Mormann Workgroup - Cognitive und Clinical Neurophysiology

Cognitive Neurophysiology

We are interested in the neurobiology of perception and memory. We explore neuronal behavior in the medial temporal lobe to understand how conscious percepts are transferred into episodic memory traces.

Clinical Neurophysiology

We investigate the pathophysiological mechanisms that lead to the occurrence of epileptic seizures. Our particular focus is on microscopic phenomena such as high frequency oscillations, microseizures, cellular and network behavior.

Methods:

• Single-neuron activity and local field potentials from micro-electrode recordings in humans
• Intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG)
• Sleep polysomnography and sleep stage scoring
• Intracranial electro-stimulation
• Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
• Structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI)
• Eye tracking
• Olfactometry
• Linear and nonlinear time series analysis

Staff:

• Thomas Reber, PhD (Visiting Professor from UniDistance Suisse)
• Doris Dijksterhuis (Postdoc)
• Marcel Bausch, MD (PhD student)
• Alana Darcher (PhD student)
• Gert Dehnen (PhD student)
• Adrian Gutierrez Gomez (PhD student)
• Katharina Karkowski (PhD student)
• Marcel Kehl (PhD student)
• Nora Krenn (PhD student)
• Esther Kutter (PhD student)
• Sina Mackay (PhD student)
• Yingjie Qin (PhD student)
• Bita Samimizad (PhD student)
• Ilona Vieten (PhD student)

Alumni:

• Dr. Stefanie Liebe (University of Tübingen)
• Dr. Simeon Knieling
• Dr. Johannes Niediek (University of Jerusalem)

Current Publications (selected):

• Kehl MS, Mackay S, Ohla K, Schneider M, Borger V, Surges R, Spehr M, Mormann F. Single-neuron representations of odors in the human brain. Nature 634:626-34 (2024)
• Kutter EF, Dehnen G, Borger V, Surges R, Nieder A#, Mormann F. Single-neuron representation of nonsymbolic and symbolic number zero in the human medial temporal lobe. Curr Biol 34:4794-802 (2024)
• Mackay S, Reber TP, Bausch M, Boström J, Elger CE, Mormann F. Concept and location neurons in the human brain provide the ‘what’ and ‘where’ in memory formation. Nat Commun 15:7926 (2024)
• Kutter EF, Dehnen G, Borger V, Surges R, Mormann F^#, Nieder A^#. Distinct neuronal representation of small and large numbers in the human medial temporal lobe. Nat Hum Behav 7:1998-2007 (2023)
• Staresina BP, Niediek J, Borger V, Surges R, Mormann F. How coupled slow oscillations, spindles and ripples coordinate neuronal processing and communication during human sleep. Nat Neurosci 26:1429-37 (2023)

Publications from the Mormann lab listed on Pubmed: here
Publications from the Mormann lab listed on Google Scholar: here

Funding/ Grants:

• Volkwagen Foundation (Lichtenberg-Program 86 507)
• German Research Council (DFG MO 930/4-2, SPP 2205, SPP 2411, SFB 1089)
• German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF 031L0197B)
• NRW Network Program iBehave

Collaborative Research Consortia/ Scientific Co-operations:

• Collaborative Research Programme "Synaptic Micronetworks in Health and Disease" (SFB1089)
• Priority Programme "Evolutionary Optimisation of Neuronal Processing" (SPP 2205)
• Priority Programme "Sensing LOOPS: Cortico-subcortical Interactions for Adaptive Sensing" (SPP 2411)
• NRW Network Program iBehave