Martina Maier

Dr Martina Maier is a postdoctoral researcher at the SPECS Lab of the Institute of Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC). Her research interest lies in the mechanisms underlying motor and cognitive recovery and the explorations of technological advances in immersive virtual environments, physiological measurements and mobile applications. She has a master degree in cognitive systems and interactive media (CSIM, UPF, 2013) and a master degree in Brain and Cognition (UPF, 2015). Her PhD work, conducted at SPECS Lab, aimed to discover neuroscientific principles underlying human cognition, behaviour, and learning, which can be used to design, build, and validate novel neurorehabilitation tools in virtual reality. She defended her thesis in 2020 and graduated with honours (Cum Laude) in Information and Communication Technologies at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Presently, Martina’s work at SPECS-lab revolves around testing brain mechanisms and principles of recovery after stroke and other diseases using science-based technology such as the Rehabilitation Gaming System (RGS), a digital health solution that addresses the need to recover physical, cognitive, and mental function after brain damage. She is the author of several distinguished publications that validated individualized neurorehabilitation methods for stroke recovery and analyzed the accumulated evidence for such approaches to foster improvement. She is a scientific advisor for Eodyne Systems S.L. and a master thesis supervisor at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra.

Selected publications

Maier, M., Ballester, B. R., Leiva Bañuelos, N., Duarte Oller, E., & Verschure, P. F. M. J. (2020) Adaptive conjunctive cognitive training (ACCT) in virtual reality for chronic stroke patients: a randomized controlled pilot trial. Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation

Maier, M., Ballester, B. R., & Verschure, P. F. M. J. (2019). Principles of neurorehabilitation after stroke based on motor learning and brain plasticity mechanisms. Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience

Maier, M., Ballester, B. R, Duff, A., Duarte Oller, E., & Verschure, P. F. M. J. (2019). Effect of specific over nonspecific VR-based rehabilitation on poststroke motor recovery: a systematic meta-analysis. Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair

Maier, M., Low, S. C., Ballester, B. R., Leiva Bañuelos, N., Duarte Oller, E., & Verschure, P. F. M. J. (2018). Depression modulates attentional processing after stroke. In Proceedings of the 4^th International Conference on NeuroRehabilitation

Maier, M., Ballester, B. R., Duarte Oller, E., Duff, A., & Verschure, P. F. M. J. (2014). Social integration of stroke patients through the multiplayer rehabilitation gaming system. In Games for Training, Education, Health and Sports, 4th International Conference on Serious Games