Prof. Dr. Nikolai Axmacher, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience,
Faculty of Psychology
Research Programme:
How are experiences represented in the brain and transformed into memory traces? How do these experiences shape our personality? And how is memory compromised by trauma, innerpsychic conflicts and Alzheimer’s dementia? In my group, we are investigating the neural foundations of memory functions and dysfunctions using cognitive neuroscience methods (EEG, fMRI, simultaneous EEG/fMRI, fMRI at 7T, intracranial EEG). Neural network mechanisms are explored via distributed patterns of BOLD activity patterns and EEG oscillations.
I am particularly interested in the processing of specific contents by the brain and how the resulting stimulus specific representations can be decoded using pattern classification algorithms. We are investigating a wide range of memory processes (working memory, long-term memory, memory consolidation during resting state and sleep, autobiographical memory, social memory, repression). Our vision is to track the brain mechanisms that support the transformation of perceptual representations into memory traces and their transformation during complex memory functions.