Brain Dynamics and Flexible Behaviors
Event Actions
Executive control processes and flexible behaviors rely on the integrity of, and dynamic interactions between, large-scale functional brain networks.
The right insular cortex is a critical component of a salience/midcingulo-insular network that is thought to mediate interactions between brain networks involved in externally oriented (central executive/lateral frontoparietal network) and internally oriented (default mode/medial frontoparietal network) processes. How these brain systems reconfigure with development is a critical question for cognitive neuroscience, with implications for neurodevelopmental pathologies affecting brain connectivity. In this talk, Dr. Lucina Uddin will describe studies examining how brain network dynamics support flexible behaviors in typical and atypical development, presenting evidence suggesting a unique role for the dorsal anterior insular from studies of meta-analytic connectivity modeling, dynamic functional connectivity, and structural connectivity. These findings from adults, typically developing children, and children with autism suggest that structural and functional maturation of insular pathways is a critical component of the process by which human brain networks mature to support complex, flexible cognitive processes throughout the lifespan.
Speaker Bio
Lucina Uddin, PhD
Dr. Lucina Uddin, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Seicnes at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Behavior at UCLA. She directs the Brain Connectivity and Cognition Laboratory and is the Co-director of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience Analysis Core. Her lab uses multiple neuroimaging methods to examine large-scale brain networks, and how these networks support executive function.
This event is part of the Computational and Network Neuroscience series, sponsored by funding from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH122927-01).