Across religions, philosophies and scientific disciplines, man has sought to formulate theories of the human mind for millennia. Over the past century, technological and methodological innovations have driven the study of molecular, cellular, metabolic, haemodynamic and structural signatures of brain function at rest and during sensory and cognitive processing, as well as in disease. Meanwhile, powerful methods and influential theories of human cognition have been established within psychology, philosophy, language and sociology. These successful theories and methods can be broadly ascribed to ‘top-down’ cognition research or ‘bottom-up’ brain research. While translations among disciplines and complementary approaches are challenging, we believe that research pursuing such triangulations stands to benefit substantially in terms of convergence of ideas, synergies in research, and even cures for diseases of the human brain and disorders of the human mind.

The project will addres central scientific problems within culture, music, language and memory. Combining this knowledge with research on novel technologies to examine the living brain, and on the most devastating neurological and psychiatric disorders, we hope to create new means to preserve and recover function and quality-of-life in relation to diseases accounting for 35% of the disease burden in Denmark. MINDLab will also develop new forms of teaching and sharing of knowledge, exploiting crucial synergies across traditional disciplines.

The projects are aligned along five themes:

Stream	Coordinator
New NeuroImaging Methods	Jensen, Eva B. Vedel
Cognition and Culture	Armin W. Geertz
Cognition and Memory	Berntsen, Dorthe
Cognition, Language and Music	Vikner, Sten
Integrative Neuroscience	Jensen, Troels Staehelin

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