Ongoing research in the Kundu Lab is centered on understanding how human memory is supported by brain networks and how brain stimulation might affect those networks.
Our research includes:
- Understanding memory and memory deficits
- Studying the basic mechanisms of brain stimulation using single pulse and high frequency intracranial stimulation
Understanding working memory and memory deficits
Deficits in memory are common in a variety of neurological conditions including traumatic brain injury, Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, Alzheimer's disease and psychiatric diseases such as attention deficit disorder and schizophrenia. Stimulation-based studies show that different anatomical and electrophysiological targets can be modulated to drive memory performance, but the neural basis for this and the optimal stimulation parameters are being actively investigated. The Kundu Lab studies how long-range and local brain connectivity supports memory performance with the eventual goal of developing a system that can treat disorders of memory in patients.
Single Pulse and High Frequency Intracranial Stimulation
Single pulse electrical stimulation offers a means to measure whole-brain, effective connectivity across networks crucial to cognition such as language and motor control networks. Abnormal stimulation responses can be seen in the epileptic seizure onset zone, and perhaps in the greater seizure network. Prior work has characterized how parameters related to stimulation as well as neural oscillations associated with cognitive state predict how brain stimulation affects a brain network. One focus of the lab is to develop methods that incorporate data from whole-brain imaging and recordings tracking the brain’s current oscillatory state (i.e. electrical biomarkers) to drive closed-loop stimulation devices and control network activation.
