Unlocking the Full Cognitive Potential of the Brain
How can the brain’s cognitive potential be mobilized, enhanced and maintained? An interdisciplinary team from the fields of medicine, biology, biochemistry, psychology, physics, and pharmacology is investigating these questions in the DFG-funded Collaborative Research Center (CRC) 1436 “Neural Resources of Cognition”.
In the 2nd funding period of our Collaborative Research Center 1436, another…
Research Area A
What are the molecular and synaptic
foundations for cognitive enhancement?
Research Area B
How does cognitive training change
the neural circuitry of the brain?
Research Area C
Are changes in the neural networks of the brain
related to the mobilization of cognitive resources?
News from the neurosciences of the CRC
Call: PhD students
In the 2nd funding period of our Collaborative Research Center 1436, another…
Monday, December 9th: lecture with Patrick Haggard
On December 9th, 2024, the British neuroscientist Patrick Haggard from the Institute…
CRC Annual General Meeting and Social Get-Together
The CRC 1436 warmly invites you to our Annual General Meeting on December…
Make a note now: Conference ‘Learning & Memory’
From 28 September to 2 October 2025, we invite you to our…
Kick-off for the Female Career Days 2024
Am 17. Oktober 2024 fiel der Startschuss für die Frauenkarriere-Tage unter dem…
Collaborative Research Centre 1436 received funding for an additional four years
At Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, cutting-edge neuroscience research will continue within…
CRC 1436 Announcement – OWN-Award 2024
We are pleased to announce that our third Outstanding Women in Neuroscience…
Sign up for the “Career Path Development” workshop!
We are excited to announce that the IRTG will be hosting a…
Continuation of the CRC 1436 Funding from 2025 to 2028 approved
This summer, we submitted our application for a second funding period to…
Lecture with Anne Petzold
We are looking forward to welcoming the successful young scientist Anne Petzold…
Our research focus
Is it possible to increase the performance of memory?
What is the hidden potential of the brain and what are its limits?
How can the brain’s cognitive potential be mobilized and enhanced?
The architecture of our brain provides biological limits for the performance of memory, attention, and our capacity for learning; this is evident on both the micro and macro scale. However, there is large variability within these limits and individual cognitive abilities can be improved through directed training. The goal of our Collaborative Research Center (CRC) is to uncover the performance limits of the human brain and to explore methodological approaches for improving this performance. We aim to understand which neurobiological principles limit cognitive resources and how these resources can be fully accessed or even enhanced. Further, we will identify new ways to preserve neural resources across the lifespan with targeted interventions.
More than 40 scientists in 22 individual projects are currently working in our CRC towards this exciting neuroscientific topic, which is also highly relevant in our current society.
Using the latest neuroscientific technologies and innovative methods, human and animal experimental studies will examine individual variability and transferable improvement in cognitive function. We place a specific focus on how performance improvements in one task can be transferred to other tasks and when task performance comes at the expense of other abilities. We also ask, why do cognitive abilities decline with age? And what are the tremendous resources of “super-agers”? Further, we are investigating how molecular and biochemical processes affect cognitive performance, for instance, with the deposition of tau and amyloid in the brain, or those that occur with sleep deprivation or other environmental influences. This project is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and encompasses both the Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg and the Leibniz Institute of Neurobiology, as well as the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) Magdeburg site, Freie Universität Berlin, Charitè Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Forschungszentrum Jülich, and the universities of Düsseldorf, Heidelberg, and Göttingen.
Co-Spokesperson Dr. Michael Kreutz & Spokesperson Prof. Dr. med. Emrah Düzel
Publications of the CRC
Neuronal heterogeneity in the medial septum and diagonal band of Broca: classes and continua
Felix Kuhn, Petra Mocellin, Stefano Pupe, Lihua Wang, Andrew L. Lemire, Liudmila Sosulina, Oliver Barnstedt, Nelson Spruston, Mark S. Cembrowski, Stefan Remy bioRxiv (2024)
Cognitive Reserve Against Alzheimer’s Pathology Is Linked to Brain Activity During Memory Formation
Niklas Vockert, Judith Machts, Luca Kleineidam, Aditya Nemali, Hartmut Schütze, Renat Yakupov, Oliver Peters, Daria Gref, Luisa Sophie Schneider, Lukas Preis, Josef Priller, Eike Jakob Spruth, Slawek Altenstein, Anja Schneider,…
Cerebral hyperactivation across the Alzheimer’s disease pathological cascade.
Corriveau-Lecavalier N., Adams J.N., Fischer L., Molloy E.N., Maass A. Brain Communications (2024)
Single-value brain activity scores reflect both severity and risk across the Alzheimer’s continuum
Soch J, Richter A, Kizilirmak JM, Schütze H, Ziegler G, Altenstein S, Brosseron F, Fliessbach K, Freiesleben SD, Glanz W, Gref D, Heneka MT, Incesoy EI, Kilimann I, Kimmich O,…
Orexinergic modulation of chronic jet lag-induced deficits inmouse cognitive flexibility
Julius Duske, Nicole D’Souza, Dana Mayer, Daniela C. Dieterich and Markus Fendt Neuropsychopharmacology (2024)
Spatial mRNA expression patterns of orexin receptors in the dorsal hippocampus
Krause GM, Chirich Barreira LM, Albrecht A Sci Rep (2024)
Identifying older adults at risk for dementia based on smartphone data obtained during a wayfinding task in the real world
Marquardt J, Mohan P, Spiliopoulou M, Glanz W, Butryn M, Kuehn E, Schreiber S, Maass A, Diersch N. PLOS Digit Health (2024)
Age-related differences in human cortical microstructure depend on the distance to the nearest vein
Christoph Knoll, Juliane Doehler, Alicia Northall, Stefanie Schreiber, Johanna Rotta, Hendrik Mattern, Esther Kuehn Brain Communications (2024)
Imaging body-mind crosstalk in young adults
Yu, Q., Kong, Z., Zou, L., Herold, F., Ludyga, S., Zhang, Z., Hou, M., Kramer, A. F., Erickson, K. I., Taubert, M., Hillman, C. H., Mullen, S P., Gerber, M.,…
Online stimulation of the prefrontal cortex during practice increases motor variability and modulates later cognitive transfer: a randomized, double-blinded and sham-controlled tDCS study.
Nisha Maria Prabhu, Nico Lehmann, Elisabeth Kaminski, Notger Müller & Marco Taubert Sci Rep (2024)
Neuronal heterogeneity in the medial septum and diagonal band of Broca: classes and continua
Kuhn, F., Mocellin, P., Pupe, S., Cembrowski, M. S., & Remy, S. bioRxiv (2024)
Reduced expression of fMRI subsequent memory effects with increasing severity across the Alzheimer’s disease risk spectrum
Soch J, Richter A, Kizilirmak JM, Schütze H, Altenstein S, Dechent P, Fliessbach K, Glanz W, Herrera AL, Hetzer S, Incesoy EI, Kilimann I, Kimmich O, Lammerding D, Laske C,…
Astrocyte-derived factors regulate CNS myelination
Seiler S, Rudolf F, Gomes FR, Pavlovic A, Nebel J, Seidenbecher CI, Foo LC Glia (2024)
Precuneus activity during retrieval is positively associated with amyloid burden in cognitively normal older APOE4 carriers
Larissa Fischer, Eóin N. Molloy, Alexa Pichet Binette, Niklas Vockert, Jonas Marquardt, Andrea Pacha Pilar, Michael C. Kreissl, Jordana Remz, Judes Poirier, M. Natasha Rajah, Sylvia Villeneuve, PREVENT-AD Research Group, Anne Maass bioRxiv (2024)
Physical activity modulates early visual response and improves target detection in humans
Weischner, T., Che, X., Schmid, P., Reichert, C., Scholz, A., Knight, R.T., Dürschmid, S. bioRxiv (2024)
Physical Exercise Improves Working Memory through Ripple-Spindle Coupling
Che, X., Auer, B., Schmid, P., Reichert, C., Scholz, A., Weischner, T., Knight, R.T., Dürschmid, S. BioRxiv (2024)
Frontal Theta Oscillations and Cognitive Flexibility: Age-Related Modulations in EEG Activity
Margarita Darna, Christopher Stolz, Hannah-Sophia Jauch, Hendrik Strumpf, Jens-Max Hopf, Constanze I. Seidenbecher, Björn H. Schott, Anni Richter bioRxiv (2024)
Age-related decline in GABAergic intracortical inhibition can be counteracted by long-term learning of balance skills
Yves-Alain Kuhn, Sven Egger, Matteo Bugnon, Nico Lehmann, Marco Taubert, Wolfgang Taube J Physiol. (2024)
Phase locking of hippocampal CA3 neurons to distal CA1 theta oscillations selectively predicts memory performance
Shih-Pi Ku, Erika Atucha, Nico Alavi, Halla Mulla-Osman, Rukhshona Kayumova, Motoharu Yoshida, Jozsef Csicsvari, Magdalena M. Sauvage Cell Rep (2024)
Enlarged perivascular spaces in the basal ganglia are associated with arteries not veins
Oltmer J, Mattern H, Beck J, Yakupov R, Greenberg SM, Zwanenburg JJ, Arts T, Düzel E, van Veluw SJ, Schreiber S, Perosa V J Cereb Blood Flow Metab (2024)
Probing cognitive flexibility in Shank2-deficient mice: Effects of D-cycloserine and NMDAR signaling hub dynamics
Samia Afzal, Nora Dürrast, Iman Hassan, Elaheh Soleimanpour, Pei-Ling Tsai, Daniela C. Dieterich, Markus Fendt Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry (2024)
Detailed mapping of the complex fiber structure and white matter pathways of the chimpanzee brain
Cornelius Eichner, Michael Paquette, Christa Müller-Axt, Christian Bock, Eike Budinger, Tobias Gräßle, Carsten Jäger, Evgeniya Kirilina, Ilona Lipp, EBC Consortium, Markus Morawski, Henriette Rusch, Patricia Wenk, Nikolaus Weiskopf, Roman M….
Focal clusters of peri-synaptic matrix contribute to activity-dependent plasticity and memory in mice
Chelini G, Mirzapourdelavar H, Durning P, Baidoe-Ansah D, Sethi MK, O’Donovan SM, Klengel T, Balasco L, Berciu C, Boyer-Boiteau A, McCullumsmith R, Ressler KJ, Zaia J, Bozzi Y*, Dityatev A*,…
Higher surface folding of the human premotor cortex is associated with better long-term learning capability
Marco Taubert, Gabriel Ziegler, Nico Lehmann Commun Biol. (2024)
Age-related differences in finger interdependence during complex hand movements
Lisa Klemm, Esther Kuehn, Avinash Kalyani, Stefanie Schreiber, Christoph Reichert, Elena Azañón J Appl Physiol (2024)
Neural networks representing temporal expectation in mice
T. Adrian Wendlandt, Patricia Wenk, Julia U. Henschke, Annika Michalek, Toemme Noesselt, Janelle M.P. Pakan, Eike Budinger BioRxiv (2024)
Human connectome topology directs cortical traveling waves and shapes frequency gradients
Dominik P. Koller, Michael Schirner, Petra Ritter Nature Communications (2024)
Anatomical circuits for flexible spatial mapping by single neurons in posterior parietal cortex
Bashir Ahmed, Hee Kyoung Ko, Maria Rüsseler, Jackson E. T. Smith, Kristine Krug BioRxiv (2024)
Spatial mRNA expression patterns of orexin receptors in the dorsal hippocampus
Gina Marie Krause, Lara Mariel Chirich Barreira, Anne Albrecht BioRxiv (2024)
Astrocytic uptake of posttranslationally modified amyloid-β leads to endolysosomal system disruption and induction of pro-inflammatory signaling
Wirth S*, Schlößer A*, Beiersdorfer A, Schweizer M, Lohr C, Grochowska KMp Glia (2024)
A hippocampus-accumbens code guides goal-directed appetitive behavior
Barnstedt O, Mocellin P, Remy S Nature Communications (2024)
Location- and Object-Based Representational Mechanisms Account for Bilateral Field Advantage in Multiple-Object Tracking
Christian Merkel, Jens-Max Hopf and Mircea Ariel Schoenfeld eNeuro (2024)
Beyond peaks and troughs: Multiplexed performance monitoring signals in the EEG
Markus Ullsperger Psychophysiology (2024)
Microvascular damage, neuroinflammation and extracellular matrix remodeling in Col18a1 knockout mice as a model for early cerebral small vessel disease
Mahsima Khoshneviszadeh, Solveig Henneicke, Daniel Pirici, Akilashree Senthilnathan, Lorena Morton, Philipp Arndt, Rahul Kaushik, Oula Norman, Jari Jukkola, Ildiko Rita Dunay, Constanze Seidenbecher, Anne Heikkinen, Stefanie Schreiber *, Alexander Dityatev…
Age-related differences in fMRI subsequent memory effects are directly linked to local grey matter volume differences
Kizilirmak JM, Soch J, Richter A, Schott BH Neurobiol Aging (2024)
A septal to ventral tegmental area circuit drives exploratory behaviour
Mocellin P, Barnstedt O,Luxem K, Kaneko H, Karpova A, Henschke J, Dalügge D, Fuhrmann F, Pakan JMP, Kreutz MR, MikulovicS, and Remy S Neuron (2024)
Neurocan regulates axon initial segment organization and neuronal activity in cultured cortical neurons
Baidoe-Ansah D, Mirzapourdelavar H, Aleshin S, Schott BH, Seidenbecher CI, Kaushik R, Dityatev A. bioRxiv (2024)
Different inflammatory signatures based on CSF biomarkers relate to preserved or diminished brain structure and cognition
Dayana Hayek, Gabriel Ziegler, Luca Kleineidam, Frederic Brosseron, Aditya Nemali, Niklas Vockert, Kishore A. Ravichandran, Matthew J. Betts, Oliver Peters, Luisa-Sophie Schneider, Xiao Wang, Josef Priller, Slawek Altenstein, Anja Schneider,…
The GluN2C/D-specific positive allosteric modulator CIQ rescues delay-induced working memory deficits in mice
Dembeck M, Dieterich DC & Fendt M Behav Brain Res (2024)
Grid cells perform path integration in multiple reference frames during self-motion-basednavigation
Jing-Jie Peng, Beate Throm, Maryam Najafian Jazi, Ting-Yun Yen, Hannah Monyer, Kevin Allen bioRxiv (2023)
A layer-specific model of cortical sensory aging
Peng Liu, Juliane Doehler, Julia U. Henschke, Alicia Northall, Angela Serian, Dietrich S. Schwarzkopf, Oliver Speck, Janelle M.P. Pakan, Esther Kuehn bioRxiv (2023)
Serial attentional resource allocation during parallel feature value tracking
Christian Merkel, Luise Burgmann, Mandy Viktoria Bartsch, Mircea Ariel Schoenfeld, Jens-Max Hopf elife(2023)
Changes in Cortical Microstructure of the Human Brain Resulting from Long-Term Motor Learning
Nico Lehmann, Norman Aye, Jörn Kaufmann, Hans-Jochen Heinze, Emrah Düzel, Gabriel Ziegler, Marco Taubert J Neurosci (2023)
Hemodynamic responses in the rat hippocampus are simultaneously controlled by at least two independently acting neurovascular coupling mechanisms
Alberto Arboit, Karla Krautwald, Frank Angenstein J Cereb Blood Flow Metab (2023)
Holistic bursting cells store long-term memory in auditory cortex
Li R, Huang J, Li L, Zhao Z, Liang S, Liang S, Wang M, Liao X, Lyu J, Zhou Z, Wang S, Jin W, Chen H, Holder D, Liu H,…
Diagnostic images for mild cognitive impairment reveal biomarker status and abnormal scene processing
Yuetong Bai, Oliver Peters, Silka Dawn Freiesleben, Friederike Fenski, Josef Priller, Eike Jakob Spruth, Anja Schneider, Klaus Fliessbach, Jens Wiltfang, Claudia Bartels, Ayda Rostamzadeh, Wenzel Glanz, Stefan Teipel, Ingo Kilimann,…
Reduced dimension stimulus decoding and column-based modeling reveal architectural differences of primary somatosensory finger maps between younger and older adults
Avinash Kalyani, Oliver Contier, Lisa Klemm, Elena Azañon, Stefanie Schreiber, Oliver Speck, Christoph Reichert, Esther Kuehn NeuroImage (2023)
Gaussian Process-based prediction of memory performance and biomarker status in ageing and Alzheimer’s disease-A systematic model evaluation
A. Nemali, N. Vockert, D. Berron, A. Maas, J. Bernal, R. Yakupov, O. Peters, D. Gref, N. Cosma, L. Preis, J. Priller, E. Spruth, S. Altenstein, A. Lohse, K. Fliessbach,…
Recalling gist memory depends on CA1 hippocampal neurons for lifetime retention and CA3 neurons for memory precision
Erika Atucha, Shih-Pi Ku, Michael T. Lippert, Magdalena M. Sauvage Cell Prep (2023)
Alpha-frequency feedback to early visual cortex orchestrates coherent natural vision
Chen L, Cichy RM*, Kaiser D* Sci Adv (2023)
Cognitive Reserve Against Alzheimer’s Pathology Is Linked to Brain Activity During Memory Formation
Niklas Vockert, Judith Machts, Luca Kleineidam, Aditya Nemali, Hartmut Schütze, Renat Yakupov, Oliver Peters, Daria Gref, Luisa Sophie Schneider, Lukas Preis, Josef Priller, Eike Jakob Spruth, Slawek Altenstein, Anja Schneider,…
Linking epileptic phenotypes and neural extracellular matrix remodeling signatures in mouse models of epilepsy
Armand Blondiaux, Shaobo Jia, Anil Annamneedi, Gürsel Çalışkan, Jana Nebel, Carolina Montenegro-Venegas, Robert C Wykes, Anna Fejtova, Matthew C Walker, Oliver Stork, Eckart D Gundelfinger, Alexander Dityatev, Constanze I Seidenbecher…
Interactive effects of locus coeruleus structure and catecholamine synthesis capacity on cognitive function
Hsiang-Yu Chen, Jourdan H Parent, Claire J Ciampa, Martin J Dahl, Dorothea Hämmerer, Anne Maass, Joseph R Winer, Renat Yakupov, Ben Inglis, Matthew J Betts, Anne S Berry Front Aging…
Noradrenergic neuromodulation in ageing and disease
F. Krohn, E. Lancini , M. Ludwig , M. Leiman , G. Guruprasath, L. Haag , J. Panczyszyn, E. Düzel, D. Hammerer, M. Betts Neurosci Biobehav Rev (2023)
Strategy-based motor learning decreases the post-movement β power
Betina Korka, Matthias Will, Izel Avci, Fabio Dukagjini, Max-Philipp Stenner Cortex (2023)
Chaperone-mediated autophagy in neuronal dendrites utilizes activity-dependent lysosomal exocytosis for protein disposal
Grochowska KM, Sperveslage M, Raman R, Failla AV, Głów D, Schulze C, Laprell L, Fehse B, Kreutz MR Cell Rep (2023)
Inhibitory temporo-parietal effective connectivity is associated with explicit memory performance in older adults
Schott BH, Soch J, Kizilirmak JM, Schütze H, Assmann A, Maass A, Ziegler G, Sauvage M, Richter A iScience (2023)
Openness to Experience is associated with neural and performance measures of memory in older adults
Stolz C, Bulla A, Soch J, Schott BH, Richter A Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci (2023)
Better long-term learning ability is predicted by higher surface folding of the human premotor cortex
Marco Taubert, Gabriel Ziegler, Nico Lehmann bioRxiv (2023)
Comparison of three common inbred mouse strains reveals substantial differences in hippocampal GABAergic interneuron populations and in vitro network oscillations
Gürsel Çalışkan, Yunus E. Demiray, Oliver Stork Journal of Neuroscience (2023)