Research

Leveraging my training in physics of nonlinear dynamical systems and computational neuroscience, I develop methods of analysis and experimental designs that track the neural processes underlying sensory, perceptual and cognitive functions within the rich and complex brain dynamics. My recent work is focused on two inter-related directions: 

1) Investigate the dynamical brain processes and architecture underlying the core perceptual/cognitive functions that emerge in human newborns already shortly after birth (social cognition, number cognition, visual motion and space navigation); 

2) Devise efficient EEG-based bio-markers that track these core functions during development for both research and clinical purposes. 

To pursue these aims, my main methodological work consists in the development of methods to measure reliable stimulus-specific neural responses from the EEG of developmental populations within the associated constraints of very limited data and non-stereotyped noise, both at the sensor and source level.    

Methods:

Frequency Tagging

EEG artifact detection and removal

Fractal dynamics in electrophysiological signals

Wearable wireless pediatric EEG

Cognitive Neuroscience:

Face processing in newborns

Speech processing and reading

Semantic Spaces and Navigation

Other research topics:

Predictive coding in the early visual system

Statistical analysis of DNA sequences

Statistical physics of fractal dynamical systems