Objective
The expectation of a reward is known to be the driving force behind adaptive behaviour and learning. The effects of reward arise in dopaminergic reward circuitry at the centre of our primitive brain, which guides our goal-directed behaviour and fosters motivational control. A lot is known about the motivational effect of reward, but its effect on attention and perception has only marginally been explored. Recent studies from my lab suggest that such an effect of reward on perception is substantial and, crucially, arises instantly and is not related to a person’s motivation or strategy. Rewarding experiences change our brain: objects associated with reward appear to be more strongly represented in the visual cortex. This makes these objects to stand out from the environment. It makes that we perceive them, and focus on them, even when we try to ignore these objects. The research plan presented here will examine the neural response in early visual brain areas to objects associated with high versus low reward. We will measure the response of the brain, specifically the dopaminergic reward circuitry, when a reward is delivered. To investigate how these effects depend on dopamine, we plan to conduct studies involving Parkinson’s patients which allow us to directly manipulate the amount of dopamine in the brain. By means of deep brain stimulation, we link the effect even more tightly to the reward circuitry, by replacing reward by stimulation of this circuitry. As a final frontier we will relate individual reward sensitivity (a personality trait related to the mesolimbic dopamine system) to the development of addiction and risk seeking behaviour. The proposed research will have tremendous impact on the study of cognition, education, and (risky) decision making, as well as on a variety of clinical syndromes in which both attention and reward have been critically implicated, such as (drug) addiction and obesity.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- medical and health sciences basic medicine neurology parkinson
- medical and health sciences health sciences nutrition obesity
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
ERC-2012-ADG_20120411
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Host institution
1081 HV Amsterdam
Netherlands
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.