"As this program is research-orientated, there are numerous research opportunities"

“Challenging but rewarding”: our 1st-year Master's student, Huang Tao, gave us an interview about the program.

1. What do you like or dislike about this programme regarding the studying process and research opportunities?

I like the broadness of the courses provided by this program, though it is challenging no matter which background you are.We have to learn neuroscience, calculus, linear algebra, statistics, Python and MATLAB programming, digital signal processing, psychology, molecular and cellular mechanism of brain, cognitive science and etc. in the first year. 

If you were from psychology background, then mathematics and DSP may be challenging. If you were from engineering or natural science, then you lack the basic knowledge in psychology and neuroscience. Anyway, no matter which background you come from, you have to learn a lot of new stuff on the way to be a researcher in cognitive neuroscience. 

Maybe you are wondering why so many courses in such different disciplines? The answer is: brain research is intrinsically trans-disciplinary. You should know the basics about the subject of your research, then you should learn neuroscience; you should know how to see into brain, then you should learn different kinds of neuroimaging methods; you should know how to process the data about brain - some coding and statistics are needed; and if you want to explore some in-depth mechanism of the brain or do some modelling about brain - then you need learn mathematics and physics. 

In the first year, all these courses are provided in this program. This can build a solid foundation for my future research. 

As this program is research-orientated, there are numerous research opportunities. No matter which cognitive function of brain you are interested in, no matter which neuroimaging method you want to use, you can always find research opportunities which fulfils your needs here. Take myself for example, my academic interest is brain-language relationship. Besides language research groups in this program, there is another lab here in HSE named center for brain and language. I visited this lab and joined in a really interesting research project which is using EEG to predict post-stoke aphasia patients’ language recovery. A professor of University of Groningen in Holland who is an expert in neurolinguistics became my supervisor. 

Besides vision, memory, language and other “traditional” cognitive research, there are cutting-edge research in Neuroeconomics and BCI (brain computer interface).

I think the characteristic of this master program can be summarized by this program’s name: “From neuron to cognition”. And I use two words to describe this program: “challenging but rewarding”. 

2. Are you working now? If yes, are you working in the university lab or in industry?
I am a full-time student and don’t work. 

3. Which skills did you get in this programme?

With the intensive training of the last semester, I have already learned a lot. 

First is the basic knowledge about brain. Though I used to complain that the neuroscience kills myriad neurons of my brain, after the course I found myself indeed gain some basic concepts about brain, which is indispensable for my further research. 

Second is the quantitative skills, include mathematics, statistics, data analysis and programing. It is a good start, but there is still a lot to learn. 

Third is the EEG neuroimaging method. There are a lot of neuroimaging methods, it is impossible to master all these methods. But it is crucial for every researcher in this field to get familiar with most of these neuroimaging methods and have a good mastery of one or two methods. I choose EEG as my principal neuroimaging method. 

4. How do you like Moscow?

Moscow is a fabulous city; I really enjoy the life here. 

It combines history, modernism and nature. With numerous museums, cathedrals, statues and old buildings, the old city is full of history. There are a lot of skyscrapers in downtown area. And the woods or even forests in and around Moscow really impress me, I cannot find a city like this in China. 

The public transport system of Moscow is very convenient. Most of the time, when I walk out of the metro, I can hear the music played by street-performers in the metro station. I really enjoy the music, some of them are high-standard. And I also like walking along the Moscow river when the weather is good. 

It may sound ridiculous, but I personally feel that the winter of Moscow is much more pleasant than Shanghai. With heating system in all rooms, the indoor temperature is comfortable. However, in Shanghai, most houses don’t have heating systems, I feel bitterly cold in winter.

At first, I cooked Chinese food by myself. After several trails of Russian food in cafeterias and restaurants, I get used to them. Now I don’t cook by myself any more, because I found Russian food is much healthier. 

What attract me most are the people here. I encountered three strangers who helped me. One was a strong young man who blocked the metro door for me. Without his courageous act, I would have been seriously hurt. One is a middle-aged man who paid metro ticket for me when he found that I could not charge my metro card. Another one is a young mother who paid for me in Auchan supermarket using her credit card when I found some problem with mine, and she gave me total trust and waited an hour for me to fetch money to pay her back. It says that people here in Moscow are cold and do not smile. But what I find is that: there are warm hearts behind the cold faces.