McGovern Institute faculty members are investigating how the brain processes perceptual information and then arrives at appropriate emotional responses and decisions. These aspects of intelligent behavior belong to the realm of cognition, and they are often impaired in many psychiatric and neurological diseases, as well as in addiction.

Robert Desimone is trying to understand how the brain focuses attention on the task at hand and how neurons work together to give us that focus. He has shown that neurons firing in synchrony emit a more noticeable signal, and that synchronization allows us to pull out the relevant information from the constant cacophony of sensory input. In studies in normal human subjects, he uses magnetoencphalography (MEG) to track the synchrony of neural activity when subjects are paying attention to stimuli.

While we may need to focus attention on a new sensation or perception, we also can perform many procedures almost without consciously thinking about them. Ann Graybiel studies the brain structures and neural activity patterns that let perform habits. Graybiel and her lab have identified special neural firing patterns that occur as animals learn habits or break habits. And they are focusing not only on simple habits like riding a bike but also studying "bad habits" and addictions that are so difficult to overcome and so easily rekindled. Graybiel and her group find that these habit-related neural patterns occur in the basal ganglia, the brain structures disabled in Parkinson's disease and many other neurological and psychiatric disorders. Her work is uncovering the common neural threads that underlie many cognitive disorders.

What alterations in brain activity result in attentional, language, or learning disabilities? John Gabrieli is using brain imaging technology to explore how people may take the same perceptual input and process it differently. He has found with fMRI that normal and dyslexic children use the language systems of their brain differently when they read the same words. He is trying to understand how these and other differences come about and what can be done to help overcome the learning and behavioral differences that may arise. He also studies changes in the brain during healthy aging and in neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's.

Ki Ann Goosens studies the neural basis of fear and anxiety, which may underly many mental disorders. Combining neural recordings and behavior with the insertion of new genetic material into cells, she investigates how fear changes the brain's pathways and links those changes to behavior and brain chemistry. She has shown that chronic stress increases learned fear, and she has identified several novel molecules that contribute to this effect. She is also studying the relationship between stress and inflammation in these pathways. She hopes her work will lead to novel therapeutic approaches to treating depression and anxiety disorders.

Neuroscientists could understand much more about cognition if they could see how the brain functions in more detail. Alan Jasanoff's laboratory is developing a new generation of brain scanning methods that will combine the specificity of cellular neuroscience with the noninvasiveness and whole-brain coverage of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The group focuses on generating MRI "contrast agents" that sense calcium and other molecules important for communication between and within neurons. Jasanoff's overall goal is to apply the new agents for high-resolution analysis of the neural mechanisms of simple behavior in animals. The imaging methods may also be applied to animal analogs of cognition, and perhaps eventually to studies with human subjects.

Once we understand the neural code, can we use that knowledge to correct the problems that arise in neurodegenerative disorders, brain injuries and psychiatric illnesses? Ed Boyden is developing tools that can provide insight into how the neural code works and which may eventually be used to treat or repair the faulty circuits found in brain disorders. He has invented a genetically targeted way to activate and de-activate neurons with millisecond pulses of light. This technology could potentially replace the electrodes currently used in brain stimulation devices for Parkinson's disease and depression, and may also enable new prosthetic devices for controlling epileptic seizures or repairing sensory deficits. It may even allow for augmenting cognition in people with Alzheimer's disease and brain damage.

Ultimately, most of our cognitive activities lead to action, be it speech, behavior, or motion.