Matt Sherwood

My research interests include investigating brain function and neurological disorders using novel neuroimaging techniques including functional MRI, pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling, diffusion tensor imaging and magnetic resonance spectroscopy. In my past work, I have investigated working memory through real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging neurofeedback training (fMRI-NFT). In this work, we found that self-neuromodulation of the left Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex increased significantly across the five training days. Further, we found that working memory, examined before and after training, improved significantly more in the group receiving real-time neurofeedback than a behavior-only control group. This body of work provides the foundation for new and innovative techniques to study and augment cognition in healthy individuals. In another study, I investigated neural correlates of learning a visual object recognition task in healthy individuals. This work, a Phase II Office of Naval Research Small Business Innovation Research project, included collaborations with industry partners (engineers, computer scientists, data miners) and university faculty. Using MRI, we successfully identified anatomical regions responding to a realistic task. From this data, a cognitive model was developed and implemented to aid rapid training of said task. In a third project, I investigated the neural correlates of mirror imaging bias. We found that activity in the Inferior Frontal Gyrus (IFG) is associated with mirror imaging. Furthermore, N-acetyl aspartate (NAA) to Creatine (Cr) and NAA to Choline (Cho) ratios measured from MR Spectroscopy can reliably predict individual susceptibility to mirror imaging. Other projects involve developing innovative treatments for tinnitus based upon fMRI-NFT, using neuroimaging techniques to uncover cognitive effects of transcranial direct current stimulation, and to study the hemodynamic response of the brain to hypoxic conditions.