Research
Understanding mind and brain
100,000,000,000 neurons with 100,000 kilometers of connections between them, with a storage capacity exceeding that of a supercomputer. That's the amazing human brain!
Neuroimaging techniques help us understand how all these inconceivable numbers of neurons cooperate to perceive, represent and act on the world. The brain operates as an orchestra without a conductor. To be able to produce the right cognitive melody, different neural ‘players' must coordinate their activities, each providing the right contribution at exactly the right time. At the Donders Institute we work on solving this puzzle. How is the brain able to achieve such a feat - apparently without central coordination?
The Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour is a world-class research centre devoted to understanding the mechanistic underpinnings of human cognition and behavior in health and disease. The Institute is home to more than 600 researchers from 35 countries who share the common goal of contributing to the advancement of the brain-, cognitive- and behavioral sciences through investigator-driven research, and improving health, education and technology by applying advances in this field. The Institute’s mission includes conducting interdisciplinary research of excellence at the unique interface between genetic, molecular and cellular processes at one end and computational, system-level neuroscience with cognitive and behavioral analysis at the other end. Within this range we focus on four research themes:
- Language and Communication
- Perception, Action and Control
- Plasticity and Memory
- Brain Networks and Neuronal Communication