© University of Kent - Contact | Feedback | Legal | FOI | Cookies
Prof. Vince Walsh (UCL) - 'Art & Science Public Engagement: Interdisciplinary Pedagogy'
Thursday 4th December at 6.00 pm, Aphra Theatre (Reception with mince pies and mulled wine from 5.30 pm)
Research Summary
The research group I lead is called Applied Cognitive Neuroscience (ACN). The goal is to use neuroscience to improve high performance in sport, high pressure decision making and advancing human brain stimulation in cognition and health. I am particularly interested in sleep, plasticity and extending classical findings to older people. Traditional strengths of my group's work has been investigations of the functions of the parietal lobe, the frontal eye fields and their interactions with primary and secondary visual areas. The techniques my group uses include transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and DC stimulation in which I have particular expertise. I run the ICN TMS facility and I also organise the annual TMS Summer School with The Magstim Company. Eye movements are increasingly important in my approach to understanding vision and we have the facility to record these in freely moving subjects and in subjects undergoing brain stimulation. A recent development in my work is the use of natural images and real 3-D environments. It is my belief that to understand how we learn to see and act in the world we need to design experiments in which the stimuli at least approximate if not mimic a natural environment.
More information and up to date activities can be found at http://appliedcognitiveneuroscience.com
Biography
Vincent Walsh is Professor of Human Brain Research and Royal Society Industry Research Fellow at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, UCL. He is now working with industry to develop and promote human brain stimulation in the treatment of illnesses such as depression and he is applying his knowledge of brain development and learning in the sporting world. "I love taking the science out there in the real world. Sometimes it can be a wake-up call to remind us that science is paid for by the tax payer, and we have a responsibility to make it work and show how it works."