LIP External Colloquium: Agnieszka (Aga) Burzynska, Colorado State University - The Elephant Matter: White Matter Is Neither a White Elephant nor an Elephant in the Room
- Datum: 11.06.2025
- Uhrzeit: 13:00
- Vortragende(r): Agnieszka (Aga) Burzynska Colorado State University
- Ort: Max-Planck-Institut für Bildungsforschung
- Raum: Kleiner Sitzungssaal
- Gastgeber: LIP
- Kontakt: seklindenberger@mpib-berlin.mpg.de
- Rubrik: Vorträge
Agnieszka (Aga) Burzynska
Colorado State University
Visiting Scientist, Max Planck Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences -
The Elephant Matter: White Matter Is Neither a White Elephant nor an Elephant in the Room
White matter contains the “cables” of the brain, namely, the myelinated axons and has been the elephant in the room in cognitive neuroscience: it takes up a lot of space, but it is not where neural activity happens. Some also perceive white matter as a sophisticated evolutionary acquisition that is expensive to keep: a white elephant.My talk will outline our attempts to address the following questions: Does white matter change as we grow older, and can we detect these within-person changes using MRI? How can we measure myelin and axonal content in living humans? Is the aging white matter plastic? Is age-related myelin loss linked to cognitive decline? What are the risk or protective factors for white matter health?I will present ongoing analyses from a unique multimodal dataset comprising at least eight different measures of white matter microstructure. I will discuss our findings in the context of highly debated models of cognitive decline and the role of white matter in advancing treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.
Join on-site or hybrid:
https://mpib-berlin.webex.com/mpib-berlin/j.php?MTID=m887e400f46e99fd8c41ca4c2891f089b
The Elephant Matter: White Matter Is Neither a White Elephant nor an Elephant in the Room
White matter contains the “cables” of the brain, namely, the myelinated axons and has been the elephant in the room in cognitive neuroscience: it takes up a lot of space, but it is not where neural activity happens. Some also perceive white matter as a sophisticated evolutionary acquisition that is expensive to keep: a white elephant.My talk will outline our attempts to address the following questions: Does white matter change as we grow older, and can we detect these within-person changes using MRI? How can we measure myelin and axonal content in living humans? Is the aging white matter plastic? Is age-related myelin loss linked to cognitive decline? What are the risk or protective factors for white matter health?I will present ongoing analyses from a unique multimodal dataset comprising at least eight different measures of white matter microstructure. I will discuss our findings in the context of highly debated models of cognitive decline and the role of white matter in advancing treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.
Join on-site or hybrid:
https://mpib-berlin.webex.com/mpib-berlin/j.php?MTID=m887e400f46e99fd8c41ca4c2891f089b
Meeting number: 2742 476 1648
Password: 9iPyNiD6dm5