Cognitive and Sensory Imaging Laboratory

The overarching goals of the Cognitive and Sensory Imaging (CASI) Laboratory are to understand the interactions between sensory experience and higher-order cognition such as working memory and executive function throughout the lifespan, and to characterize what these interactions look like in the brain. The lab uses multiple techniques to determine the complex interactions between sensory experience, neural function and behavior. Studies use:

• State-of-the-art brain imaging, including magnetoencephalography (MEG) and structural and functional MRI
• Comprehensive behavioral testing
• Advanced audiometric and sensory measurements.

We are particularly interested in clarifying the impact of mild-to-severe hearing loss and the quality of therapeutic interventions (e.g., hearing aid use and audibility) on the neural dynamics that serve cognitive development in children and adolescents. There is high variability in behavioral outcomes in these children. Some children with hearing loss perform at or above their normal-hearing peers on tests of cognition and language, while others fall persistently behind.

We hope that by studying the neural dynamics affecting these cognitive processes in real-time (rather than depending on end-point behavioral metrics) we will be able to uncover the root of this range of outcomes. The results of these studies may lead to better-informed, individualized therapies for children with hearing loss.