This Week at YNiC

Hi everyone Thank you to all those who came along to the Science Social last week, we had a great turn-out, learnt about DTI scans, and had enough pizza for everyone! This week we have a guest speaker at YNiC - Dr Melanie Burke from the University of Leeds will be presenting at our Thursday seminar, at 4pm in YNiC open plan. Refreshments will be provided after the talk. Please find the title and abstract below: Dr Melanie Burke - Thursday 14th November, 4pm, YNiC open plan *Title:* “Inducing neuroplasticity in the prefrontal cortex: a preliminary investigation into the effects on the brain and cognition.” *Abstract:* Theta burst stimulation (TBS) is a form of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) that can be used to increase (intermittent TBS) or reduce (continuous TBS) cortical excitability. The current study used iTBS in 18 adults, to investigate the causal role of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) during the performance of four cognitive functions: attention, inhibition, sequence learning and working memory. Participants performed the cognitive tasks both before and after iTBS stimulation and functional near infra-red spectroscopy (fNIRS) was monitored throughout. Preliminary findings of brain activity before, during and after TBS, alongside eye movements responses to the cognitive tasks will be presented. Additional notices: *YNiC User Inductions:* If you are aware of any new students/staff that will require access to YNiC and/or an IT account, they must attend a YNiC user induction. Our next induction date will be Wednesday 13th November at 2pm. Please ask them to contact support(a)ynic.york.ac.uk to sign up. *GE Projector* We have updated the projector in the GE scanner. If you are using this scanner please refer to the instructions on the wall above the stimulus PC for information on turning the projector on/off. The instructions for the projector in the Siemens scanner remain the same (for reference, see the instructions sheet above the stimulus PC, or the information on the website https://www.ynic.york.ac.uk/docs/MRIFrontPage). Hope you have a great week! Kind regards Lauren -- Lauren Welbourne, PhD Senior Research Technician lauren.welbourne(a)york.ac.uk York Neuroimaging Centre University of York Innovation Way Heslington York YO10 5NY