Grants and Contributions:

Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year. (2017-2018 to 2022-2023)

My research focuses on the integration of multisensory signals in the brain and how they are used to drive movement. To do this, I utilize fMRI, EEG, MEG and eye-tracking techniques to study dancers and healthy controls. Dance is ideal because it incorporates vision, audition, touch, and somatosensation to plan, execute, and correct movement. My studies examine expert dancers, amateurs, and people dancing for therapy. Learning how multisensory signals may be used to train the brain could have far-reaching applications in helping to fine-tune the way we all learn to move, or learning to circumvent damaged motor circuits.

I have observed specific neural changes resulting from dance training. Through studying professional dancers at the National Ballet of Canada (NBoC), I have shown that fMRI activity in the supplemental motor area (SMA) follows a pattern of increase and subsequent decline as expert dancers learn a dance sequence over 8 months. I observed a similar pattern in amateur dancers learning a short piece. This hints at a rewiring of motor circuits with music and learning. Our specific aims are to achieve a deeper understanding of this neural rewiring which may uncover a yet unknown neural mechanisms of motor learning. What is unknown is why initial EEG results from a novice dancers have shown a second neural dynamic change following dancing: a fascinating increase in power oscillation at the alpha wave frequency. Cecere et al (2015) suggests this may be indicative of the brain’s increased integration of multisensory input like audition with vision. I would like to determine the significance of this increased alpha power with further study. Our lab would like to determine:
-where in the brain this occurs (Project 1 - fMRI)
-how brain dynamics are changing (Project 2 -EEG/MEG)
-behaviour and computation modelling (Projects 3 & 4)

To complement my work, I plan to utilize The Virtual Brain software from Rotman Institute at Baycrest Hospital in Toronto. The Virtual Brain is a powerful new tool to examine individual brains using the connectome of structural and functional dynamics to make model predictions. As suggested by the changes in auditory and SMA with alpha wave activity I have observed, multisensory training is capable of changing the brain’s connectivity and output. With The Virtual Brain, it will be possible to observe the expected outcomes that changes in motor learning connections are likely to produce. When combined with my research, this will help develop and customize multisensory training to best teach an individual, whether they are an athlete or an amateur, young or old.