Born: March 10th 1980 in Stavanger, Norway
Email: larstw(at)student.sv.uio.no
My interests include among other things how the brain enables the organism to learn and modify behavior according to changing environmental demands. I am interested in the structural and functional neural underpinnings of learning, including experience related neuronal plasticity and its related cognitive phenomenon of memory. My interests also include life span genetic contributions to individual differences in cognitive function, also in relation to structural and functional brain development.
Data for an ongoing project is collected utilizing broadspectered and converging methods in order to establish a better understanding of how the brain initiates, controls and mediates behaviour and cognitive functions, including memory, attention, action monitoring and reinforcement sensitivity and “executive functions” in an adult healthy sample. More specifically, we are exploring the relationship between electrophysiological markers (i.e. different ERP-components), structural and functional MRI measures (including cortical and subcortical morphometry, diffusion tensor imaging and functional MRI) and behavior as measured by neuropsychological and experimental procedures.
Publications in international peer-reviewed journals:
1. Espeseth, T., Greenwood, PM, Reinvang I., Fjell, AM, Walhovd, KB, Westlye, LT, Wehling, E., Lundervold, A., Rootwelt, H., & Parasuraman, R. (2006). Interactive effects of APOE and CHRNA4 on attention and white matter volume in healthy middle-aged and older adults. Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci, 6, 1, 31-43.
2. Espeseth, T., Westlye, LT., Fjell, AM., Walhovd, KB, Rootwelt H., & Reinvang, I. (accepted for publication) Accelerated age-related cortical thinning in healthy carriers of apolipoprotein E e4. Neurobiology of Aging.
Poster/abstracts in international meetings:
3. Johansen, E.B., Catania, A. C., Soroka, E., Westlye, LT., Sagvolden, T. (2003). SLOWER EXTINCTION OF PREVIOUSLY ACQUIRED BEHAVIOR IN THE SPONTANEOUSLY HYPERTENSIVE RAT (SHR) - AN ANIMAL MODEL OF ADHD. Program No. 716.13. 2003 Abstract Viewer/Itinerary Planner. Washington, DC: Society for Neuroscience, 2003. Online.
4. Espeseth, T., Westlye, LT, Fjell, AM, Walhovd, K, Rootwelt, H, Greenwood, PM, Reinvang, I. (2005) APOLIPOPROTEIN E (APOE) MODULATES CORTICAL THICKNESS IN AGING AS REVEALED BY MRI Program No. 409.12. 2005 Abstract Viewer/Itinerary Planner. Washington, DC: Society for Neuroscience, 2005. Online.
5. Westlye, LT. (2006) Genetic influences on cerebral morphometry. Oral presentation at MedCoast Symposium: ”Cognitive Neuroscience – from Molecule to Patient”. March 2.-3. 2006