Title: Cognitive Neuroengineering to Enhance Executive Control Systems
Abstract: Cognitive neuroengineering is the use of neuroengineering to solve applied problems in cognitive neuroscience. Time-efficient algorithms are available to rapidly model input-output relationships between brain stimulation, neural activity, and measured behavior. Given these techniques, we can use conventional and emerging approaches from control engineering – a branch of systems engineering – to address pervasive problems in brain stimulation in experimental and clinical contexts. In this talk, I will describe a cognitive neuroengineering approach to optimizing well-defined attention and other executive systems. In particular, I will describe how pairing MRI-based techniques via human connectomics can provide the foundation for personalized neuromodulation. Using recent innovations in individualized network mapping, new and precise approaches can be refined and tested against standard practices.
Biosketch: John Medaglia is an Assistant Professor of Psychology and Principal Investigator of the Cognitive Neuroengineering and Wellbeing Laboratory at Drexel University. He uses techniques from neuroengineering and network science to understand and improve cognition in health and disease. He received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology with specializations in Neuropsychology and Social, Cognitive, and Affective Neuroscience in 2014. After a brief postdoctoral training period in Bioengineering, Neurology, and Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania, he was awarded a 2015 NIH Director’s Early Independence Award to apply network control theory-guided brain stimulation to improve executive functions in health and stroke and was named a "Rising Star" by the Association for Psychological Science in 2019. He additionally studies public moral attitudes toward cognitive enhancement.
