Event Details

Physics Department Condensed Matter Seminar Series

Speaker: Dr. Tomislav Stankovski

Professor of Medical Physics, Faculty of Medicine, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, North Macedonia

Abstract

Interacting dynamical systems abound in nature. Often, the interest is not only to understand if they interact, but also how they interact -revealing the functions and mechanisms that define and connect them. Coupling functions contain detailed information about the functional mechanisms underlying these interactions and prescribe the physical rules specifying how an interaction occurs [1].

This seminar highlights a method based on dynamical Bayesian inference used to reconstruct cross-frequency coupling functions from the phase dynamics of brainwave oscillations. The presentation focuses on the neural delta-to-alpha coupling function across three distinct states of consciousness: resting state, general anesthesia, and natural sleep. Additionally, it explores the cortico-muscular coupling function in subjects with Parkinson’s Disease. Through these applications, the talk details the neural coupling function's form and quantifies the alterations that occur between different neural states.

References

[1] Stankovski, T., Pereira, T., McClintock, P. V., & Stefanovska, A. (2017). Coupling functions: Universal insights into dynamical interaction mechanisms. Reviews of Modern Physics, 89(4), 045001.

Speaker Biography

Dr. Tomislav Stankovski is a Professor of Medical Physics at the Faculty of Medicine, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, North Macedonia, where he also serves as a Medical Physics Specialist. His research involves the development of methods for dynamical inference and machine learning to analyse interaction mechanisms from biological signals, frequently focusing on subjects with distinct medical states and diseases. Prof. Stankovski received his PhD and completed his postdoctoral research at the Department of Physics, Lancaster University.