Neuroscience research paper could help study and stimulate the brain

The research on which the paper was based was conducted by Professor Jon Driver and his group at UCL, funded by the Wellcome Trust and MRC.

A groundbreaking aspect of their study was to stimulate particular areas of the human brain non-invasively via a magnetic probe, while simultaneously recording activity in all areas of the brain, in order to study the impact of the stimulation. In this way, the neuroscientists were able to study causal influences between brain areas.

They found, for instance, that human vision can be causally influenced by brain areas well beyond those usually considered to be essential for vision. The group even found that it is possible to improve a person's peripheral vision ('in the corner of the eye') by stimulating brain regions responsible for directing attention there, paving the way for possible new therapeutic interventions.

The lead researcher on the paper, Dr Christian Ruff, took his PhD with Professor Jon Driver in 2005, and is now already a Professor in Zurich. Professor Driver himself is a Royal Society Anniversary Research Professor at UCL.

Both researchers acknowledged that their research was greatly facilitated by the remarkable strengths of UCL Neuroscience. Professor Driver said: "UCL offers an  unrivalled critical mass in this exciting field of biomedical research on that most complex of objects, the human brain, which is central to all of our lives".

Suggested links:
UCL Neuroscience
the Science Watch report (download pdf)
Jon Driver's homepage
Current Biology Q&A with Jon Driver (journal login may be required)