Overview of Research Areas
The NACS program has identified a number of "areas of reseach focus." These loosely defined communities help to organize the program around particularly active areas of interdisciplinary research on campus. Our site is organized so that you browse these topics and learn about those communities, or you may drill quickly for information in the Faculty/Research Index.
Auditory Neuroscience
This group collaborates as part of the Center for Comparative and Evolutionary Biology of Hearing (C-CEBH) and through a partnership between on-campus investigators and researchers of the faculty of the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Research areas extend from molecular genetics to speech processing using organisms ranging from insects to humans. www.ccebh.umd.edu
Cellular, Molecular, and Developmental Neuroscience
The cellular, molecular, and developmental neuroscience group uses state-of-the art experimental techniques to investigate the molecular machinery driving the development, plasticity, and degeneration of the nervous system. Research areas include the regulation of synapse formation, signaling cascades in phototransduction, development of sensory systems, learning, and memory formation.
Foundations of Cognitive Science
This group focuses on the connections between the neural and cognitive sciences and the humanities. Research explores the implications of modern neuroscience research for the study of language, literature, and philosophy and also examines the methodological and historical foundations of scientific research in neuroscience and psychology.
Human Development
The human development group includes faculty in the Departments of Hearing and Speech Science, Kinesiology, Linguistics, and Human Development. Research interests include the development of brain-behavior relationships in motor skills, language, temperament, social behavior, attention, and decision making and the effects of early experience on brain development. Electrophysiology (ERP, EEG) and autonomic psychophysiology as well as kinematics and EMG are some of the methods used by this group.
Memory, Decision Making, and Reasoning
NACS members investigating these basic human cognitive processes are primarily found in the Psychology Department, distributed across several labs and areas. This research typically involves the collection of reaction time and accuracy measurements during memory or reasoning tasks. Many members of this group employ sophisticated mathematical techniques not only to analyze data but also to formally instantiate theory and to direct future experimentation.
Network Models and Pattern Recognition
This group emphasizes research on high-level computational models of brain function as well as artificial systems drawing on principles of neural computing across multiple spatiotemporal scales. Research often involves collaborative efforts between applied mathematicians, computer scientists, engineers, and neuroscientists working together to solve a specific, well-defined problem. The group is part of the more general effort in theoretical and computational neuroscience within the NACS Program.
Neuroethology
The neuroethology program emphasizes research in neural systems and behavior, evolution of the nervous system, and comparative neuroanatomy. Laboratories undertake research on sound localization in owls, song development and vocal learning in birds, ultrasonic hearing in fish and insects, motor systems in lamprey, evolution of development in blind cave fish, neural plasticity in mammals, behavioral genetics and sexual selection in insects, and echolocation in bats. www.bsos.umd.edu/psyc/neuroethology
Neuromorphic Engineering
Neuromorphic engineering takes inspiration from the signal-processing structures found in the brain and physical attributes of animals to design new computers and robots capable of the sensorimotor feats seen in nature. From neurons to behavior, the low-power, robust, real-time, and adaptive nature of biological systems serves as a proof-of-concept of the unique implementation developed by evolution. Such devices are also being developed as neuroprosthetics.
Sensorimotor Integration
Researchers in this area study the relationship between perception and action. Studies combine detailed analyses of adaptive behavior, physiological recordings of sensory reception and motor commands, and quantitative and theoretical modeling studies. Comparisons of CNS processing strategies among diverse animal groups emphasize the strong evolutionary focus of the research.
Speech and Language
The main research objective of the language group is to bridge gaps between theoretical, computational, psychological, and neuroscientific models of language. Students are encouraged to pursue close connections between these different approaches. Research topics include language acquisition (from infancy to kindergarten and beyond); adult language
processing; neurolinguistics; speech, language, and neurocognitive disorders; neurophysiology (MEG and EEG); and computational modeling.
