Laboratory Manager: Dr. Vahid Sheibani

Cognitive neuroscience is a subfield of neuroscience that shares many similarities with psychiatry and psychology. In fact, this branch of neuroscience studies the biological processes underlying human cognition, and one of its most important goals is to find the relationship between different brain structures and the brain's basic executive functions. These executive functions are components of higher cognitive processes such as logic, planning, and problem-solving ability. Understanding the biological mechanisms of cognition and the associated brain regions can help find therapeutic approaches in the management of neurological and neuropsychological disorders. From a neurobiological perspective, human studies rely mostly on non-invasive methods such as brain imaging, which can face limitations such as the number of samples studied, heterogeneity in the coordinates and size of the brain area affected, as well as behavioral heterogeneity and disease history among the subjects studied. Furthermore, it is almost impossible to find a causal relationship between specific neural activity and components of the behavior of interest in a study on humans. Therefore, animal studies that focus on finding the basic neural processes involved in behavior and cognition, as well as understanding the neural mechanisms underlying cognitive and behavioral disorders, can contribute to the emergence of effective therapeutic strategies in the treatment or prevention of diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and addiction in humans. One of the suitable animal models in this field is nonhuman primates, which have many similarities with humans in terms of genealogy. In particular, structural-organizational and functional similarities in the brain can be mentioned. In addition, the relatively advanced cognitive abilities in these animals have made them a suitable model of executive functions of the cognitive subtype associated with the prefrontal cortex.

Facilities available at the Cognitive Science Center of Kerman University of Medical Sciences (Primate Department):

1- Standard facilities for keeping monkeys, including an experienced person in animal care, regular and standard diet, individual cages, a special quarantine room for newly arrived animals, a special room for trained animals, and facilities for keeping them in the open air