ABOUT THIS KIND OF RESEARCH

Researchers at Brown study behavior using electrophysiological, brain imaging, psychophysical, molecular and pharmacological methods from the synaptic to the whole organism level. A major emphasis of faculty research is on higher brain functions:

• How thoughts become actions
• How perception guides action
• How the brain represents and organizes behavior in an uncertain world.

Brown's new Keck multineuron recording facility is a leading center to study how perception, object recognition and action is accomplished by the cooperative actions of many neurons. Researchers study human behavior and movement in the Magentic Resonance Imaging Research Facility and in virtual reality laboratory. In addition, Brown faculty study the brain's mechanisms of perceiving pain and circadian rhythms. Training is available in human brain imaging, state of the art neural recording techniques, psychopharmacology, and behavioral methods.

FACULTY INVOLVED
 

• Rebecca Burwell
  Research: Neuroanatomical and electrophysiological approaches to examining the contribution of parahippocampal regions to memory and cognitive functions.
  
  Graduate programs: Neuroscience; Psychology
   
• Mary Carskadon
  Research: Sleep patterns and circadian rhythms in adolescents.
  
  Graduate program: Psychology
   
• Russell Church
  Research: Quantitative models of time perception and timed performance.
  
  Graduate program: Psychology
   
• Thomas Dean
  Research: Adaptive planning and control in complex environments.
  
  Graduate program: Computer Science; Cognitive & Linguistic Sciences
   
• John Donoghue
  Research: Motor skill learning.
  
  Graduate program: Neuroscience
   
   
• William Heindel
  Research: Neuropsychology of human learning and memory.
  
  Graduate programs: Psychology; Cognitive & Linguistic Sciences
  
     
• Martin Keller
  Research: Investigations of the short-and long-term course of psychiatric illnesses - particularly mood and anxiety disorders - and the effect of different neuropsychopharmacological and psychotherapeutic treatments upon the course of these illnesses in humans.
  
  Graduate programs: Neurology; Psychiatry
  
  
• W. Curt LaFrance, Jr.
  Research: Neuropsychiatric aspects of Epilepsy, Nonepileptic Seizure Treatment trials, cognitive and mood studies for epilepsy.
  
  Graduate programs: Neurology; Psychiatry; Clinical Neuroscience
  
   
• Phil Lieberman
  Research: Language and thought in an evolutionary context.
  
  Graduate program: Cognitive & Linguistic Sciences
  
  
• Mayank Mehta
  Research: Mechanisms of learning in neuronal networks. We use simultaneous recording of a large number of neurons, and computational modeling.
   
• Robert Patrick
  Research: Effects of psychoactive drugs on brain transmitter utilization.
  
  Graduate program: Neuroscience
   
• Jerome Sanes
  Research: Neural information processing in voluntary behavior.
  
  Graduate program: Neuroscience
   
• David Sheinberg
  Research: Neural mechanisms of natural vision.
  
  Graduate program: Neuroscience
   
   
• William Warren
  Research: Human perception and action; visual control of locomotion and navigation.
  
  Graduate program: Cognitive & Linguistic Sciences