Praghajieeth Raajhen, Santhana Gopalan born in Tamil Nadu, India. He got bachelor degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Anna University, India and his master degree in Digital Communications from University of Kiel, Germany. He carried out his master thesis with the topic "EEG and MEG source analysis using a time domain beamforming approach" at Universitätsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein, Kiel, Germany. The main motivation of his master thesis was to validate stimulation electrodes in the brain of Parkinson's disease patients using synthetic aperture magnetometery and linearly constrained minimum variance algorithms.
His bachelor thesis was on the topic of "A proficient system for preventing & acknowledging about drunken drive by analyzing the neuronal activity of the brain".
Presently, He is working as an early stage researcher (Ph.D. student) on the ChildBrain project in the University of Jyväskylä under the supervision of Prof. Paavo Leppänen.
His research focus is on biomedical signal processing which includes electroencephalography (EEG), magnetoencephalography (MEG), eye tracking and magnetic resonance imaging.
He likes to play badminton, table tennis and football.
In the recent days, children’s language competent, social skills and cognitive are in a serious stage. As per the European Brain Council report, every year there is steady increase in the percentage of children suffering from developmental neurocognitive disorders such as dyslexia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder(ADHD) and epilepsy.
The term ‘Dyslexia’ is primarily associated with specific reading difficulty. There is no single cause for dyslexia. There are many reasons such as genetic factors and atypical brain development. ADHD is characterized by the irregular level of attention, hyperactivity and impulsive behavior. The main cause of ADHD is still unknown factor. However it is assumed that it is because of genetic and environmental factors.
In this ESR project, brain processes during text reading, semantic processing and attentional task will be examined in children with typical reading skills and those with reading difficulties (dyslexia) as well as children with attentional problems (ADHD). The children in the sixth grade who are in a transition phase of changing reading strategies in school will be involved in the task. The purpose of this project is to investigate at the brain level relationship of known risk factors of dyslexia (e.g. executive functions, working memory and attention) to typical text reading, and how these processes affect reading in new digital media and internet.
The study of measurement and interpretation of electric potential from the scalp is called electroencephalography (EEG). The study of magnetic signals associated with electric current is called magnetoencephalography (MEG). These brain imaging modalities will be used in this work which permits to compute and localize brain area associated with abnormal activities. These methods will help to characterize atypical patterns of connectivity. To develop neurocognitive approach, combined EEG/MEG with eye-tracker data at single participant level will be used.
The expected result from behavioral and brain response measure in combination with eye-movements will reveal developmental differences between dyslexic and typical readers and children with ADHD in the crucial stages of processing and the connectivity in the neural networks of reading and attention and how these are related to the online reading. This will help to develop diagnostic and intervention tools for children with learning difficulties.
