Nathan Weisz

Nathan Weisz is a research associate (temporary position “ricercatore a tempo determinato”) at CIMeC. He works in the MEG/EEG Lab in Mattarello.

Research interests

Since his PhD work on tinnitus he has been amazed by the fact that from intrinsic ongoing brain activity conscious perceptions can emerge. This clinical fact is in line with accumulating evidence in neuroscience, indicating that spontaneous brain activity cannot be considered as irrelevant noise (that needs to be averaged away) but rather appears to be highly structured constituting the current state of the system. These states imply distinct behavioural predispositions that fluctuate on a moment-to-moment basis. The main focus of his team is to study the local as well as interareal brain synchronization patterns underlying perceptual variability. For this purpose they will mainly use MEG along with state-of-the-art source imaging techniques. A special focus within this research programme is to test whether brain activation / connectivity patterns prior to stimulation onset / perceptual switches can correctly predict upcoming perceptions on a single-trial level. This information will then be used to conduct “online” MEG experiments, in which relevant brain activity patterns will be detected in “real-time” and used for controlling behavioural experiments.

Reserach projects

• Brain-state dependent perception and real-time MEG/EEG (ERC-funded)
• Oscillatory processes underlying phantom percepts (DFG-funded; “Emmy-Noether Programme”)
• Relation between oscillatory brain activity and tinnitus (DFG-funded)
• Neurophysiological impact of rTMS (DFG + TRI-funded)
• Neurophysiological impact of CI in unilateral deafness (pilot study in collaboration with USZ)
• Abnormal oscillatory activity in schizophrenia (collaborator in a DFG-funded project of Prof. Rockstroh / Dr. Popov [PIs] at University of Konstanz)
• Application of graph theoretical tools to resting-state MEG data

Collaborations

• Dr. Olivier Bertrand (INSERM 1028, Lyon)
• Dr. Sarang Dalal (University of Konstanz)
• Prof. Joachim Gross (University of Glasgow)
• Dr. Thomas Grunwald (EPI, Zürich)
• Dr. Tobias Kleinjung (USZ, Zürich)
• Dr. Jonas Obleser (MPI CBS, Leipzig)
• Dr. Tzvetan Popov (University of Konstanz)
• Dr. Brigitte Rockstroh (University of Konstanz)
• Dr. Sabine Schlittmeier (University of Eichstätt)
• Dr. Gregor Thut (University of Glasgow)
• TRI work group “Brain Stimulation”: Dr. Berthold Langguth (University of Regensburg), Dr. Dirk de Ridder (University of Antwerp), Dr. Arnaud Norena (CNRS 6149, Marseille), Dr. Marco Congedo (Gipsa Lab, Grenoble)

Publications (last three years)

2012
Schlee, W., Leirer, V., Kolassa, I., Weisz, N., & Elbert, T. (in press). Age-related changes in neural functional connectivity and its behavioral relevance. BMC Neuroscience.

2011
Hartmann, T., Schulz, H., & Weisz, N.. Probing of Brain States in Real-Time: Introducing the Console Environment. Frontiers Psychology, 2:36.

Hartmann, T., Schlee, W., & Weisz, N.. It's only in your head: Expectancy of aversive auditory stimulation modulates stimulus-induced auditory cortical alpha desynchronization. NeuroImage, 60, 170-178.

Jordanov, T., Popov, T., Weisz, N., Elbert, T., Paul-Jordanov, I., & Rockstroh, B.. Reduced mismatch negativity and increased signal variability in schizophrenia. Clinical Neurophysiology, 122, 2365-74.

Keil, J., Müller, N., Ihssen, N., & Weisz, N. (in press). On the Variability of the McGurck Effect: Audiovisual Integration depends on pre-stimulus Brain States. Cerebral Cortex, 22, 221-31.

Müller, N. & Weisz, N. (in press). Lateralised auditory cortical alpha band activity and interregional connectivity pattern reflect anticipation of target sounds. Cerebral Cortex.

Obleser, J. & Weisz, N.. Alpha suppression predicts intelligibility of speech and its spectro-temporal detail. Submitted to Cerebral Cortex.

Ortmann, M., Müller, N., Schlee, W., & Weisz, N. (2011). Rapid increases of gamma power in the auditory cortex following noise trauma in humans. European Journal of Neuroscience, 33, 568-75.

Popov, T, Jordanov, T., Weisz, N., Elbert, T., Rockstroh, B., & Miller, G.. (2011). Evoked and induced oscillatory activity contributes to abnormal auditory sensory gating in schizophrenia. NeuroImage, 56:207-14.

Schecklmann, M., Volberg, G., Frank, G., Hadersdorfer, J., Steffens, T., Weisz, N., Landgrebe, M., Hajak, G., Greenlee, M.W., Classen, J., & Langguth, B. (2011). Paired associative stimulation of the auditory system: a proof-of-principle study. PLoS One, 6:e27008.

Schlittmeier, S., Weisz, N., & Bertrand, O. (2011). What Characterizes Changing-State Speech in Affecting Short-Term Memory? An EEG Study on the Irrelevant Sound Effect. Psychophysiology, 48, 1669-80.

Weisz, N., Lecaignard, F., Müller, N., & Bertrand, O. (in press). The modulatory influence of a predictive cue on the auditory Steady-State Response. Human Brain Mapping, doi: 10.1002/hbm.21294.

Weisz, N, Hartmann, T., Müller, N., Lorenz, I., & Obleser, J. (2011). Alpha Rhythms in Audition: Cognitive and Clinical Perspectives. Frontiers in Perception Science, 2:73.

2010
Hartmann, T., Weisz, N., Schlee, W., & Elbert, T.. Investigating the neural correlates of percepts using magnetencepholography (MEG) and magnetic source imaging (MSI). In Pöppel, E., Balazs, G., & Kraft, E. (eds.). Neuronal Correlates of Thinking. Springer.

Hartmann, T., Lorenz, I., & Weisz, N.. Neurobiofeedback. In Møller, A., Kleinjung, T., Langguth, B., & De Ridder, D. (eds.). Tinnitus: Diagnosis and Treatment. Humana-Springer.

Keil, J., Weisz, N., Paul-Jordanov, I., & Wienbruch, C. (2010). Localization of the magnetic equivalent of the ERN and induced oscillatory brain activity. NeuroImage, 51, 404-11.

Schlee, W., Lorenz, I., Hartmann, T., Müller, N., Schulz, H., & Weisz, N.. A global model for the perception of tinnitus. In Møller, A., Kleinjung, T., Langguth, B., & De Ridder, D. (eds.). Tinnitus: Diagnosis and Treatment. Humana-Springer.

Lorenz, I., Müller, N., Schlee, W., Langguth, B., & Weisz, N. (2010). Short-term Effects of Single rTMS Sessions on Auditory Evoked Activity in Chronic Tinnitus Patients. Journal of Neurophysiology, 104, 1497-505.

Moazami-Gourdazi, M., Michels, L., Weisz, N., & Jeanmonod, D. (2010). Temporo-insular enhancement of EEG low and high frequencies in patients with chronic tinnitus. BMC Neuroscience, 11:40.
Weisz, N. & Langguth, B. (2010). Kortikale Plastizität und Veränderungen bei Tinnitus - Therapeutische Optionen. HNO, 58, 983-9.

2009
Foxton, J.M., Weisz, N., Bauchet-Lecaignard, F., Delpuech, C., & Bertrand, O. (2009). Individual differences in pitch direction determination: a MEG study. NeuroImage, 45, 1305-13.

Lorenz, I., Müller, N., Schlee, W., Hartmann, T., & Weisz, N. (2009). Loss of alpha inhibition is related to abnormal gamma synchronization - a prerequisite for the generation of tinnitus? Neuroscience Letters, 453, 225-8.

Müller, N., Schlee, W., Hartmann, T., Lorenz, I., & Weisz, N. (2009). Top-down modulation of the auditory steady-state response in a task-switch paradigm. Front Hum Neurosci, 3:1.

Schlee, W., Weisz, N., Hartmann, T., & Elbert, T. (2009). Abnormal resting-state cortical coupling in chronic Tinnitus. BMC Neuroscience, 10:11.

Schlee, W., Müller, N., Hartmann, T., Keil, J., Lorenz, I., & Weisz, N., (2009). Mapping cortical hubs in tinnitus. BMC Biology, 7:80.

2008
Kahlbrock, N. & Weisz, N. (2008). Transient reduction of tinnitus intensity is marked by concomitant reductions of delta band power. BMC Biology, 16, 6:4.

Schlee, W., Hartmann, T., Dohrmann, K., Lorenz, I., Müller, N., & Weisz, N.. Assessment and modification of the tinnitus-related cortical network. Seminars in Hearing, 29, 270-287.

Schlee, W., Weisz, N., Bertrand, O., Dohrmann, K., Hartmann, T., & Elbert, T. (2008). Using auditory steady-state responses to outline the functional connectivity in the tinnitus brain. PLoS ONE, 3: e3720.