Topic: higher cognitive functions

How organisms acquire, process, and store information is one of the central questions in neurobiology. A large body of evidence suggests that plasticity is a key element of learning and memory, while complex interactions in neuronal networks with plasticity are believed to explain biological intelligence and higher cognitive functions. Thanks to theoretical and computational neuroscience, significant progress in understanding complex phenomena has been made through modeling and simulation. However, direct experimental demonstration of emergent phenomena from the first principles remains challe

The cerebellum, traditionally associated with motor control, is now implicated also in higher cognitive functions. Patients exhibiting impaired cognition display cerebellar abnormalities, reported in disorders such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), intellectual disability (ID), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or schizophrenia. Purkinje cell migration deficits, volumetric changes and structural anomalies in the cerebellum have been observed in these conditions. This project aims to elucidate the connection between cerebellar circuit formation and neurodevelopmental disorders t