The Chair of Lifespan Developmental Neuroscience investigates neurocognitive mechanisms underlying perceptual, cognitive, and motivational development across the lifespan. The main themes of our research are neurofunctional mechanisms underlying lifespan development of episodic and spatial memory, cognitive control, reward processing, decision making, perception and action. We also pursue applied research to study effects of behavioral intervention, non-invasive brain stimulation, or digital technologies in enhancing functional plasticity for individuals of difference ages. We utilize a broad range of neurocognitive (e.g., EEG, fNIRs, fMRI, tDCS) and computational methods. The here announced position is embedded in a newly established research group funded by the DFG (FOR5429), with a focus on modulating brain networks for memory and learning by using focalized transcranial electrical stimulation (tES). The subproject with which this position is associated will study effects of focalized tES on value-based sequential learning at the behavioral and brain levels in adults. The data collection for this subproject will mainly be carried out at the Berlin site (Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, FU Berlin).

A postdoc position is available in the Visual Perception and Plasticity (VPP) lab, led by Dr. Tina Liu, in the Department of Neurology at Georgetown University Medical Center. The VPP lab studies neuroplasticity in both healthy and clinical populations across the lifespan, with a focus on vision. The postdoctoral researcher will play a key role in studies that integrate psychophysics/visual behavior, eye tracking, functional and structural MRI, transcranial electrical stimulation, and computational modeling.

Transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) techniques, including transcranial alternating and direct current stimulation (tACS and tDCS), are non-invasive brain stimulation technologies increasingly used for modulation of targeted neural and cognitive processes. Integration of tES with human functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) provides a novel avenue in human brain mapping for investigating the neural mechanisms underlying tES. Advances in the field of tES-fMRI can be hampered by the methodological variability between studies that confounds comparability/replicability. To address the technical/methodological details and to propose a new framework for future research, the scientific international network of tES-fMRI (INTF) was founded with two main aims: • To foster scientific exchange between researchers for sharing ideas, exchanging experiences, and publishing consensus articles; • To implement the joint studies through a continuing dialogue with the institutes across the globe. The network organized three international scientific webinars, in which considerable heterogeneities of technical/methodological aspects in studies combining tES with fMRI were discussed along with strategies to help to bridge respective knowledge gaps, and distributes newsletters that are sent regularly to the network members from the Twitter and LinkedIn accounts.