Alain Ptito, PhD

Dr. Ptito's research program involves the investigation of the mechanisms involved in cerebral reorganization and plasticity in patient populations (hemispherectomy, callosotomy, Parkinson’s Disease, stroke and head injury) and his clinical work includes the neuropsychological assessment of these patients. His research is funded by CIHR, NSERC, FRSQ, CASM/NHL and the Heart and Stroke Foundation. For the past several years, he has been using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate motor recovery in stroke and the neural substrates of residual vision in the blind visual field following hemispherectomy. He has also demonstrated that this technique, along with Diffusion Tensor Imaging and evoked potentials, can be used to explore the neural mechanisms underlying acquired brain injury, particularly in athletes. With his research team, he has reported that there are abnormal activation patterns following acquired brain injury and that fMRI can serve as an objective method to assess the severity of the injury and subsequent recovery. Aside from his work with athletes, he is now using the results of his research for the head injury population at large, including adults and children.Psychology, neuropsychology, traumatic brain injury, hemispherectomy, callosotomy, Parkinson’s Disease, stroke, head injury, functional magnetic resonance imaging, fMRI.