M. Sc. Parsa Seyedzadeh

I studied Psychology (B.Sc.) at Kharazmi University and completed my MSc in Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Sussex. During my master’s, I focused on the neural and computational mechanisms of perception, with a particular interest in predictive processing, combining EEG with computational modelling approaches.

My dissertation examined how cortical tracking of speech relates to individual differences in comprehension, using mTRF analyses and statistical modelling. Alongside this, I worked with fMRI data, analyzing large-scale datasets to investigate dynamic functional connectivity and network dynamics in both healthy and clinical populations.

I am currently a PhD researcher at the Chair of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience at TU Dresden, supervised by Prof. Dr. med. Katharina von Kriegstein. My current work focuses on thalamocortical connectivity, particularly pathways linking the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) to visual cortical areas, and their role in perception in both typical and atypical populations, including autism, within a predictive processing framework. I use diffusion MRI and functional MRI to study structural and functional connectivity.

My research focuses on the neural basis of perception, particularly how the brain interprets sensory input through predictive coding mechanisms. I am interested in how internal models are formed and updated, and how they shape perceptual experience.

A central focus of my work is the role of thalamocortical circuits in perceptual processing, and how variation in these systems relates to differences in sensory experience across individuals, including in autism.

Methodologically, I am interested in combining neuroimaging approaches (fMRI, diffusion MRI, EEG) and computational analyses to study brain function in both healthy and clinical groups.