Danielle Bassett PhD

Danielle Bassett is a physicist using tools from network science and complex systems theory to enhance our understanding of connectivity and organizational principles in the human brain. Combining a strong background in physics with training and collaborations in neuroscience, Bassett adapts mathematical approaches associated with the study of complex networks (such as computer or social networks) to analyze interactions among neurons in different regions of the brain while a person does certain activities (e.g., learn something new or try to remember a face), thereby unraveling how these connections give rise to the functions or jobs the brain performs.

With her standard-setting work on graph theoretic characterizations of interconnections within the brain—and, importantly, how those connections change over time and under varying conditions—Bassett determines the specific relationship between network organization and cognitive ability. Using brain imaging data of people learning a motor task over three distinct time periods, Bassett and colleagues found that a person’s ability to learn can be predicted based on the brain’s flexibility, or the ability of different areas of the brain to connect in different combinations, and precision in identifying existing brain functions that can be used to accomplish the new behavior.