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An innovative cross-school initiative
that will foster multidisciplinary, collaborative research
and education in cognitive neuroscience has been launched
at Northwestern.
Northwestern already has significant expertise in several
areas of cognitive neuroscience, particularly cognitive
science, communication science, systems and cellular
neuroscience, brain imaging and computational neuroscience
The new, University-funded program will enhance research
and educational opportunities for the scientists and
students currently working in these areas, as well as
for those in emerging disciplines on both campuses that
may be compatible with cognitive neuroscience research.
The initiative also will provide funding for invited
seminars, meetings and other cognitive neuroscience-related
events.
“Recent developments in functional magnetic resonance
imaging (fMRI) of the brain and in understanding the
brain’s anatomy and physiology as well as neural
network computing have created unprecedented opportunities
for exploring the biological foundations of the human
mind,” said James C. Houk, professor and former
chair of physiology in the Medical School. Houk has
been named director of the cognitive neuroscience initiative.
Through such advances in cognitive neuroscience, Houk
said, it is now possible to explore how neural networks
generate language, memory, thinking, problem solving
and emotion.
“Through these advances we may learn how these
capabilities are related to individual talents and weaknesses
and how they malfunction in persons with brain damage,
mental illness and dementia,” he said.
Initially, the program will include University faculty
from the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, the
School of Speech, the McCormick School of Engineering
and Applied Science and the Medical School. The program
also will include researchers from the Northwestern
University Institute for Neuroscience, the Cognitive
Science Program, the Language and Cognition Program,
the Nonlinear Science Program and the Cognitive Neurology
and Alzheimer’s Disease Center.
The cognitive neuroscience initiative will develop a
curriculum taught by faculty from various University
departments. Participation in the initiative will be
enhanced by a video classroom system that will interface
with current network and teleconferencing facilities
and also will be compatible with video-stacking and
remote or campus-based desktop operations.
This system will be supplied through an Office of the
Vice President for Research Shared Facilities Award
to Enrico Mugnaini, M.D., Edgar F. Stuntz Professor
of Cell and Molecular Biology and director of NUIN,
and Warren Kibbe, technical director of Research Computing.
It is anticipated that the new cognitive
neuroscience curriculum will attract undergraduate and
graduate students from existing programs in cognitive
psychology, neuroscience, biology, medicine, communication
sciences and disorders, engineering/applied math and
computer science.
In addition to Houk and Mugnaini, organizers
of the cognitive neuroscience initiative include: Ken
A. Paller, associate professor of psychology, and David
Ferster, professor of neurobiology and physiology, Weinberg
College of Arts and Sciences; Cynthia K. Thompson, professor,
communication sciences and disorders, School of Speech;
and William L. Kath, professor, engineering sciences
and applied mathematics, McCormick School of Engineering
and Applied Science. Also collaborating on this initiative
are Dedre Gentner, professor of psychology, and Paul
J. Reber, assistant professor of psychology, Weinberg
College of Arts and Sciences; M.-Marsel Mesulam, M.D.,
Ruth and Evelyn Dunbar Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral
Sciences, professor of neurology and director of the
Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease Center,
Medical School; and Stephen H. Davis, Walter P. Murphy
Professor, engineering science and applied mathematics,
McCormick School of Engineer-ing and Applied Science.
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