Research
Neurocognition - Basal Ganglia
My research focuses on the basal ganglia, a group of subcortical regions involved in motor control and various cognitive functions. Using spiking and rate-coded neural networks inspired by the biological system, I explore potential cognitive functions such as reinforcement learning, reversal learning, action cancellation, and outcome prediction.
Parkinson’s Disease & Deep Brain Stimulation
The basal ganglia play a crucial role in neurological disease such as Parkinson’s Disease. Using computational models of the basal ganglia, combined with experimental neurological and imaging data, I investigate how disease-related changes affect basal ganglia circuitry and how treatments like Deep Brain Stimulation can influence these pathological circuits.
Neuroinformatics
I build and simulate my neurocomputational models using the Python neurosimulator ANNarchy. I have developed a method that enables the simulation of Blood Oxygen Level Dependent (BOLD) signals from ANNarchy networks. Additionally, I am working on my own Python extension for ANNarchy called CompNeuroPy, which, for example, facilitates structuring code and implementing experimental procedures and allows for the simulation of Deep Brain Stimulation in both rate-coded and spiking ANNarchy networks.
