Research
We are interested in the way that the brain controls movement and learns new movements. Our primary emphasis is on the role of the cerebellum in motor control and the way that it interacts with other neural structures. The lab combines a behavioral, physiological and theoretical understanding of motor control and my lab works with behavioral experiments, physiological experiments and modelling.
Motor learning in human subjects
In our behavioral studies, we focus on the relationship of brain to behavior. Specifically, we are interested in leveraging methods that quantify brain anatomy, brain physiology or stimulate the brain and relating them to the way that humans beings perform in motor learning tasks. We study the relationship of neural degeneration in patient populations and aging populations with the ability to learn different motor tasks. We study the effects of neural stimulation on motor learning. We also study the relationship between behavioral and neural noise and the ability to learn.
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- Hulst, T., John, L., Küper, M., van der Geest, J. N., Göricke, S. L., Donchin, O., & Timmann, D. (2017). Cerebellar patients do not benefit from cerebellar or M1 transcranial direct current stimulation during force-field reaching adaptation. Journal of Neurophysiology. Link
- Haar, S., Donchin, O., and Dinstein, I. (2015) Dissociating visual and motor directional selectivity using visuomotor adaptation. J. Neurosci. Link
- Donchin, O., Rabe, K., Diedrichsen, J., Lally, N., Schoch, B., Gizewski, E., Timmann, D. (2012) Cerebellar regions involved in adaptation to force field and visuomotor perturbation. J. Neurophysiol. Link
Cerebellar activity during motor learning
The activity of neurons in the cerebellum during motor learning can give clues as to the way that it plays a role in overall motor control. We study the effects of neural stimulation on the activity of cerebellar neurons, and the physiology of the different types of neurons in the cerebellum. Our physiological work parallels the work in humans in order to provide the possibility of converging evidence from multiple research methodologies.
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- Givon-Mayo, R., Haar, S., Aminov, Y., Simons, E., & Donchin, O. (2017). Long Pauses in Cerebellar Interneurons in Anesthetized Animals. The Cerebellum, 16(2), 293-305. Link
- Sibindi, T. M., Holland, P. J., van der Geest, J. N., Donchin, O., & Frens, M. A. (2016). Superposition Violations in the Compensatory Eye Movement SystemSuperposition Violations in the CEM System. Investigative ophthalmology & visual science, 57(8), 3554-3566. Link
- Das, S., Holland, P., Frens, M. A., & Donchin, O. (2016). Impact of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on neuronal functions. Frontiers in neuroscience, 10. Link
Modelling and theoretical work
- Aprassoff, Y., and Donchin, O. (2011) Correlations in state space can cause sub-optimal adaptation of optimal feedback control models. Journal of Computational Neuroscience, 32(2):297-307. Link
- Donchin, O., Frens, M.(2009) Forward models and state estimation in compensatory eye movements. Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience, 3:13. Link
Collaborations
- Systems physiology laboratory, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands Prof. Maarten Frens and Prof. Jos Van Der Geest of the systems physiology laboratory in Erasmus MC are long-standing collaborators of the lab. Their primary interest is in the control of eye movements, with an emphasis on the role of the cerebellum. Their lab also emphasizes collecting converging evidence from behavioral and physiological experiments.
- Experimental Neurology Laboratory, University Clinic Essen, Essen, Germany Prof. Dagmar Timmann has worked closely with the lab on experiments in the ability of patients with cerebellar ataxia to learn reaching movements. Her field of interest is the role of the cerebellum in different motor tasks. She is a world expert in cerebellar ataxia and a highly regarded figure in the study of the effects of cerebellar degeneration.
- Fish physiology lab, Ben-Gurion University, Beer-Sheva, Israel Prof. Ronen Segev studies behavioral and physiological aspects of fish visual processing. He focuses on a specific breed of fish, called the Archer fish, which is notable for its ability to target distant prey outside the water by shooting jets of water at the prey. The lab collaborates with the Segev laboratory in the development of an approach to understanding the sensori-motor processing involved in this peculiar hunting strategy.