The INM-3 investigates basic and clinical research questions of cognition and behavior in close collaboration with the university hospital in Cologne. Those questions are answered on different levels and using different methods.
Functional imaging methods
Cognitive processes can be associated with processes in the brain using functional imaging methods. When applying functional imaging methods it is very important to determine the neural correlates of these processes temporally and spatially as accurate as possible.
At the INM-3, non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) is applied in healthy participants and patients to modulate neural excitability. This in turn influences behavioral performance. Therefore, NIBS can be used to study the functional involvement of a given brain area in a specific (experimental) task or (cognitive) process.
With the so-called electroencephalography (EEG) we can directly measure electrical brain activity in a non-invasive way. Special electrodes are placed on the scalp which can then detect the small voltage fluctuations generated by changes of neural activity in the underlying brain regions involved in a given (cognitive) process.
The study group rehabilitation of cognitive impariments is an interdisciplinary group whose members are skilled in clinical neurology (stroke treatment), cognitive neurology, cognitive neurobiology, neurorehabilitation and neuropsychology.
Social cognitive studies include mainly behavioral and functional imaging experiments. To induce particular socially relevant mental states in healthy subjects virtual avatars are used.
Clinical studies are conducted in strong collaboration with the University hospitals in Cologne (Neurology, Psychiatry) and Aachen (Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy in childen and adolescents). These studies are conducted to investigate systematically neurological and psychiatric disorder and their associated functional disruptions.
