About the lab

In our group we are interested in the understanding of how the brain works. Our contribution to this question includes two main lines of research:

1) Electrophysiology of the cerebral cortex.

• Analysis of the emerging activity from the neuronal cortical network: rhythmic and persistent activity.
• Sensory processing, with an emphasis in adaptation mechanisms.
• Cortical synaptic plasticity.

The understanding of the structural basis of the observed function and the integration of our physiological and anatomical data in computer models of the cerebral cortex are fundamental elements of our work.

2) The perceptual roots of Presence* in virtual environments as well as the explotation of virtual reality for the understanding of brain function.

• Mechanisms of spatial processing.
• Body perception.
• 3D visualization of neurons.

*Presence is the response to virtual reality as if it were real, this response being multilevel and including autonomic-unconscious, behavioural and cognitive. For a review see Sanchez-Vives and Slater, Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 6:332, 2005.

Principal Investigator : Maria Victoria Sanchez-Vives.
Ramon y Cajal Investigator : Enrique Perez Garci
Lab & Project Manager: Vanessa Fernandez Descalzo
Post-Docs: Daniel Pérez-Marcos, Ramón Reig, Lucila Kargieman.
PhD Students: Thomas Gener, Juan Abolafia, Diego Lopez
Maria Perez, Daniel Jercog, Marcel Ruiz, Xavier Palomer.
Computer Programmer: Lorena Perez, Laura Ciria.
Visiting Students: Julita de la Vega.

EVENT LAB = Experimental Virtual Environments in Neuroscience and Technologies.