Faculty-in-charge
PhD Scholars
Vasudha Hande H
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Pursuing PhD in Clinical Psychology at NIMHANS since: July 2017
Topic of Research : Music perception, phonological skills, cognitive functions in children with specific learning disability and typically developing children with and without musical training Children with SLD are known to have deficits in phonological processing and other cognitive functions like attention, working memory, visuo-spatial perception and long term memory. Processing of certain aspects of music like rhythm is similar to the processing of language. Music perception is an important pre academic skill that is known to predict children’s reading skills. The current study aims to assess music perception, phonological skills and cognitive functions in children with SLD and compare it with typically developing children. Study also aims to understand the benefits of music training on language processing by testing the same skills in children who are trained in music. |
Prathima A.R.
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Pursuing PhD in Clinical Psychology at NIMHANS since: January 2020
Topic of Research: Development of music and rhythm based cognitive remediation program and its effectiveness in patients with mild-moderate Traumatic brain injury. Ms. Prathima A.R. is currently a PhD scholar and junior consultant in the Department of Clinical Psychology at National Institute of Mental health ad Neuroscience (NIMHANS), Bangalore. As a professional singer and a clinical psychology graduate herself, she was keenly interested in understanding how brain processes music and on how music can be used in treatment programs in patients with psychiatric and neurological conditions. She completed her M.Phil (2017-2019) in clinical psychology from NIMHANS. As part of her MPhil dissertation work she carried out a study exploring musical and neurocognitive deficits, emotion perception and social cognition in patients with mild-moderate depression. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Clinical Psychology since January 2020, under guidance of Dr. Shantala Hegde. Her current doctoral work is in the area of Traumatic brain Injury. Cognitive deficits such as deficits in attention, executive functions and memory play crucial role in functional and occupational recovery in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Patients with TBI can also develop comorbid psychiatric conditions such as depression and anxiety. Her PhD research work aims at developing music and rhythm based cognitive remediation program, targeting cognitive deficits in patients with mild-moderate TBI. This study has its implication in being able to develop and use alternative approaches in treatment of TBI. |
Topoti Baruah
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Senior Research Fellow since : February 2021
Pursuing PhD in Clinical Psychology at NIMHANS since: August 2021 Topics of Research:
Ms. Topoti Baruah joined NIMHANS on Feb, 2021 after completing her M.Phil in Clinical Psychology from LGBRIMH, Tezpur in November 2020. Her topic of MPhil dissertation was to study the memory deficit in persons with OCD and its impact on psychopathology. She did her graduation from Andhra University in Human Genetics, Biochemistry and Biotechnology, and completed her Master’s in Biotechnology from Gauhati University. Later she went on to pursue Masters in Psychology from Cotton University, Guwahati. She is trained in Indian Classical and other dance forms, currently she is working in the Music Cognition Laboratory, as a senior research fellow in the Wellcome Trust DBT India Alliance funded project. |
Vinayaka Yadav
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Pursuing PhD in Clinical Psychology at NIMHANS since: August 2021
Topic of Research: Neuropsychological profile and MRI correlates of multiple sclerosis – A follow up pre-post exploratory study Ms. Vinayaka Yadav joined NIMHANS in 2018 as MPhil Clinical Psychology scholar. As part of the MPhil dissertation she carried out the study to explore neurocognition, anxiety, depression and quality of life in patients with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) under the guidance of Dr. Shantala Hegde. Post her MPhil, she has also served in the institute as clinical psychologist and junior consultant, in the adult psychiatry unit. Consecutive to her joining for PhD in 2021, she is actively continuing to work in the area of RRMS and neuropsychology, under the guidance of Dr. Shantala Hegde. As MS is a significantly challenging neurodegenerative condition, deficits in neurocognition like attention, information processing, working memory are common and play crucial role in affecting the disease course and outcome with bearing on patient’s overall quality of life. Patients with MS can also commonly experience comorbid psychiatric conditions such as anxiety and depression. The PhD research aims to explore neuropsychological profile (neurocognition, mood and quality of life) and MRI correlates in patients with RRMS over one year follow up. |
Research Fellows
Sujas Bhardwaj
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Senior Research Fellow since: January 2021
Topics of Research : Medical Image and Signal Processing, Parkinsonism and related disorders, Epilepsy and Epileptogenesis, Music cognition and rhythm perception Sujas is a Doctoral Candidate with the Parkinson’s Disease & Movement Disorders Subspeciality Group at Department of Neurology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru. Main focus of his work as a PhD scholar was on understanding modulatory effect of single session of low frequency rTMS on spinocerebellar ataxia, which is a simultaneous EEG-fMRI study. He completed his M.Tech in Cognitive Neurosciences with honors from Centre for Converging Technologies, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur. After obtaining his Master’s degree, Sujas joined NIMHANS to explore the research possibilities in the field of neurological disorders in capacity of research fellow. As a young researcher he has been involved in various projects related to multimodal neuroimaging techniques such as EEG-fMRI, TMS-EEG, fMRI-DTI modelling, Motor neurophysiology etc. He has demonstrated his skillset in working in the area of mental health care research with relevant publications. He is currently working as a Senior Research Fellow in the Wellcome Trust DBT India Alliance funded project which examines the neural correlates of rhythm-based intervention in improving cognition in Parkinson’s disease. ResearchGate ; Google Scholar |
Lab Alumni
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Topic of Research : Cognition, Emotion perception, and Quality of life in Parkinson's Disease patients with and without psychosis using neuropsychological and electrophysiology methods. Non-motor symptoms among persons with Parkinson's Disease (pwPD) such as behavior problems e.g. psychotic symptoms, cognitive and emotion perception deficits affect individual's quality of life. Presence of psychotic symptoms in pwPD herald much worse cognitive disturbances and associated emotion perception deficits to identify their social environment. This study examined the nature of cognitive and emotion perception deficits in pwPD with and without psychosis using electrophysiological and neuropsychological methods.
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