UEL Psychology Seminar Series - 17th November 2015 - Prof Michael Nitsche

UEL Psychology Seminar Series

Date:     17^th November 2015

Time:     17:00 - 18:00       

Venue:   Arthur Edwards Building, Room 2.06

Professor Michael A. Nitsche

Dept. Psychology and Neurosciences, Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors, Dortmund, Germany

Title:

Physiology, and functional effects of tDCS and related techniques

Abstract:

Neuroplasticity, and functional connectivity are important physiological derivates of cognition, and behaviour. Recently introduced non-invasive brain stimulation techniques are suited to induce, and modulate respective physiological alterations. One of these techniques is transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). Itsprimary mechanism of action is a polarity-dependent subthreshold shift of resting membrane potentials, the after-effects of stimulation depend on the glutamatergic system. Beyond these regional effects, tDCS has been shown recently to alter cortical, as well as cortico-subcortical functional network connectivity. This talk will give an overview about the physiological effects, and will cover functional consequences of tDCS, including sleep-related processes. Finally, it will be shown how alterations of functional oscillatory connectivity via transcranial alternating current stimulation can modify cognitive performance.

Brief Bio:

Michael A. Nitsche is Director of the Dept. Psychology and Neurosciences at the Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors in Dortmund, and holds a position as scientific staff member at the Dept. Neurology of the University Medical Center Bergmannsheil, Bochum, Germany. He studied Psychology and Medicine at the Georg-August-University in Goettingen, and performed his Dissertation in Medicine at the Max-Planck-Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Goettingen. From 1999-2015, he was registrar and consultant at the Dept. Clinical Neurophysiology of the University Medical Center in Goettingen. He is a leading expert in plasticity research in humans, including non-invasive brain stimulation, neuropsychopharmacology, and cognition. He received grants from various funding organizations, including the German Research Foundation. He published more than 150 papers in international peer-reviewed journals, and is member of the editorial board of The Journal of Neuroscience, Scientific Reports, Clinical Neurophysiology, and Restaurative Neurology and Neurosciences. He received the Alois Kornmüller, and Richard Jung Awards by the German Society of Clinical Neurophysiology, and the GESET Award by the German society of Electrostimulation and Electrotherapy for his work on non-invasive brain stimulation in humans.

Session Chair:

Dr. Davide Rivolta