search

UMD     This Site





ISR Associate Research Scientist Jonathan Fritz  and Professor Shihab Shamma (ECE/ISR) are research collaborators in a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Targeted Neuroplasticity Training (TNT) program  to study the effect of peripheral nerve stimulation on second language acquisition and brain plasticity.

The University of Maryland will receive up to $8.58 million from DARPA for the research.

Led by researchers from the UMD Center for Advanced Study of Language  (CASL), the project seeks to examine whether stimulating the vagal nerve improves adults’ brain plasticity to help them learn a second language. The stimulation is delivered via an earbud that transmits a safe, low-voltage electrical signal to a peripheral branch of the vagal nerve.

The goal of the collaborative project is to thoroughly study vagal nerve stimulation (VNS) as a method of safely and rapidly enhancing foreign language learning. The researchers will use behavioral and neuroimaging methods to examine the effects of VNS on auditory, acoustic, and speech perception learning, vocabulary and grammar learning for written language, and short- and long-term neuroplasticity in the brain. Additionally, the research team will map the dynamic neural networks activated during VNS and learning. The Institute for Systems Research’s complementary studies on auditory learning will address the neural basis for enhanced neuroplasticity with vagal nerve stimulation, which leads to the targeted release of neuromodulators that improve the brain systems for attention, learning and memory.

The principal investigators are Henk Haarmann, Stefanie Kuchinsky, Polly O’Rourke, and Gregory Colflesh, all cognitive neuroscientists at CASL. Fritz, Shamma, and Jamie Tyler from Arizona State University’s School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering are the additional researchers.

“CASL is ideally positioned to conduct the fundamental and applied research studies in this project with our partners at the University of Maryland and Arizona State,” said Michael F. Bunting, Ph.D., acting executive director at CASL. “Cognitive neuroscience has long been an active part of language research. I believe that DARPA’s strong commitment to fundamental research is an integral part of moving science innovation forward.”

The TNT program is part of a broader portfolio of DARPA programs that support the federal government’s BRAIN Initiative (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies). Click here  to read DARPA's press release about its TNT program.



Related Articles:
Yin, Fritz, Shamma publish neuroplasticity study in Journal of Neuroscience
UMD neuroscience researchers publish in the journal Neuron
?Cocktail party effect? helps us focus in noisy environments
Auditory researchers publish sensory processing research in PNAS
Article by auditory researchers appears in Nature Neuroscience
‘Priming’ helps the brain understand language even with poor-quality speech signals
New UMD Division of Research video highlights work of Simon, Anderson
Xuze Zhang wins outstanding graduate student award from the Washington Statistical Society
Two ECE Graduate Students Win 2023 UMD Three Minute Thesis Competition
Ghodssi invited speaker at NIMH workshop on sensor technologies to capture the complexity of behavior

May 8, 2017


«Previous Story  

 

 

Current Headlines

Remembering Rance Cleaveland (1961-2024)

Dinesh Manocha Inducted into IEEE VGTC Virtual Reality Academy

ECE Ph.D. Student Ayooluwa (“Ayo”) Ajiboye Recognized at APEC 2024

Balachandran, Cameron, Yu Receive 2024 MURI Award

UMD, Booz Allen Hamilton Announce Collaboration with MMEC

New Research Suggests Gossip “Not Always a Bad Thing”

Ingestible Capsule Technology Research on Front Cover of Journal

Governor’s Cabinet Meeting Features Peek into Southern Maryland Research and Collaboration

Celebrating the Impact of Black Maryland Engineers and Leaders

Six Clark School Faculty Receive 2024 DURIP Awards

 
 
Back to top  
Home Clark School Home UMD Home