This project is about modelling the neuronal oscillations that underlie human perception, cognition and action. The study of oscillations is of great importance for the following reasons. Firstly, neurons transiently organise themselves into oscillatory ensembles that exist for hundreds of milliseconds, a time-scale that corresponds to the `cognitive moment’. Secondly, because large numbers of neurons must act together to communicate over longer distances, the study of neuronal oscillations provides a bridge between single-cell neurophysiology and systems neuroscience. Thirdly, oscillations allow us to relate electrodynamic measures of brain function, such as Electroencephalography (EEG) or Magnetoencephalography (MEG), to hemodynamic measures, such as functional MRI. This is because activations in functional MRI reflect changes in the frequency content of EEG/MEG. But finding relevant neuronal oscillations from brain imaging data is difficult as these measurements are corrupted by noise from non-brain sources. It can be made easier, however, by using our knowledge of how the underlying neurophysiology causes changes in the spatio-temporal distribution of frequencies and how they interact. This ‘prior’ knowledge can be combined with data using Bayesian models. The project will use ‘working memory’ as an exemplar neural system. The student will join a world-class brain imaging laboratory with particular expertise in Bayesian inference and imaging methodology.
Examples of the
Group’s interests:
If you are interested
please make an informal enquiry to Will Penny:
See below for details of financial support
and formal application procedure.
The Brain Research Trust provides funding via the BRT Prize Studentship award. Studentships for the forthcoming academic session are advertised in December with a normal closing date for application of the end of January. The BRT Studentships are for three years, and offer an initial stipend of £19,508 per annum, plus home tuition fees and £500 per annum for travel. Closing date 31st January 2008. Please note, funding covers only UK/EU fees. A non-EU applicant would need to find additional funding to support the difference between the home and the overseas tuition fee.
Applications (preferably in electronic format pdf or word doc) are invited from graduates holding First or Upper Second Class Honours degrees in basic biological or physical sciences, or from final year undergraduate students expecting to be awarded similar degrees in 2008.
Please submit a full curriculum vitae, including contact details of 3 referees and a statement of research interests indicating how these would complement projects on offer to: Dr Jennifer Pocock, at the address below.
Please send enquiries to:
Dr Jennifer Pocock
Cell Signalling Laboratory
Institute of Neurology
University College London
1 Wakefield Street
London WC1N 1PJ
UK
Tel: +44 (0)207 679 4031
Fax: +44 (0)207 278 6572