Host
laboratory:
Institut des Sciences
Cognitives, 67 Bd Pinel, Bron, 69675 Bron, France
Host team: Bases neurales de la cognition spatiale et de
l’action
Supervisor:
Suliann
Ben Hamed (04 37 91 12 40, benhamed@isc.cnrs.fr)
Position: PhD position
Title: Behavioral and
pharmacological enhancement of neural plasticity in the
adult visual cortex
Summary
Though adult neuronal plasticity has
been considered as extremely restricted as compared to that
observed during early brain development, growing evidence
indicates that it can be drastically enhanced by specific
manipulations. Our aim is to compare
the cortical effects of visual plasticity in the adult brain
in the non-human primate model, when this plasticity is
induced by sensory influences, cognitive influences or/and
local pharmacological influences. We will characterize the
short and long term effects of plasticity on the cortical
visual system (visual cortex V1 and higher parietal and
prefrontal visual areas LIP and FEF), as assessed by a
combination of high spatial resolution (3T fMRI) and high
temporal resolution (EEG) methods.
Though the present project is a
fundamental research project, aiming at providing a
long-missing integrative view of plasticity in the adult
visual cortex, we believe that its outcome will provide new
directions of investigation to manage abnormal visual
experience due to eye misalignment in early childhood
(amblyopia, congenital cataract) or visual deficits following
acute cortical lesions (following head traumas or cerebral
vascular accident) leading to such conditions as anopsia or
neglect, thus addressing major issues in the physiopathology
of the visual cortex.
You will specifically be responsible
for the daily training of one of the monkeys involved in the
study as well as for the analysis of the collected behavioral
data. In addition, you will participate in the functional
imaging recordings and in the subsequent analysis of these
data.
Training hallmarks: Hands on
familiarization and training on non‐human primate behavioral
conditioning, functional magnetic resonance imaging data
collection and analysis, analysis of physiological (pupillary
dilatation) and behavioral (eye movements, reaction times and
performance) data. All this, in tight interaction with the
different members of the team.