The Cognition and Brain Plasticity research group in the Bellvitge campus - associated to the Department of Basic Psychology of the University of Barcelona and IDIBELL, led by Dr Antoni Rodríguez Fornells - has put the new Cognitive Electroencephalography Laboratory in motion, located at the first floor of ‘Pavelló de Govern’ building. The UB has funded a centre with a special electromagnetic and acoustic insulation (Faraday cage) that enables to record electroencephalography in optimal conditions. In this laboratory simultaneous records of brain activity are carried out with 32 sensors at the same time that the participants or volunteers in the experiment lay out various cognitive tasks related to the processes involved in language and speech, cognitive control, processing rewards, decision-making in risk situations, motor responses, etc. There is also an infrared sensor that can detect movement in three dimensions and rebuild its characteristics. The experimental work, which is executed by UB researchers and the Neurology Service at HUB, includes the study of cognitive changes after the surgical treatment of farmacoresistent epilepsy, after prophylactic holocraneal radiotherapy, research on cognitive disinhibition in patients with frontotemporal dementia and others.

One objective of this laboratory is the promotion of synergies and the translation between the most basic research in experimental psychology and the research on neurological diseases. The goal of the last research is to understand better the brain basis of cognitive and emotional processes.

Further information: http://www.brainvitge.org/