The Role of Neural Oscillations in Human Cognition

Oscillations are inherent feature of neuronal networks. The potential functional roles of oscillations are diverse, but contentious. Brain oscillations have been associated with perceptual, motor and cognitive processes including perceptual binding, attention, and memory. They appear in the brain in various frequency bands, which may occur simultaneously and interact with one another. The multilevel organization of brain oscillations integrates functional brain systems across multiple spatiotemporal scales, and thus implies a sophisticated solution for the highly precise temporal coordination between the fast local neuronal computations with external input and the global system state. Malfunction of the dynamics underlying oscillations and synchronization are used to explain dynamical pathological conditions such as epilepsy, schizophrenia and Parkinson disease. Further research into understanding network dynamics should provide essential information about how brain functions emerge from the intricate interactions between local and global dynamics. Although it is widely accepted that the precise coordination of different oscillatory activities plays an important role in brain functions, many aspects of the fundamental underlying mechanisms remain unknown. The main topic of the summer school is the new developments in neurophysiology and neuroscience to study the brain’s ability to generate and maintain neuronal oscillations and the possibility to modulate them with the non-invasive brain stimulation.

School is supported by Volkswagen Foundation.

Course leader

Prof. Dr. Andrea Antal

Target group

PhD Students and Post-Docs from the fields of cognitive neuroscience, neuromodulation, and related areas.

Course aim

This summer school aims to provide to younger researchers, coming from different fields, knowledge about the recent progress in network science with the specific focus on the imaging and manipulation with underlying mechanisms that govern the brain rhythms at the various levels of organization, and their functional implications for perception, cognition and learning. We will focus on the interactions between structure, dynamics and function and we will present new emerging trends for studying the fundamental mechanisms of brain oscillations using advanced transcranial electrical stimulation and neuroimaging methods.

Credits info

Credits depend on the regulations of the university of origin.

Fee info

EUR 100: PhD students, incl. accommodation.
EUR 200: Post-Docs, incl. accommodation.