The Rotman Research Institute is a premier international centre for the study of human brain function. The institute is home to world-renowned researchers encompassing a broad spectrum of expertise who provide pioneering insights into the mechanisms of memory and executive (frontal lobe) functions of the brain, both in normal aging and in the presence of neurological and psychiatric diseases. Expertise in diagnostics, rehabilitation and state-of-the-art neuroimaging techniques has ensured that the RRI maintains excellence in advancing care and the quality of life.
Rotman News
Building a virtual brain
In a chilly room that once housed patients at Baycrest's Rotman Research Institute in Toronto, Randy McIntosh and his colleagues are trying to build a brain.
New research suggests older brains have a hard time tuning out distractions when concentrating on a single task
In a study that has received international media attention, Dale Stevens, Cheryl Grady, Lynn Hasher and Kimberly Chiew have provided further evidence that the aging brain has difficulty filtering out irrelevant information in the environment when compared to younger brains. The study reported in the Toronto Star is the first to look at what is going on in the brain (using fMRI) when people try to form a memory and fail.
Rotman study investigates why patients with traumatic brain injury complain of "mental fatigue," even when they make good recoveries
Former Rotman graduate student Dr. Gary Turner, with Rotman senior scientist Dr. Brian Levine, discovered that patients recovered from significant traumatic brain injuries show altered neural responses during the performance of complex tasks. Even though the patients were free of large brain lesions and and could perform the tasks at a level similar to non-injured adults, they showed increased brain activation in the frontal regions, suggesting that their brains work harder to achieve the same results.
