The “Action Lab” has two major goals. Goal from a basic neuroscientific is to unreveal the neurobiological and neurophysiological mechanisms underlying "multi-tasking" and action control.
Goal from a clinical point of view is to establish a multifactorial framework to explain the cognitive pathoneurophysiology of fronto-striatal networks in various basal ganglia disorders.
The selection of actions and appropriate responses is a fundamental problem every organism is faced with. Even though there are hundreds of response alternatives that are accessible to us every moment, we are almost effortlessly able to choose between different alternatives in order to organize our behavior. We are faced with this problem in many areas of daily life. Children, for example, who are beginning to learn to drive a bicycle are almost unable to eat ice cream at the same time. Similarly, when learning to drive a car it is challenging to coordinate steering, braking, switching gears and tuning the radio at almost the same time. Despite we are faced with such "multi-tasking" problems in many situations, the question how we choose between different response alternatives is not satisfactorily answered. Moreover, the question how we are able to perform "multi-tasking" in some situations, but not in others is also not answered. How are we able to flexibly control different actions, either serial, or parallel? Goal of our research is to combine the questions with applied neuroscientific research, where these research approaches may prove useful in clinical relevant aspects.
The research concept integrates different, yet interlinked approaches, where neuropsychiatric disorders play a major role. Major neurophysiological research methodologies include
From a neuroscientific point of view, research in the field of action control is dominated by a "cortico-centric bias" (Parvizi, 2009, TICS). This means that almost only functions of the cortex are discussed to be important for "multi-tasking" and action control in general. Among the shades of this perspective other models suggest that the basal ganglia play an important role and may vastly determine the efficiency with which we control our actions. The basal ganglia are an ancient brain structure that plays a major role in various neuropsychiatric diseases including e.g.
With respect to these diseases we are interested in how multi-tasking and action selection processes are changed as disease progresses. As a part of these disease-related approaches we also investigate the effectiveness of treatments. Besides effects of 'classical' drug-based interventions we investigate the effects of 'deep brain stimulation (DBS)' in Parkinson's disease and rare conditions of dystonia and other neuropediatric diseases. Results of these approaches will provide insights that are of relevance from an applied neuropsychological perspective, since these studies contribute to knowledge necessary to optimize treatments for these patient groups. At the same time, these approaches provide deep insights into the mechanisms of multi-tasking and action control.
Besides clinical neuroscientific research we are also interested in how brain mechanisms mediate action control under ‘normal’ conditions. Here we use molecular genetic techniques to examine neurobiological factors that determine interindividual differences in action control and multi-tasking abilities. In order to understand the neuronal mechanism at the deepest possible level, results from the above mentioned studies in healthy and diseased people are simulated in neural networks using "computational neuroscience" techniques. These simulations are performed as part of national and international collaborations.
Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Christian Beste
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Tel. +49 (0)351 458-7072
Fax +49 (0)351 458-5875
Universitätsklinikum Carl Gustav Carus
an der Technischen Universität Dresden
Anstalt des öffentlichen Rechts des Freistaates Sachsen