ELSC congratulates Dr. Indrajeet for receiving the Shimon Peres Postdoctoral Fellowship for 2022.
Indrajeet earned his doctorate in the field of Cognitive Science from the Centre of Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences (CBCS), University of Allahabad, Prayagraj, India. At ELSC, he is a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Prof. Mati Joshua. Indrajeet has a strong background in cognition and the computational modeling of behavior. He utilizes his deep understanding of behavior and strong theoretical and cognitive expertise in recording neural activity from behaving monkeys’ brain.
The goal of Indrajeet’s project is to study the contribution of the basal ganglia to inhibitory control of unwanted movements, which is a central problem in many movement-related disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and Parkinson’s disease. Indrajeet is aptly using a behavioral paradigm that probes inhibitory control of eye movements. Indrajeet has trained monkeys on this paradigm, and has recorded neural data. The preliminary analysis suggests that many neurons in the basal ganglia respond specifically to inhibition of unwanted movements. Serendipitously, Indrajeet found that certain areas in the basal ganglia, which were not thought to contribute to the inhibitory control of eye movements, contain strong inhibition related activities. Thus, in a very short time, Indrajeet has both established new paradigms, used them widely to probe brain activity and gain new insights into how the brain controls the inhibition of movements.
The prestigious Shimon Peres Postdoctoral Fellowship was established through a gift from Mrs. Lily Safra.
