I aim to understand neural plasticity at system’s level to be able to modulate it. I believe that plasticity is the normally ongoing state of the nervous system and a coherent account of any motor, sensory or cognitive theory and neural system has to contemplate the ongoing changes that occur in the brain. Plasticity is an integral property of the brain and the obligatory consequence of each sensory input, motor act, association, reward signal, action plan, or awareness. Plasticity at the neural level does not speak to the question of behavioral change and certainly does not imply necessarily functional recovery or even beneficial change. In this framework, notions such as psychological processes as distinct from organic-based functions or dysfunctions cease to be informative. Behavior will lead to changes in brain circuitry (just as changes in brain circuitry modify behavior), hence establishing organic symbiosis between learned attitudes, dispositions, or thinking styles and functional brain circuits. I seek to identify rules that are invariant across neural systems and domains. The challenge is to learn enough about the mechanisms of plasticity in order to manipulate them, suppressing some changes and enhancing others, to gain a clinical benefit and behavioral advantage for a given individual.
Pascual-Leone A, Grafman J, Hallett M. Modulation of cortical motor output maps during the development of implicit and explicit knowledge. Science, 263:1287-1289 (1994).
Pascual-Leone A, Rubio B, Pallardó F, Catalá MD Rapid-rate transcranial magnetic stimulation of left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in drug-resistant depression. Lancet 348: 233-237 (1996).
Kosslyn SM, Pascual-Leone A, Felician O, Camposano S, Keenan JP, Thompson WL, Ganis G, Sukel KE, Alpert NM The role of area 17 in visual imagery: convergent evidence from PET and rTMS Science 284(5411):167-170 (1999)
Pascual-Leone A, Walsh V Backprojections from the motion (MT /V5) to the primary (V1) visual area are fast and necessary for visual awareness. Science 292: 510-512 (2001)
Pascual-Leone A, Amedi A, Fregni F, Merabet L. The plastic human brain cortex. Ann Rev Neurosci 28: 377-401 (2005)
External Recognition:
1979-1985 DAAD Scholar (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst)
1985 Honors in German Medical Board Exams parts 1-3 (Ærztliche Prüfung)
Sobresaliente cum laude in Spanish Master‘s Degree in Medicine
Summa cum laude in German PhD in Neurophysiology
1992 Travel Fellowship Award from the American Neurological Association
1993 Fellowship Award, International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology
Contrato de Reincorporación a España de Doctores y Tecnólogos - Award from the Spanish Goverment for the Return to Spain
1994 Decade of the Brain Award in Movement Disorders, Soc. Española Neurología
Decade of the Brain Award in Parkinson’s Disease, Soc. Española Neurología
RAMóN Y CAJAL Award for Research in Neuroscience, Spain
1995 IV Annual Research Award - Asociación de Parkinson España
1996 “Importante”, Asociación Prensa Valenciana, Valencia, Spain
1997 Milton Foundation Award
Stanley Vada Foundation Award
1998 Elected Member, American Neurological Association
Independent Investigator Award, National Alliance for Research in Schizophrenia and Depression
1999 International Research Prize, Organización Nacional de Ciegos de España (Spanish Organization for the Blind)
2000 Daniel D. Federman Outstanding Clinical Educator, Harvard Medical School (Boston)
2001 Norman Geschwind Prize in Behavioral Neurology, American Academy of Neurology
2004 Elected to Council, Organzation of Human Brain Mapping
2004 Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award from The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany
2005 Brenda Milner Viting Professor and Lecturer in Cogntive Neuroscience, Montreal Neurological Institute
Major Collaborative Activities:
Ongoing collaborations with Stephen Kosslyn (studies on the neural basis of visual imagery) and Alfonso Caramazza (correlates of neural organziation of verb representations) at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences; Mark Moos at Boston University (studies on the effects of cortical stimulation in a cat model of neglect); Margaret Naeser (studies on recovery from aphasia); Nancy Kanwisher at MIT (visual cortex plasticity in macular degeneration); Joseph Rizzo at Mass Eye & Ear (retinal visual prosthesis and brian plasticity)
