The department deals with research into brain mechanisms of psychological processes, behavior and movement. We investigate the neurobiological mechanisms of cognitive functions, emotions and motor skills, their role in mental health and disruption in mental disorders and neuropsychiatric diseases. Our research also focuses on the processes of maintaining the balance of upright posture and walking in humans and their disruption in aging and neurodegenerative diseases.
Doctoral studies
OBN offers the possibility of doctoral studies in several programmes, particularly in the interdisciplinary program Medical Neurosciences. If you are interested or want to learn more, do not hesitate to contact the head or other OBN staff.
Open PhD positions
(for the academic year 2025/2026)
| Topic | The neural basis of semantic cognition |
|---|---|
| Supervisor | Igor Riečanský |
| Programme | Medical neurosciences |
| Faculty | Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University in Bratislava |
| Study format | Internal |
| Annotation | Semantic cognition refers to the encoding, organization, and retrieval of conceptual representations and general knowledge about the world. Semantic memory is fundamental for human everyday activity and adaptive behavior as it supports perception, language, and thinking. This doctoral project will focus on the study of the brain mechanisms, which underlie semantic cognitive functions. The aim is to identify the dynamics of brain activity using EEG related to automatic and controlled semantic retrieval as well as to detect and characterize the changes of brain activity due to noninvasive brain stimulation, which affects semantic functions. |
| Topic | Postural regulation and its changes due to motor and anxiety disorders |
|---|---|
| Supervisor | Diana Bzdúšková |
| Programme | Medical neurosciences |
| Faculty | Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University in Bratislava |
| Study format | Internal |
| Annotation | In everyday life, we are constantly confronted with numerous situations in which individual sensory systems provide conflicting or ambiguous information and with new postural tasks to which we must adapt. Sensory integration plays a key role and the research of its mechanisms is very important for the assessment of balance control, especially in populations that are more prone to the risk of falling, i.e., in the elderly and patients with motor, cognitive or anxiety deficits. Appropriate motor or sensory intervention can help these vulnerable groups to improve impaired balance and thus prevent falls, subsequent injuries and loss of independence. The aim of the PhD. thesis will be to characterize the mechanisms of sensory regulation in maintaining balance under various sensory conditions, with the option to focus on motor or cognitive disorders, and to define indicators of postural stability that most sensitively reflect changes in balance regulation. |
