Head , Engineer, PhD, Associate Professor in Physiology

• , MD, PhD, Associate Professor in Psychophysiology
• , MD, PhD, Associate Professor in Physiology
• , Engineer, Research Fellow
• , biologist, PhD student
• , Technician

MAIN RESEARCH TOPICS

• Neurophysiological basis of information processing in the brain: Top-down and bottom-up mechanisms of sensory, motor and cognitive processes.
• Neural correlates of cognition: attention, memory, executive control, probability prediction.
• Neuroelectric oscillations and synchronization: Event-related potentials and event-related oscillations.
• Advanced methods for analysis of neuroelectric signals in time, frequency, and time-frequency domains.
• Cognitive development and aging in normal and psychopathological conditions.
• Sleep and memory consolidation.

METHODS

• Multi-channel electroencephalography (EEG)
• Event-related brain potentials (ERP)
• Polysomnography (PSG)
• Spectral analysis
• Coherence analysis
• Time-frequency decomposition of event-related brain potentials, Wavelet analysis
• Single-sweep analysis of event-related brain potentials and oscillations with special emphasis on phase-locking and spatial synchronization
• Time-frequency analysis of event-related oscillatory dynamics: event-related synchronization (ERS) and desynchronization (ERD)
• Behavioral tests
• Sleep EEG analysis
• Advanced methods for analysis of behavioral and neuroelectric signals: Wavelet entropy

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

• Yordanova J., Kolev V., Albrecht B., Uebel H., Banaschewski T., Rothenberger A. May post-error performance be a critical factor for behavioural deficits in ADHD? Biol. Psychiatry, in press.
• Yordanova J., Albrecht B., Uebel H., Kirov R., Banaschewski T., Rothenberger A., Kolev V. Independent oscillatory patterns characterize fluctuations of performance errors in ADHD. Brain, in press.
• Nanova P., Kolev V., Yordanova J. Developmental gender differences in the synchronization of auditory event-related oscillations. Clin. Neurophysiol. 122: 907-915, 2011. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2010.09.012
• Beste C., Kolev V., Yordanova J., Domschke K., Falkenstein M., Baune B., Konrad C. The role of the BDNF val66met polymorphism for the synchronization of error-specific neural networks. J. Neurosci. 30: 10727-10733, 2010. http://dx.doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2493-10.2010
• Yordanova J., Kolev V., Wagner U., Verleger R. Differential associations of early- and late-night sleep with functional brain states promoting insight to abstract task regularity. PloS ONE 5 (2): e9442, 2010. http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0009442
• Garcia-Garcia M., Yordanova J., Kolev V., Dominguez-Borras J., Escera C. Tuning the brain for novelty detection under emotional threat: the role of increasing gamma phase-synchronization. NeuroImage 49: 1038-1044, 2010. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.07.059.
• Yordanova J., Kolev V., Verleger R. Awareness of knowledge or awareness of processing? Implications for sleep-related memory consolidation. Front. Human Neurosci. 3: Art. No. 40, 2009. http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/neuro.09.040.2009
• Kirov R., Weiss C., Siebner H.R., Born J., Marshall L. Slow oscillation electrical brain stimulation during waking promotes EEG theta activity and memory encoding. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 106: 15460-15465, 2009. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0904438106
• Yordanova J., Kolev V., Rothenberger A. Functional neuroelectric oscillations along the lifespan. Special issue. J. Psychophysiol. 23 (4): 153-156, 2009. http://dx.doi.org/10.1027/0269-8803.23.4.153
• Yordanova J., Kolev V., Verleger R., Bataghva Z., Born J., Wagner U. Shifting from implicit to explicit knowledge: Different roles of early and late night sleep in making implicit knowledge explicit. Learning & Memory 15, 508-515, 2008. http://www.learnmem.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/lm.897908
• Nanova P., Lyamova L., Hadjigeorgieva M., Kolev V., Yordanova J. Gender-specific development of auditory information processing in children: an ERP study. Clin. Neurophysiol. 119: 1992-2003, 2008. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2008.05.002
• Kirov R., Kinkelbur J., Banaschewski T., Rothenberger A. Sleep patterns in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, tic disorder and comorbidity. J. Child Psychol. Psychiatry 48: 561-570, 2007. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2007.01729.x
• Yordanova J., Heinrich H., Kolev V., Rothenberger A. Increased event-related theta activity as a psychophysiological marker of comorbidity in children with tics and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorders. NeuroImage 32: 940-955, 2006. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2006.03.056
• Kolev V., Falkenstein M., Yordanova J. Motor-response generation as a source of aging-related behavioural slowing in choice-reaction tasks. Neurobiol. Aging 27: 1719-1730, 2006. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2005.09.027.

RESEARCH PROJECTS

International

• "Advanced methods for the estimation of human brain activity and connectivity (NeuroMath)" - action BM0601 of EU-COST program (2007-2011)
• "Electrical neuronal oscillations and cognition (ENOC)" - action B27 of EU-COST program (2005-2009)
• "Individual differences in the functional dynamics of stimulus information processing in the brains of low and highly attentive healthy individuals" - with Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, USA. Supported by the National Research Council, USA (2005-2007)
• "Brain mechanisms of ageing related behavioural slowing" - with the Leibniz Research Centre for Environment and Human Factors, Institute of Occupational Physiology, Dortmund. Supported by the Heinrich Hertz Foundation, D?sseldorf, Germany (2004-2005)
• "Time-frequency and self-adapting methods for bioelectric signal analysis: Innovate applications in child psychiatry" - with the Clinics for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of G?ttingen, Germany. Supported by the Klaus Tschira Foundation, Heidelberg, Germany (2001-2004)

National

• "Behavioral and electrophysiological gender differences in childhood". Supported by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia
• "Functional correlates of brain event-related potentials and rhythms". Supported by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia
• "Central Brain Mechanisms of Behavioural Control during Ageing". Supported by the National Science Fund, Sofia (2005-2009)
• "Time-frequency and spatial characteristics of neuroelectrical responses in child psychiatric disorders". Supported by the National Science Fund, Sofia (2003-2006)
• "Functional correlates of brain gamma band activity in humans". Supported by the National Science Fund, Sofia (1998-2003)

INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC RELATIONS

• Clinics for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany
• Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors, Dortmund, Germany
• University Clinics Schleswig-Holstein, University of Luebeck, Luebeck, Germany
• Institute of Neuroendocrinology, University of Luebeck, Luebeck, Germany
• Instituto de Calculo, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Institute of Psychology and Cognition Research, University of Bremen, Germany
• Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California, USA
• Institute of Physiology, University of Luebeck, Luebeck, Germany
• Brain Research Unit, Low Temperature Laboratory, Helsinki University of Technology, Espoo, Finland
• Department of Psychology, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, USA
• Heckscher-Klinik, Muenchen, Germany
• Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University Clinics Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
• Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany
• Centre for Twin and Family Research, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA