Computation and Neural Systems Seminar

Understanding how the human brain produces cognition must ultimately depend on knowledge of its large-scale organization and wiring. Brain areas engaged during cognitive tasks also form coherent large-scale brain networks that can be readily identified using intrinsic functional and structural connectivity. I describe how recent research on intrinsic connectivity is beginning to provide new insights into the functional and structural architecture of the human brain and its development. I will the describe neurocognitive network models which help to synthesize a large body of extant findings of brain activity and connectivity into a unified framework for understanding fundamental aspects of human cognition. I will demonstrate the usefulness of this approach by describing a dynamic network model for saliency detection, attentional capture, and cognitive control. Finally, I will describe how network analysis of functional and structural connectivity can be used to elucidate key principles underlying the development of stable brain architecture and illustrate how neurocognitive network models provide novel insights into the maturation of cognitive control in the developing brain.