Research

Nature of plasticity in somatosensory cortex and its role in motor learning and memory consolidation

Somatosensory areas might play a role in motor memory retention in at least two different ways. They may be involved in storing newly learned sensory states that guide subsequent movements. Another possibility is that posterior somatosensory cortex may be related to its involvement in the efferent control of movement. Plasticity in the somatosensory cortex might be driven by motor related changes and storage of these changes is necessary for memory consolidation. Our aim is to provide robust evidence for efferent control of movement in posterior somatosensory cortex in humans. Next, we will assess the basis of plasticity in posterior somatosensory cortex during motor learning through measuring changes in cortical excitability. Here we test the idea that this area of somatosensory cortex is involved in the efferent control of movement by evaluating changes to motor evoked potentials (MEPs) over the course of human motor learning.

Formulating Meaning Relations for the Computational Implementation of Natural Language Understanding

In this work, the aim has been to develop a formalism of meaning relations for the re-formulation of Alan Turing’s Turing Test. The implementation of meaning relations in machines is thus supposed to provide a characterization of a minimal form of ‘understanding’ that can admit of deductions and also abductions to a certain degree.

Unifying Principles of Cognition and Emotion for Neural Network Implementation

Current research has highlighted the need to develop ways of uniting representations, structures and processes underlying cognition and emotion as they are often thought to be independent and separate cognitive domains. The study at hand offers a formalization for unifying principles of cognition and emotion mediated by linguistic representations that can be easily implemented in neural networks.

The Limits and Challenges in Unifying Language with Neurobiology

The problem of how human language relates to the human brain is deep enough. Mainstream thinking in linguistic and cognitive sciences supports the possibility of integration of language and linguistic cognition with brain structures. Our work examines this view in depth and shows that this may be plausible in certain limited contexts but flawed in most others.research uncovered the limits and challenges of integration of human language with neurobiological structures.

Role of motor and sensory areas in short and long-term motor learning consolidation

Like other forms of memory, motor memories are thought to exist initially in a labile form (reflecting short-term or immediate storage). With time and sleep, motor memory is consolidated to permit retention. The overall goal of the proposed research is to understand the relative contribution of somatosensory and motor areas of the brain to both short-term and consolidated motor memory which together make possible the retention of newly learned movements. The approach in the proposed studies is to apply transcranial magnetic stimulation following learning to either block or enhance retention and thus test the role of motor and somatosensory cortex in motor memory storage. By applying magnetic stimulation following learning, rather than before or during training as in previous studies , we canisolate its effects on both immediate retention and consolidation as opposed to any possible effects it might have on learning itself.

Neural Structures and mechanisms involved in motor memory reconsolidation

The overarching goal of this project is to investigate whether reactivation of a motor memory engages the same mechanisms and neural structures which were involved in initial learning and makes it susceptible to interference. In addition, we would also explore the possibility of enhancing the memory reconsolidation through excitatory magnetic stimulation.

Does the Increase in Educational Hypogamy Explain the Declining Female Labor Force Participation Rate in Rural India? A Non-Parametric Bounds Analysis

Over the past two decades, rural India has witnessed a secular decline in the female labor force participation rate (FLFPR) - driven mainly by a decline in married women’s labor force participation - despite a significant improvement in female education and a marked fall in fertility. In this paper, we examine a novel and somewhat unorthodox explanation for this puzzling phenomenon: the increase in educational hypogamy (the practice of men marrying women who are more educated than themselves) in rural India over time.

Labour Supply Chains in the Construction Industry: Circular Migrants, Contracting, and Covid

The study examines labour supply networks in the construction industry in Bangalore before and after the pandemic. Supported by the Azim Premji Research Foundation, Bangalore.

Labour Migration Networks in the Construction Industry in Bengaluru

The study examines the role of contractors and intermediaries in constituting migration chains within construction in Bengaluru. Supported by the Indian Council for Social Science Research (ICSSR).

State, Society and Sport: A Social History of Women’s Athletics in Kerala

The study seeks to document the social and developmental processes that led to the emergence and consolidation of track and field athletics among women in the state of Kerala in the backdrop of the state's general development experience.

Agrarian Relations in the Lower Cauvery Delta

In collaboration with the Foundation for Agrarian Studies, Bangalore, in charge of the social history arm of the project which seeks to document the Kizhvenmani atrocity in 1968 in Tamil Nadu, and the trajectory of Dalit mobilization in the village in the fifty years following the atrocity. Supported by the Kizhvenmani Foundation and the National Institute of Rural Development, Hyderabad.

Religious Artefacts and Colonial Commodities: Currents of Exchange

A Charles Wallace Award funded project directed at an international monograph on the topical transport and cultural reception of colonial religious commodities during the fin-de-siecle.

Countering Child Sexual Abuse: A Transmedial Approach

This project will be directed at arresting child sexual approach through dissemination of transmedial material in schools of Telangana.

Body Image in Contemporary American Young Adult Literature. New York: Routledge. (Contracted and forthcoming)

Body Studies in Literature, Culture and Theory. India: Orient Blackswan (Contracted and forthcoming)

Unifying Cognitive Representations with Formal-Logical Structures of Linguistic Meaning in Brain Dynamics

Natural language meaning has properties of both (embodied) cognitive representations and formal/ mathematical structures. But it is not clear how they actually relate to one another. Formal/mathematical structures of natural language meaning are abstract, logical, and truthconditional properties, whereas cognitive/conceptual representations are embodied and grounded in sensory-motor systems. Our work offers the general formulations that show how these two different kinds of representations for semantic structures can (potentially) be unified and also proposes three desiderata for testing, in brain dynamics, the mathematical equivalence between formal symbolic representations (and their transitions), and neuronal population codes (and their transitions).

Semantic Processes in Bilingual Children and Factors Affecting Them

The aim of this project is to uncover the underlying semantic representations in bilingual children that relate to production-comprehension asymmetries.
Funded by the Department of Science and Technology

Invisible disabilities and long-term care: A qualitative study of family and institutional care arrangements for persons with intellectual and cognitive disabilities in India

A qualitative exploration of families’ lived experiences of using various therapies for intellectual and developmental disabilities

Disability, family and care in the time of COVID-19

Nurturing Interest in Science Education among Female High School children through Training and Mentoring

Factors influencing the success of Globally Distributed Cross-Cultural project teams

Study of calcium channel expression and calcium dynamics in cells derived from Indian breast cancer patients

The behavioural arm of this project will develop a question prompt list for participation in clinical trials among patients with breast cancer.
Funded by the Indian Council of Medical Research

3D imaging based vein intrusion guide system for pediatric and geriatric healthcare

The behavioural arm of this project is examining reasons for medical difficulties using a mixed methods approach, developing the device using a participatory science approach, and will conduct a randomized control trial to examine the effectiveness of using the device in a hospital setting.
Funded by Sree Padmavathi Venkateswara Foundation (SreePVF) Grant