ULB research| Personal data | Research themes | Ongoing teaching | Publications |
CEBOLLA ALVAREZ Ana Maria
Units
Laboratory of Neurophysiology and Movement Biomechanics
Person in charge of the Unit : Oui
In an open space at the Faculty of Motor Sciences, the LNMB (Laboratory of Neurophysiology and Movement Biomechanics) embraces searchers with different backgrounds encouraging interactions under common propositions: “Movement is inescapable in understanding the human essence of sensorimotor, cognition, emotion, and social communication processes. Oscillatory brain activity is their crucial mechanism.” Links : http://www.brainsociety.eu Fonds Leibu
ULB Interdisciplinary Research Institute for Sports
U-IRIS is intended to bring together research skills existing at ULB in the fields of sports and physical activity in order to stimulate collaboration and interdisciplinary research. The research carried out within U-IRIS could be the basis of evidence-based advice in various fields of sport and physical activity. ULB and each of U-IRIS partner groups, as well as their existing activities, platforms, infrastructures and collaborations, will gain in visibility, both internally and externally in a promising and rapidly evolving field. The research carried out by U-IRIS is designed to be both fundamental and applied. It is developed around five major axes: - clinics / sports medicine - high level sports / performance - rehabilitation / handicap and sports - sports and society (including education through sports) - prevention / public health / nutrition. The groups participating in U-IRIS represent the Faculties of Philosophy and Social Sciences, Medicine, Psychology and Educational Sciences, Motor Sciences, the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, the School of Public Health, the Research Department, ULB-Sports and the Erasme Academic Hospital.
Projetcs
This doctoral thesis is an interdisciplinary project, combining concepts and methods from the fields of psychology, psycholinguistics, neuroscience, and motor skills sciences. The objective is investigating the role of alpha wave oscillations (8-12Hz), measured via electroencephalography (EEG), during a ThinkNothink task (Anderson and Green, 2001). The ThinkNothink paradigm is a cognitive adaptation of the well-known Go-NoGo task that allows to measure response inhibition. Some of the main hypotheses are: 1) Stronger event-related alpha synchronization (ERS) in the Nothink condition, compared to the Think condition in participants with low psychotic traits. This would be interpreted as a sign of active inhibition of the suppressed stimuli. 2) Participants with high psychotic traits will not manifest such stronger alpha ERS. For them, the Nothink instruction will be equivalent to a Think instruction. 3) This distinction between participants with low psychotic traits and participants with high psychotic traits will be even more pronounced within the phonologically linked stimulus category. This would be explained as a sign of predominant System 1 (associative) processes and a deficit of System 2 (inhibitory) processes (Kahneman, 2011). 4) Participants with high psychotic traits will show no significant difference in the number of correctly recalled word pairs between the two experimental conditions, consistent with the expected EEG results described above. This distinction will be even more salient in the phonologically linked stimulus category. Collaboration : Cotutelle Prof. Ariane Bazan & Prof. Ana Maria Cebolla
Brain EEG dynamics during spatial navigation
The goal is to investigate the EEG dynamical patterns during active locomotion (using the “Virtual City Locomotion Maze” test developed by Alain Berthoz and his team, Collège de France) and the related abilities such as planning, replanning, visuo-spatial working memory, and inhibition control and to explore the links between such EEG dynamical patterns and behavioral indices (Castilla et al., 2021). Collaboration : Prof. Alain Berthoz
Perception of the physical effort: neurophysiological and metabolic signals crossover.
The main goal of this doctoral thesis is the comprehension of the limiting factors of the physical exercise by investigating both the neurophysiological signals (EEG and cerebral oxygenation) and metabolic signals (VO2max, ventilatory threshold) and their evolution over training. Collaboration : Iraj hashemi (PhD candidate), Prof. Véronique Billat, Prof. Guy Cheron
Study of the neurophysiological markers of performance in high level sportsmen and sportswomen, by the combined analysis of 3D movements of the whole body, eye movements, muscle signals and brain waves during their specific gestures in both team, and individual sports as during previous collaborations with the Red Lions (Belgian national team of hockey) and the Tornados (relay team of the Belgian national athletics team). We are currently interested in Taekwondo martial art. Collaboration : Fondation Cerveau & Société
Effects of exercise and training on heart rate in humans: new insights with the electroencephalogram signal approach. The body is a whole that works together to achieve a goal (moving, jumping, etc.). To understand all the interactions and effects that exercise can have on it, it is necessary to study it as a whole phenomenon. In recent years, studies have shown that heart rate cannot stand alone and needs to be analysed in conjunction with other parameters (respiratory, locomotor, etc.). It is now appropriate to investigate the interactions between cardiorespiratory parameters and the brain - the seat of regulation of other body systems - through the study of neurophysiological signals (electroencephalogram and cerebral oxygenation). The objectives of this doctoral thesis are described as follows: 1. To characterise the interaction between the plateau thresholds of stroke volume (SV) and heart rate deflection with electroencephalogram signals (EEG) 2. Characterise the evolution of heart rate (HR) during the RabiT test and a marathon in relation to step and breathing rates 3. Characterise the evolution of HR over a whole season in humans and racehorses 4. To study the impact of VES on the variation of VO2max after training Collaboration : Luc POINSARD (PhD candidate), Prof. Guy Cheron
Brain function on astronauts on board the International Space Station.
The LNMB has previously shown that brain function and brain states of astronauts onboard the International Space Station can be non-invasively approached through EEG oscillations (Neurocog and Neurospat ESA missions). Microgravity offers an environment where cognitive-affective and sensorimotor functions are continuously challenged. Our purpose is to characterize the influence of weightlessness on the dynamic functional re-organization of the brain.
