University of Colorado at Boulder psychology Professor Marie Banich has been awarded a Fulbright Senior Research Scholar grant to collaborate with a group of university researchers in Italy on human brain research.
She will travel to the University of Verona during the 2007 spring semester. Banich is the director of CU-Boulder's Institute of Cognitive Science and studies the neural architecture of the human brain, focusing on how different regions in the brain work together allowing us to focus our attention.
"An important piece of this puzzle is not only understanding which parts of the brain are talking to each other, but also when they are talking," Banich said. "I will be working on time sequences with the Italian researchers."
Figuring out how and when different parts of the brain communicate to focus attention could help researchers unlock some of the mysteries of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, symptoms of which include extreme levels of inattention and impulsive hyperactive behavior, she said.
Banich joined the CU-Boulder psychology department as a professor in 2000. She previously was a faculty member at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
She is a member of several professional groups including the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, Organization for Human Brain Mapping and the International Society for Behavioral Neuroscience.
The Fulbright Scholar Program is sponsored by the Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State. Established in 1946 under legislation introduced by U.S. Sen. J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, the program's purpose is to build mutual understanding between the people of the United States and other countries. Recipients are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement and because they have demonstrated extraordinary leadership potential in their fields.
For more information on the Fulbright Scholar Program visit .