in patients with disorders of consciousness for diagnostics and unlocking communication KU Leuven
Command following (i.e., the ability to voluntarily execute a simple command) is an important criteria in the diagnosis of patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC). Indeed, it is assessed clinically through the use of behavioural scales such as the Coma Recovery Scale Revised (CRS-R) and allows the distinction between patients with unresponsive wakefulness syndrom (UWS) and patients in a minimally conscious state (MCS). However, DOC ...
The neural basis of the executive functions response selection and memory updating by means of ERP and fMRI Ghent University
The brain is known to comprise an executive control system which enables goaldirected behavior. The question whether executive control is a unitary system, was recently introduced as a possible way to address the theoretical issues around executive control. The purpose of this experimental research project is to investigate whether executive control can be fractionated into a number of executive functions.
Signal processing algorithms for attention decoding of brain responses to natural stimuli in brain-computer interfaces KU Leuven
Brain-computer interfaces (BCI) enable the human brain to interact with machines, opening doors to various high-impact applications. However, most experimental BCI paradigms require the user to concentrate on synthetic and repeated stimuli, inducing fatigue and interfering with natural behavior. This unnatural interaction blocks the widespread usage of BCIs in daily-life situations beyond a few niche clinical applications.
In this ...