Event Date
A recording of this presentation is available at this link.
THEODORE ZANTO, PHD
Director of Neuroscience Division | Neuroscape
Associate Professor | Neurology
Weill Institute for Neurosciences
University of California San Francisco
Sandler Neurosciences Center
Host: Min Zhao, MD, PhD, minzhao@ucdavis.edu
This is an in-person event. Please register here: http://tinyurl.com/Neuroeng-Mar24
Registration for remote attendance is limited to colleagues from the Sacramento campus and those working remotely: https://tinyurl.com/NeuroengMarch24
Abstract
The last decade has seen an exponential rise in research assessing the potential for non-invasive brain stimulation techniques to facilitate cognitive function in healthy and clinical populations. Unfortunately, effects of non-invasive neurostimulation can be highly variable, leading to replicability problems and drawing into question the utility of these techniques for therapeutic use. This talk will focus on the use of transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) to enhance cognitive control and memory function across the healthy adult lifespan as well as older adults with mild cognitive impairment. Effects of tACS on behavioral performance appear to arise from network-level changes in brain activity, and a large contributor to individual variability stems from differences in neuroanatomy and neurophysiology. Interestingly, tACS is highly tolerable, relatively affordable, and can be used at-home by the participant - even in populations with mild cognitive impairment. Therefore, as we learn more about how to deploy tACS to achieve consistent efficacy, this technology will continue to move toward becoming a feasible therapeutic tool.
Bio
Dr. Zanto is an Associate Professor in Neurology at UCSF and Director of the Neuroscape Neuroscience Division. Dr. Zanto utilizes fMRI, EEG and non-invasive brain stimulation techniques to study neural mechanisms at the intersection of attention, perception, and memory. He is interested in the role of neural entrainment in cognitive control and how it may be used as a potential therapeutic, particularly in the aging population. Currently, Dr. Zanto is assessing how neural entrainment affects basic cognitive control functions and whether select cognitive functions may be improved through neural entrainment with musical rhythms or with non-invasive rhythmic neurostimulation.