 Professional Experience
Research FocusThe ability to maintain a sense of direction and location while moving about in the environment represents one of the most fundamental cognitive functions. Mammals rely on spatial cognitive processes for obtaining food and water, avoiding prey and finding mates. In humans, efficient spatial navigation is indispensable for finding our way in complex environments and returning to our car after a walk in the forest. As a consequence, when lesions to the brain impair navigational abilities, patients often experience devastating effects on their everyday lives, including a complete loss of independence. My research program is unified by an interest in how the human brain processes spatial information, how it forms enduring representations of complex environments and how this information is used to guide navigational behaviour. Given that this domain involves a large variety of cognitive operations, behavioural indicators and neural structures, I have adopted a multipronged methodological approach that encompasses behavioural experiments, functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Diffusion Tensor Imaging, multivariate pattern classification, interactive Virtual Reality, and eye movement recording. The guiding tenet of my work is that a precise understanding of the neural processes mediating navigational behaviour is contingent upon characterizing the component processes. Early neuroimaging studies often attempted to identify a ‘human navigation network’ with complex wayfinding paradigms, despite our lack of knowledge about many fundamental processes. By introducing novel paradigms to study spatial updating, path integration and navigational learning, I have begun to characterize the cortical architecture that supports processes fundamental to spatial navigation. Findings from these experiments have not only supported previous work on the formation of cognitive maps, but they also have important implications for theoretical models of spatial learning. Moreover, I have demonstrated the impact of strategic effects on small- and large-scale spatial processes. These studies highlight the importance of employing experimental paradigms that provide either a tight strategy control or unequivocal behavioural indicators. And finally, I have started to elucidate neuroanatomical correlates of interindividual performance differences that are especially pronounced in the domain of spatial cognition. Collaborations
Selected PublicationsWolbers T, Hegarty M, Büchel C,Loomis JM (2008) Spatial updating: how the brain keeps track of changing object locations during observer motion. Nature Neuroscience 11(10): 1223-1230 Wolbers T, Wiener JM, Mallot HA, Büchel C (2007) Differential recruitment of the hippocampus, medial prefrontal cortex and the human motion complex during path integration in humans. Journal of Neuroscience 27(35): 9408-9416 Wolbers T, Schoell E, Büchel C (2006) The predictive value of white matter organization in posterior parietal cortex for spatial visualization ability. NeuroImage 32(3): 1450-1455 Wolbers T, Schoell E, Verleger R, Kraft S, McNamara A, Jaskowski P, Büchel C (2006) Changes in connectivity profiles as a mechanism for strategic control over interfering subliminal information. Cerebral Cortex 16: 857-864 Wolbers T, Büchel C (2005) Dissociable retrosplenial and hippocampal contributions to successful formation of survey representations. Journal of Neuroscience 25(13): 3333-3340 Wolbers T, Weiller C, Büchel C (2004) Neural foundations of emerging route knowledge in complex spatial environments. Cognitive Brain Research 21: 401-411 Wolbers T, Weiller C, Büchel C (2003) Contralateral coding of imagined body parts in the superior parietal lobe. Cerebral Cortex 13: 392-399 Links |
