The Neurophysiology & Neuromodulation Laboratory

The Neurophysiology & Neuromodulation Laboratory studies the mechanisms of learning, memory and decision-making using psychophysical and neurophysiological techniques in animals and humans. Our goals are to improve the basic understanding of rapid behavioral plasticity in the frontal cortex, basal ganglia and thalamus, while simultaneously advancing neuromodulation for neurological and psychiatric disease.

The laboratory is situated across the departments of Neurosurgery and Neuroscience. Facilities are located both at Brown University and Rhode Island Hospital. We are grateful for the generous support of the Brown Institute for Brain Science, the Norman Prince Neurosciences Institute, the Brown University Departments of Neuroscience & Neurosurgery, and Brown University Alpert Medical School.

Current research projects examine neurophysiological biomarkers of normal and pathological movements in the basal ganglia and thalamus, neural signals associated with memory, attention, and affect in the frontal and temporal lobes, learning strategies in severe, surgical OCD, the effect of neuromodulation on a variety of cognitive and motor behaviors, as well as clinical / translational studies related to movement disorders, epilepsy, and psychiatric neurosurgery.

The laboratory has received support from our patients, the significant contributions of our collaborators, and generous funding from these agencies and foundations: The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, The Neurosurgery Research and Education Foundation, The National Institutes of Health, A McDonnell-Pew grant from the J.S. McDonnell Foundation, An MGH-ECOR Tosteson Award, The Michael J. Fox Foundation, The Norman Prince Neurosciences Institute, The Roddy Holden Foundation, Faxon Friends.

Laboratory Director