Effect of Extrinsic Reward on Motor Plasticity during Skill Learning

Goldy completed her PhD (2015-2020) in Cognitive Science at the Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar (with Prof. Pratik Mutha), where she investigated the underlying mechanisms mediating learning, retention and generalization of newly learned skilled movements, and the interactions between spatial working memory and motor skill memory. She was a Fulbright-Nehru visiting doctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Health (with Dr. Leonardo Cohen) where she developed projects exploring the role of sensorimotor neural oscillatory activity on motor output. After this period, she began as a post-doctoral researcher at the CoActions Lab, where she was investigating the role of neural oscillations in motor learning and adaptation.

Medical doctor who conducted joint PhD research between CoActions Lab and EPFL. Developed innovative double-coil TMS approaches and investigated reward effects on motor learning. Currently postdoctoral fellow at EPFL working on transcranial Temporal Interference Stimulation.

Independent researcher at INSERM Lyon since 2022, focusing on neural mechanisms underlying motivation, decision-making, and apathy. Previously spent seven years as a postdoctoral researcher in the CoActions Lab investigating neural bases of motor decisions. Still affiliated as visiting researcher collaborating on multiple projects.

Research broadly explores a range of questions pertaining to the cognitive neuroscience of human behavior. Conduct experiments to explore the interaction between cognition and action in neurologically healthy and impaired individuals. Use a variety of techniques to characterize the functional role of different parts of the motor pathways, including transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and electroencephalography (EEG). Recent research investigates the role of the locus coeruleus in various aspects of action control, including reaching movement control, decision making, and behavioral vigor, using transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) to causally probe this neuromodulatory system. More →