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Speaker: Prof. Birte Forstmann

Prof. Birte Forstmann | Mapping Terra Incognita: Towards a mechanistic understanding of the human subcortex

Guest Lecture
Today only seven percent of the subcortical structures listed by the Federative Community on Anatomical Terminology (FCAT, 1998) are depicted in available standard MRI-atlases (Forstmann et al., 2016). As a consequence, the remaining 423 subcortical structures cannot be studied using automated analysis protocols available for MRI and therefore require trained anatomists for the study of subcortical brain areas: The human subcortex is notoriously difficult to visualize and analyze with functional magnetic resonance imaging. In this talk, exciting technical advances are presented that allow charting terra incognita; the human subcortex. Closing the knowledge-gap of the human subcortex has already resulted in the re-evaluation of prominent models in the cognitive neurosciences such as the functional role of cortico-basal ganglia loops in decision-making. I will discuss the emerging possibilities of novel human neuroanatomical approaches and directions for the incorporation of these data within the field of model-based cognitive neuroscience. [more]
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