University of Silesia in Katowice

The University of Silesia in Katowice will host Alex Clarke, PhD, a cognitive and behavioral neuroscientist from the University of Cambridge (Great Britain), who will deliver two online lectures and a seminar on neural representations in the human brain. The second lecture “Methods to study neural representations across multiple imaging modalities” – 12 October 2021, 3.25 p.m. – 4.55 p.m. (as part of Silesian Science Festival KATOWICE)

Topic

During the lecture some of the methods and paradigms used to study object representations in the human brain will be outlined. These methods principally look to relate quantifiable measures of our stimuli (here, visual objects) at a single trial level, to brain and neural measures recorded through fMRI, MEG, EEG and intracranial recordings. Across these imaging modalities, the speaker will talk about creating visual and semantic models and their relationship to imaging data using representational similarity analysis, connectivity and neural oscillations. Finally, the speaker will present our methods for testing in real world environments based on mobile EEG recordings, head-mounted cameras and augmented reality displays.

The lecturer:

Alex Clarke, PhD is a world-class scientist focusing on neural dynamics and the mechanisms through which vision can activate semantics, and how our knowledge of the world around us changes this dynamic. Combining magnetoencephalography (MEG), electroencephalography (EEG), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), neuropsychology, and augmented reality (AR), it takes a multimodal approach to better understand the nature of semantic representations in the brain.

Clarke obtained his PhD in Experimental Psychology at Clare College, Cambridge University in 2011 under the supervision of Prof. Lorraine K. Tyler. He is currently a Scholar of Sir Henry Dale programme, a collaboration between the Royal Society of London and the Wellcome Trust foundation. The programme is dedicated to outstanding postdoctoral researchers wishing to build their own independent research career in an institution (based in Great Britain) dealing with an important biomedical issue. Clarke, PhD is also a lecturer at St. John’s College Cambridge and the University of Cambridge.  Previously, he worked as a lecturer at the University of Anglia Ruskin and a researcher at the University of California, Davis (USA) and the University of Cambridge. He is the author of over 30 scientific papers in the field of research on memory, vision, semantics and neuroimaging.

How to join the meeting?

The meeting will be held online on the Zoom platform (Meeting ID Passcode: s1FGGM).

The project “Study of human brain activity in various cognitive states” was co-financed by the Metropolis GZM as part of the programme „Metropolitalny Fundusz Wspierania Nauki” (Metropolitan Fund for the Support of Science) in the years 2019-2022. The grant amount was PLN 18,414.00.