Brain stimulation

How reliably can non-invasive brain stimulation establish causal relationships in cognition, and which factors change its effects? This workshop examines the empirical, methodological and theoretical limits of causal inference with transcranial stimulation. It connects stimulation protocols, individual variability and biomarkers with multi-laboratory replication and open-science practice. The programme covers concurrent TMS-fMRI, white-matter pathways, paired associative stimulation, electric-field modelling and memory-related electrical stimulation. A satellite session includes practical TMS-

The prefrontal cortex is one of the most commonly studied structures in depression. Synaptic loss and prefrontal circuits deficits have been widely described in depression physiopathology, and their restoration by antidepressant drugs is at the center of their therapeutic effect. Aims: This project aims to test the antidepressant potential of a specific manipulation of prefrontal circuits. Methods: Using the Chronic Despair Model (CDM) of depression, and the DREADDs chemogenetic technique, we counteracted the hypofrontality characteristic of a depressive-like state, and assessed the behavioura

…to embark on a journey from early brain stimulation with ECT to state-of-the art TMS protocols and magnetic seizure therapy! The talks will be held on Thursday, April 25th at noon ET / 6PM CET. Nolan Williams, MD, is an associate professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at Stanford University. He developed the SAINT protocol, which is the first FDA-cleared non-invasive, rapid-acting neuromodulation treatment for treatment-resistant depression. Mustafa Husain, MD, is an adjunct professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral S

Sound waves can be used to modify brain activity safely and transiently with unprecedented precision even deep in the brain - unlike traditional brain stimulation methods. In a series of studies in humans and non-human primates, I will show that Transcranial Ultrasound Stimulation (TUS) can have medium- to long-lasting effects. Multiple read-outs allow us to conclude that TUS can perturb neuronal tissues up to 2h after intervention, including changes in local and distributed brain network configurations, behavioural changes, task-related neuronal changes and chemical changes in the sonicated f

…research indicates that prefrontal brain regions including the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), as well as the anterior insula are critical for value computation and decision-making. However, how these brain regions encode and transfer computed values to resolve the exploration-exploitation dilemma still remains unknown. We studied human cogni

Brain stimulation is a fundamental therapy for neurological diseases including Parkinson’s disease, essential tremor, and epilepsy. One key challenge in delivering effective brain stimulation is identifying the stimulation parameters (e.g. amplitude, frequency, and pulse width) that optimally change symptoms, behavior, or neural activity. Most clinical and translational studies use constant-frequency pulses of stimulation, but irregular pulse patterns or non-pulsatile waveforms may induce unique neural effects that could enable better therapy. Here, we comprehensively evaluate several optogene

Brain stimulation is an increasingly popular tool for both research and clinical use. However, the effects of brain stimulation are not entirely known, and neither are the mechanisms by which brain stimulation changes brain activity. One way to efficiently study the relationship between the brain and neuromodulation is to use computational models. Computational models allow researchers to run realistic simulations that show how the brain is influenced by neuromodulation or predict what brain stimulation will change in brain activity and/or behaviour. This talk will introduce how Wilson Cowan,

Optimized Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation for Addiction Treatment

…place by using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation at specific time windows? In the current study we test different ways of stimuli presentation (photo and video of hand movements) and brain stimulation (e.g. TMS) delivered on the dominant primary motor cortex (M1)