Official site of the Laboratory for Brain Recovery and Function

New work from the lab shows that inhibitory brain stimulation – stimulation that temporarily turns down activity in parts of the brain – can prevent learning. The work, recently accepted for publication in Experimental Brain Research, was part of lab member Sarah Kraeutner’s MSc thesis. Sarah shows that when a person uses motor imagery to learn a new task, but activity in the parietal cortex is inhibited, they’re unable to learn. The work provides good information about how learning through motor imagery occurs, as well as identifying people who might not be able to use imagery for learning.

Research from the Laboratory was recently featured as part of a campus-wide campaign called ‘Know your Dal’. Lab Director Shaun Boe did a pop-up lecture for members of the University community, highlighting work in the lab focusing on learning and rehabilitation after neurological injury, and the role of technology such as brain computer interface (BCI) for aiding learning.

Members of the lab attended the Canadian Physiotherapy Congress, held this past week here in Halifax. MSc student Kerry McInnes presented her work investigating the effect of brain damage on the ability to do motor imagery. Kerry’s work helps to inform the prescription and use of motor imagery in rehabilitation as it demonstrates that damage to certain brain regions can impair a person’s ability to perform motor imagery.

This month, lab members Shaun Boe, Sarah Kraeutner, Tony Ingram, and Monica MacDonald all attended the 3rd annual North American Meeting on Brain Stimulation and Neuroimaging in Cognition and Behaviour in Montreal, QC. Sarah presented her thesis work, and won the award for best poster! Congratulations Sarah!

Lab collaborator Dr. Tim Bardouille gets up close and personal with a Turtlebot, the latest addition to the lab family. We’re using the Turtlebot in a brain-computer interface study looking at the use of EEG-based neurofeedback to modulate brain activity.

Lab director, Dr. Shaun Boe, and graduate students, Sarah Kraeutner, Ron Bishop, and Alicia Gionfriddo travelled to Hamburg, Germany this month to present their research at the Organization for Human Brain Mapping Annual Meeting.