Behavioral Neurology Unit - Division of Intramural Research

Eric  Wassermann, M.D., Staff Clinician

Dr. Wassermann received his B.A. from Swarthmore College, his M.A. from the University of Pennsylvania where he studied behavioral neurophysiology with C.R. Gallistel, and his M.D. from New York Medical College. After a Neurology Residency at the Boston City Hospital, he came to the NINDS as a postdoctoral fellow in the Human Motor Control Section, where he studied the physiology of the motor cortex and the control of voluntary movement. In 1997, he established the Brain Stimulation Unit to extend the same techniques and concepts to investigating the prefrontal cortex and the control of emotion and action. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Pfizer Visiting Professorship in psychiatry, two NIH Director's Awards, and the US Public Health Service Outstanding Service Medal. Dr. Wassermann’s clinical interests include behavioral neurology, clinical neurophysiology, and chemical casualty care. He directs the clinical activities of the NINDS Cognitive Neuroscience Section and serves as a Senior Medical Advisor to the HHS Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response.

Research Interests

We study the brain systems underlying learning, executive function, and behavioral regulation, using noninvasive stimulation and imaging techniques an innovative behavioral tools. Our main clinical interest is in the physiological and neuroanatomical basis of excess mental and physicial fatigue after brain injury. In particular, we are interested in how lesions of the dopamine reward system and other monoaminergic projections to the forebrain interfere with human behavior. We are also interested in developing new treatments for patients with frontal lobe (executive) disorders and ways of enhancing cognitive functions in healthy individuals.

Using noninvasive brain stimulation techniques and structural and functional MRI, and MR spectroscopy, we are investigating the mechanisms of rewarded behaviors, for example, learning and sustained effort, in the human brain. New thrusts include incorporating near infrared spectroscopy into our work in healthy subjects and patients.

Ongoing clinical studies include the evaluation of warfighters with traumatic brain injury and blast exposure. We are currently conducting Phase IV of the Vietnam Head Injury Study, an in-depth cognitive and lesion anatomy evaluation of several hundred brain injured veterans and combat-exposed controls. Some of our work is sponsored by the Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS).

Clinical Protocols

Detecting a reward signal in the motor cortex  07-N-0063
Cross-validating NIRS with fMRI  07-N-0139
Effects of reward on learning in the motor cortex  09-N-0124

Selected Recent Publications

106. Clark, VP, Coffman, BA, Mayer, AM, Weisend, MP, Lane, TDR, Calhoun, VD, Raybourn, EM, Garcia, C, Wassermann, EM.
TDCS guided using fMRI significantly accelerates learning to identify concealed objects - NeuroImage    2011, 

Kapogiannis D, Mooshagian E, Campion P, Grafman J, Zimmermann TJ, Ladt KC, Wassermann EM.
Reward processing abnormalities in Parkinson's disease - Movement disorders    2011,  Full Text/Abstract

Kapogiannis D, Campion P, Grafman J, Wassermann EM
Reward-related activity in the human motor cortex - European Journal of Neuroscience  27 1836-1842 2008,  Full Text/Abstract

Wassermann EM, Epstein CM, Ziemann U, Walsh V, Paus T, LIsanby SH (Eds.)
The Oxford Handbook of Transcranial Stimulation - Oxford: Oxford University Press    2008, 

Gilbert DL, Wang Z, Sallee FR, Ridel KR, Merhar S, Zhang J, Lipps TD, White C, Badreldin N, Wassermann EM
Dopamine transporter genotype influences the physiological response to medication in ADHD - Brain  129 791-808 2006, 

Iyer MB, Mattu U, Grafman J, Lomarev M, Sato S, Wassermann EM
Safety and Cognitive effect of frontal DC brain polarization in healthy individuals - Neurology  64 872-876 2005, 

Wassermann EM, Grafman J
Recharging cognition with DC brain polarization - Trends Cog Neurosci  9 503-505 2005, 

Selected Earlier Publications

Contact Information

Behavioral Neurology Unit, NINDS Building 10, Room 7D43  10 Center Drive, MSC 1440   Bethesda MD  20892-1430

Telephone: 301-496- 0151 (office), 301- 496-0151 (laboratory), 301-480- 2909 (fax), Email: wassermanne@ninds.nih.gov