Educational neuroscience

Educational neuroscience (or neuroeducation, a component of Mind Brain and Education) is an emerging scientific field that brings together researchers in cognitive neuroscience, developmental cognitive neuroscience, educational psychology, educational technology, education theory and other related disciplines to explore the interactions between biological processes and education. Researchers in educational neuroscience investigate the neural mechanisms of reading, numerical cognition, attention and their attendant difficulties including dyslexia, dyscalculia and ADHD as they relate to education. Researchers in this area may link basic findings in cognitive neuroscience with educational technology to help in curriculum implementation for mathematics education and reading education. The aim of educational neuroscience is to generate basic and applied research that will provide a new transdisciplinary account of learning and teaching, which is capable of informin

Limits to anatomical accuracy of diffusion tractography using modern approaches

Muhamed Barakovic, Alice Philippa Bates, Erick Jorge Canales Rodriguez, Alessandro Daducci, Maxime Descoteaux, Tim Bjørn Dyrby, Elda Fischi Gomez, Gabriel Girard, Chao Huang, Marco Pizzolato, Gaëtan Olivier D Rensonnet, David Paul Roger Romascano, Jean-Philippe Thiran

Diffusion MRI fiber tractography is widely used to probe the structural connectivity of the brain, with a range of applications in both clinical and basic neuroscience. Despite widespread use, tractography has well-known pitfalls that limits the anatomical accuracy of this technique. Numerous modern methods have been developed to address these shortcomings through advances in acquisition, modeling, and computation. To test whether these advances improve tractography accuracy, we organized the 3-D Validation of Tractography with Experimental MRI (3D-VoTEM) challenge at the ISBI 2018 conference. We made available three unique independent tractography validation datasets – a physical phantom and two ex vivo brain specimens - resulting in 176 distinct submissions from 9 research groups. By comparing results over a wide range of fiber complexities and algorithmic strategies, this challenge provides a more comprehensive assessment of tractography's inherent limitations than has been reported previously. The central results were consistent across all sub-challenges in that, despite advances in tractography methods, the anatomical accuracy of tractography has not dramatically improved in recent years. Taken together, our results independently confirm findings from decades of tractography validation studies, demonstrate inherent limitations in reconstructing white matter pathways using diffusion MRI data alone, and highlight the need for alternative or combinatorial strategies to accurately map the fiber pathways of the brain.

2018

Cognitive neuroprosthetics for investigating and restoring body perception

Marco Solcà

Our brain constantly receives and integrates a flow of multisensory bodily inputs that are responsible for the way our body is represented and consciously experienced. However, in some pathological conditions, patients might experience altered perceptions of their body or suffer from abnormal bodily sensations such as chronic pain. Recent studies in cognitive neuroscience demonstrate that it is possible to modulate bodily self-consciousness and related bodily experiences by experimentally manipulating multisensory bodily inputs. Using such approaches, this work aims to investigate abnormal body experiences and to develop new therapeutic solutions for patients suffering from distorted body representation and chronic pain. First, we manipulated visuo-tactile information to investigate alterations of bodily self-consciousness in spinal cord injured patients and demonstrated the potential analgesic effects of such multisensory stimulation (Study 1). Then, we combined neuro-tactile stimulation with visual stimulation via virtual reality in amputees to induce embodiment for their prosthetic hands, and to improve abnormal phantom limb perceptions (Study 2). We then used a similar approach in patients with chronic leg pain and combined spinal cord stimulation with visual stimulation via virtual reality to in-crease analgesia induced by neuromodulation (Study 3). In another series of studies, we investigated the role of inter-oceptive signals in chronic pain. First, we demonstrated that patients suffering from complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) had reduced abilities in perceiving and processing their heartbeat (Study 4). Then, we manipulated interocep-tive information with visual stimulation via virtual reality to reduced CRPS symptoms (Study 5). Collectively, these five studies demonstrate the possibility to use the latest research on the neuroscience of embodi-ment and virtual technology to study disorders of body representation. Furthermore we aim to develop new cognitive neuroprosthetic approaches including restoring normal body perception, inducing embodiment for a prosthetic limb, and alleviating chronic pain.

EPFL2019

Cognitive neuroprosthetics for investigating and restoring body perception

Marco Solcà

EPFL2019

Limits to anatomical accuracy of diffusion tractography using modern approaches

Cognitive Neuroscience Based Design Guidelines for Surgical Robotics

Cognitive neuroprosthetics for investigating and restoring body perception

Cognitive neuroprosthetics for investigating and restoring body perception

Cognitive Neuroscience Based Design Guidelines for Surgical Robotics

Limits to anatomical accuracy of diffusion tractography using modern approaches