OxTalks is Changing
During Michaelmas Term, OxTalks will be moving to a new platform (full details are available on the Staff Gateway).
For now, continue using the current page and event submission process (freeze period dates to be advised).
If you have any questions, please contact halo@digital.ox.ac.uk
GABA and gamma: Studying motor plasticity in vivo
How we learn new motor skills, such as learning to play the piano or play tennis, is a question of fundamental importance to everyday life. It also has direct relevance to how we might re-learn to move our hands after a brain injury such as a stroke. However, motor plasticity occurs across multiple spatial and temporal scales; from the synapse to the network and from effects lasting seconds to those lasting months or even years, making understanding these processes complex.
Here, I will discuss recent studies from my group studying the physiological basis of motor plasticity in vivo, in particular how changes across a wide range of spatial scales may interact to support functional improvements. To this end we have combined advanced neuroimaging, including MR Imaging, MR Spectroscopy and Magnetoencephalography, with non-invasive brain stimulation in humans; we have recently expanded into rodent models.
Taken together, these studies provide convergent evidence that changes in local and network-level inhibitory processing is a key component of motor learning. I will discuss how non-invasive brain stimulation may optimise motor learning in both healthy and clinical populations, and how optimising stimulation approaches may lead to enhanced behavioural gains.
Date:
12 November 2021, 16:00
Venue:
Sherrington Library, off Parks Road OX1 3PT
Speaker:
Dr Charlotte Stagg (University of Oxford)
Organising department:
University Club
Organiser:
Cortex Club (University of Oxford)
Organiser contact email address:
cortex.club@studentclubs.ox.ac.uk
Host:
Cortex Club (University of Oxford)
Booking required?:
Not required
Audience:
Public
Editor:
Antara Majumdar