Robin W. Wilkins, Ph.D.
Network Neuroimaging Lab
For
Complex Systems
NNLCS also provides education and technical training courses in the science of the human brain by conducting in-person individual and group education and hands-on technical training as well as web-based practicums, webinars, and podcasts. Students learn command-line data processing and network-based analysis skills. Students subsequently design and execute lab-based and/or their own evidence-based research projects.
The lab provides Wired for Music R An educational training initiative in scientific research techniques and technical training in investigative network-based approaches, as well as mathematical methods, used to help us understand the workings of the human brain Participants learn through in-person hands-on technical-based training and web-based practicums, webinars, and podcasts. Students learn command-line data processing skills and complete evidence-based research projects. The art of writing scientific papers, as well as oral podium-style presentation skills, are included.
Research Themes
*denotes in progress or completed-see research projects
+ denotes invited papers
The Brain Enigma: Acoustic Stimuli and Complex Mental Phenomena
Nanolevel to Molecular: Signalling Features for Brain Optimization and Restoration
Brain-Inspired Convergence: Artifical Intelligence and Biologically-Inspired Complex Systems +
The Default Mode Network
Mastery & Expertise*+
Brain Networks of Spontaneous Memories
Empathy & Theory of Mind: Me, Myself, and You
Emotions and the Dynamic Brain
Use-Dependent Skill Training*
Mind, Machine, Motor Control*
Awareness
Most people think music is entertainment. Leading beyond incrementalism, we seek to employ new strategies and methods to generate evidence-based research and optimize outcomes measurements for the ultimate translation and application of our research: promoting and enhancing brain reorganization for controlling optimal performance and to strengthen the intensity influences as restorative brain functions.
We seek to pull back the veil to understand the power of music, by examining the effects of music on the brain.
Within the brain, music affects an intricate set of complex neural processing systems. These include structural components as well as functional elements implicated in cognition, sensory and motor planning and execution, memory, and mood or emotional fluctuation. Because music affects such diverse systems, it is an ideal candidate for network-based approaches for exploring the complex system of the brain. This lab explores how music listening--and intensive musical training--influence structural and functional brain network connectivity. While still in its infancy, the field of network neuroscience promises to continue to inspire new discoveries about one of nature's most complex systems – the human brain.