Description du projet
Exploration anatomique et fonctionnelle de la détection auditive des menaces chez l’être humain
La survie des espèces est étroitement liée à la détection des menaces. La recherche sur les substrats neuronaux de la détection rapide des menaces chez l’être humain s’est concentrée presque exclusivement sur le système visuel et la voie dite sous-corticale. Cette voie envoie des signaux visuels bruts à l’amygdale via le thalamus pour une réponse émotionnelle efficace. Des données provenant d’animaux suggèrent qu’une voie similaire pourrait exister dans le domaine auditif, mais elle est inconnue chez l’être humain. Financé par le Conseil européen de la recherche, le projet HumanSUBthreat testera l’hypothèse selon laquelle cette voie auditive sous-corticale existe et est fonctionnelle chez l’humain. Le projet utilisera des techniques électrophysiologiques et de neuro-imagerie de pointe pour identifier une voie plausible et tester sa dynamique fonctionnelle et temporelle.
Objectif
Fast detection of threats is one of the most important abilities for survival, as it allows efficiently responding to potential harms. In humans, such advantage extends well into other cognitive domains, including social communication. Threat detection is paramount in all sensory modalities, but is probably most adaptive in audition. However, research on the neural substrates of fast threat detection in humans has been almost exclusively dedicated to vision. The key neural pathway for visual fast threat detection is the so-called subcortical route for emotion. Having pulled through millions of years of evolution, this shortcut conveys crude direct sensory inputs from the thalamus to the amygdala, facilitating a prompt emotional response. In the auditory domain, evidence from non-human animals suggests that a similar fast route may exist, but it has never been described in humans. Here, I aim at testing the hypothesis that this auditory subcortical route indeed exists in our species, with neuroanatomical and functional properties that support an optimal response to threat. Using state-of-the-art electrophysiological and neuroimaging techniques (scalp and intracranial electroencephalography, functional magnetic resonance and diffusion-weighted imaging), I will identify a pathway compatible with this route and test its functional and temporal dynamics, relative to a cortical route. Each technique will provide essential information for thoroughly depicting the route. Beyond its function, I will examine its link to traits associated to psychiatric conditions. Then, to confirm its anatomical existence in humans, I will microscopically track its connections directly in postmortem brains. HumanSUBthreat will restructure current dominant models of human affective neuroscience, strongly biased towards vision, and provide a novel view towards the understanding of disorders associated to amygdala dysfunction.
Champ scientifique
Mots‑clés
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Régime de financement
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC GrantsInstitution d’accueil
08007 Barcelona
Espagne