In the past, the vast majority of basic cognitive neuroscience studies have been conducted in isolation, examining the relationship between a single given neuroscientific measure and a single given cognitive phenomenon. This is problematic as single features rarely explain (in the statistical sense) more than 20% of the inter-individual variability. This is disappointingly low from a clinical perspective and casts doubt on the practical usefulness of much of basic cognitive neuroscience. It is the purpose of this project to move beyond this limitation and use neural data in conjunction with genetic and other biological and behavioural measures to create models that are able to predict a wide range of cognitive characteristics with high accuracy at the individual subject level.
In this study, we use a range of MRI sequences to gain broad knowledge on various neuroarchitectural characteristics of participants. These maps are then related to a wide range of behavioural/cognitive phenomena collected across around 5 hours of experiments per participant in order to examine how well these phenomena can be explained/predicted by neural characteristics. In addition, the explanatory/predictive power of MRI based maps, or the combination of MRI, genetics and blood biomarker profiles, are compared to maps using genetic information alone. Power analyses show that the most efficient and economical way of conducting the study is to examine all behavioural and neural characteristics in a single, large sample of participants (500+). Given the large amount of tests, collaboration with international experts is ideal.

Sustainable Development Goals

Masaryk University is committed to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which aim to improve the conditions and quality of life on our planet by 2030.