NIKOLA VALCHEV Position:
Ph.D. Student
phone: +31 (0)50 3638794
Supervisors:
Prof. Dr. Chr. Keysers
Dr. Valeria Gazzola
Prof. Alessio Avenanti
Research Project:
Functional connectivity in the human mirror neuron system. Combined TMS and fMRI research
Background:
I’m Bulgarian, lived in Sofia, Lisbon, Paris, Madrid and finally Groningen. I studied Psychology at the University of Lisbon and I did my major in Social Cognition under the supervision of Prof. Leonel Garcia-Marques. I started my studies on Neurosciences in Groningen, following the BCN research-master. My minor thesis was aimed at investigating the individual differences in working memory capacity using the Attentional Blink task and the research was conducted under the supervision of Dr. Sander Martens. Later on I did my major project on the modulation of the human Mirror Neuron System by the perceived fairness of the actor executing the actions. This was my introduction to the fMRI research under the supervision of Dr. Jo Etzel and Prof. Christian Keysers.
Research Interests:
My interests are related to the cognitive neurosciences and integration of computational methods of analysis and neuroimaging. My current project aims at investigating the functional connectivity between those brain areas identified as
part of the human Mirror Neuron System. To do so two techniques used in the Cognitive Neurosciences are being applied:
Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) is applied in order to disrupt the functioning of the targeted brain area
and Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) is apllied to access the activations in the brain while the subject is
observing and executing actions.
Publications:
Martens, S., & Valchev, N. (in press). Individual differences in the attentional blink: The important role of irrelevant information. Experimental Psychology.
Dorscheidt, T., Valchev, N. , Zoelen T. & Nerbonne, J., (2007) Minimal Generalization of Dutch Diminutives In Petya Osenova et al. (ed.) Proceedings of the RANLP Workshop on Computational Phonology Workshop at the conference Recent Advances in Natural Language Phonology Borovetz, 2007. pp. 21-32.
Garcia-Marques, L. & Valchev, N. (2006). “O sonho (DREAM) comanda a memória: Listas de palavras associadas para estudos de falsas memórias”, (The sleep (DREAM) controls the memory. Lists of words to be used in the study of false memories) Laboratório de Psicologia.
Ferreira, M., Morais, A., Ferreira, D. & Valchev, N. (2006). “Frases implicativas de traços com continuações situacionais e neutras para o estudo das Inferências Espontâneas de Traços” (Trait implicative sentences with situational and neutral continuations for the study of Spontaneous Trait Inferences), Laboratório de Psicologia.
Posters:
Valchev, N. & Martens, S. (2008).Individual Differences in the Attentional Blink: The Important Role of Irrelevant Information, Poster presented at the XXIX International Congress of Psychology, 20-25 July, Berlin Germany.
Valchev, N.,Etzel, J., Gazzola, V, & Keysers, Ch. (2008). Modulating the Activity of Mirror Neurons. 7th Dutch Endo-Neuro-Psycho Meeting, Doorwerth, 4-6 June.
Dorscheidt, T., Valchev, N., & van Zoelen, T. (2006). Minimal Generalization Learner and Dutch Diminutives. Workshop on Computing and Phonology, December 4, University of Groningen, The Netherlands.
