Control of neuronal networks and cognitive behaviour by deep brain, transcranial and optogenetic stimulation

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Your brain is constantly doing sums, weighing-up past experience and the current situation in order to decide how best to behave. Unfortunately, patients with brain diseases like schizophrenia have trouble coping with these decisions that most of us take for granted; electrical activity in different parts of their brains becomes subtly uncoordinated, making it difficult to see the wood for the trees. This project will use stimulation techniques designed to control the brain‘s electrical signalling (very carefully - you wouldn‘t notice if it was done to you) to see if we can re-coordinate brain activity at important times, such as during decisions. Brain activity during sleep is also important, often mirroring previous events. This reflects the brain ‘sorting out‘ recent thoughts, preparing useful information for long term storage. A bad night‘s sleep is often followed by sluggish thoughts, and sleep is commonly impaired in brain disease. We will therefore also use brain stimulation during sleep to see if that can boost efficient decision-making. It is difficult to design drugs to treat impaired thought processes. Our research will develop new techniques that - potentially in combination with future drugs - can be used to treat thought disorders in schizophrenia and related diseases.