Sophie Schwartz
Professor
Our lab is interested in understanding the neural mechanisms underlying experience-dependent changes in the adult human brain. We also propose that models of learning and neural plasticity should account for important variations in behavioral and brain-states, such as those occurring during sleep. Our research focuses on distinct facets of neural plasticity: perceptual and emotional learning, offline replay of neural activity, and brain processes contributing to the selection of information (feedforward vs feedback effects). We also investigate dream reports because dreams provide important information about brain and mind functions during sleep. We study brain functions at the macroscopic systems level in healthy adult volunteers and in neurological patients. Our experimental approach includes the development of novel behavioral tasks, as well as measures of brain activity using functional MRI (fMRI) and high-density electroencephalography (EEG).