The role of human thalamus in selective attention via novel denoising applied to magnetoencephalography

The project examines the role of the thalamus in attention gain modulation by recording brain signal in response to rhythmic auditory and visual stimulation with non-invasive magnetoencephalography. The thalamus is a critical early structure modulating attention gain in the auditory and visual stream.

However, underlying mechanisms are poorly understood not least because thalamic processes are extremely difficult to capture with non-invasive electrophysiological methods.

Therefore, this project incorporates a significant methods development element to improve source localization to obtain superior signals especially from deep sources.

I will employ fast rhythmic stimulation in a dual visual-auditory paradigm to track attention modulation especially in the thalamus, but also in early sensory areas like the retina and the early visual and auditory cortices.

While thalamic impact on attention modulation within a modality is thought to be weak, I hypothesize that its structure and place within early sensory processing make it a prime candidate for selective attention modulation between different modalities - when attention selection can happen in very early processing stages.

Results from this project will allow better understanding of how selective attention modulates and thus filters information across the visual stream in a more realistic multi-modal setting.

In addition, the development of an improved source localization pipeline will help tap into deep cortical sources in particular and provide better source localization of non-invasive electrophysiological signals in general.

Therefore, it will benefit non-invasive cognitive neuroscience (e.g. hippocampal activity), nad also clinical research (e.g. epileptic seizure zone detection).

Finally, this project will provide me with exceptional means to learn from world-leading scientists at Aarhus University and the University of Lubeck and thus form an important steppingstone towards becoming an independent scientist.