Project description
New model to study how body-brain coupling affects cognition
Perception and thought follow rhythmic patterns, with the brain generating essential brain waves. Other organs also produce these rhythms. Are they crucial for our attention, memory, and how we perceive the world? The ERC-funded FLOW project aims to explore how oscillating body and brain states affect cognition. It suggests that brain rhythms enable flexible communication between regions while encoding mental content, and that bodily rhythms can adjust their coupling with the brain to enhance ‘flow’ states. The project will introduce the flexible oscillatory workspace (FLOW) model, using a non-invasive ‘brain pinging’ method to study body-brain coupling. In its final phase, the project will apply non-invasive neuromodulation to boost cognitive performance and develop therapies for cognitive deficits.
Objective
We live in a rhythmic world. Take a deep breath, listen to your heartbeat, to the trees swinging with the wind, music playing, people chatting. Every perception and cognition, every heartbeat happens in time following its own rhythmic frequency. Our brain also generates rhythmic brain waves and there is wide consensus that these neural oscillations are a fundamental building block of how our brain works. Interestingly, the brain is not the only organ generating such intrinsic rhythmic signals. Bodily rhythms such as heartbeats, breathing or gastrointestinal activity can also be described as endogenous oscillators. But are these brain and bodily rhythms functionally relevant for how we perceive the world? Could it be that these rhythms determine what we attend to, what we remember and how much information we can store in our mind?
This ERC proposes a new perspective on how oscillating body-brain states structure our cognition. We hypothesize that brain rhythms enable us to adapt to changing cognitive demands by flexibly switching between two fundamental operating modes: (i) to support communication between brain regions (WP1), and (ii) to code for the mental representation of specific content in our mind (WP2). We further propose that bodily rhythms can also dynamically tune their coupling strength with the brain in a state-dependent manner (WP3), supporting the operating mode of neural oscillations when being in “flow” (WP4). We formalize these hypotheses in a proposed FLexible Oscillatory Workspace (FLOW) model and empirically test our predictions using a noninvasive “brain pinging” approach for causally probing state-dependent rhythmic body-brain coupling mechanisms. In a final proof-of-principle project, we will then use rhythmic non-invasive neuromodulation for entraining and tuning intrinsic brain and body-brain rhythms to enhance cognitive performance and develop new rhythmic neuromodulation therapies to treat cognitive deficits (WP5).
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Keywords
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
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Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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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.
Funding Scheme
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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.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2024-ADG
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6200 MD Maastricht
Netherlands
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