• IP: Francisco B Ortega
• Contact: --LOGIN--8e183381d73b022643585420e04ab5a6ugr[dot]es

The PROFITH research group leads the Visiting Scholar programme thanks to Dr. Francisco B. Ortega (PI and receiving group) and Dr. Charles Hillman (Northeastern University, Visiting Scholar) under the project “Cognition and structural and functional brain development: role of physical exercise”.

The Visiting Scholar also extends its main network to: Prof. Arthur F. Kramer (Northeastern University), Dr. Kirk Erickson (University of Pittsburgh), Dr. Matthew Pontifex (Michigan State University) and Dra. Laura Chaddock-Heyman (University of Illinois). .

The brain is one of the most complex and unknown organs of the human body. In fact, understanding the structure and functionality of the brain has been considered one of the main challenges of the 21st century. New advances in neuroimaging and neuroelectric techniques provide a unique opportunity to continue exploring and understanding how cognitive and cerebral function can be stimulated by environmental factors, such as physical exercise. The group of Dr. Charles Hillman (Visiting Scholar) and collaborators has made important advances in young population, relating the influence of physical activity and physical fitness on cognition, as well as the structure and functioning of the brain.

Therefore, the objective of the Visiting Scholar programme with Dr. Hillman and his research group is to establish a fruitful, productive and lasting collaboration between both teams, using the present programme to strengthen the pillars of this collaboration. The benefits of this collaboration are evident, considering that (i) Dr. Hillman is the world leader in the line of physical exercise, cognition and brain in young people (ii) Dr. Ortega leads the projects called ActiveBrains and SmarterMove focused on examining the effects of an exercise program on brain structure and function, cognitive, academic performance and mental health in children with overweight / obesity as well as analyse the cognition and brain data from a chronobiological and molecular biology perspective.

On-going.

The Visiting Scholar programme was funded by Plan Propio de Investigación y Transferencia 2017 of University of Granada.

The publications of the Visiting Scholar programme are now available at ActiveBrains website.

Note: The Visiting Scholar (Dr. Charles Hillman, Northeastern University) extends its main network to: Prof. Arthur F. Kramer (Northeastern University), Dr. Kirk Erickson (University of Pittsburgh), Dr. Matthew Pontifex (Michigan State University) and Dra. Laura Chaddock-Heyman (University of Illinois).