Descrizione del progetto
Esplorazione anatomica e funzionale del rilevamento delle minacce uditive negli esseri umani
La sopravvivenza delle specie è strettamente legata all’individuazione delle minacce. La ricerca nei substrati neurali del rilevamento rapido delle minacce nell’uomo si è concentrata quasi esclusivamente sul sistema visivo e sulla cosiddetta via sottocorticale. Questo percorso invia segnali visivi grezzi all’amigdala attraverso il talamo per una risposta emotiva efficace. Le prove ottenute da animali non umani suggeriscono che una via simile potrebbe esistere nel dominio uditivo, ma essa non è nota nell’uomo. Finanziato dal Consiglio europeo della ricerca, il progetto HumanSUBthreat verificherà l’ipotesi che questa via sottocorticale uditiva esista e sia funzionale negli esseri umani. Il progetto utilizzerà tecniche elettrofisiologiche e di imaging cerebrale all’avanguardia per identificare un percorso plausibile e verificarne le dinamiche funzionali e temporali.
Obiettivo
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.
Campo scientifico
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC GrantsIstituzione ospitante
08007 Barcelona
Spagna