Project description
Ultrasound technology for decision-making
Everyday decisions, even small ones such as whether to keep waiting in a slow-moving queue, depend on our ability to persist with a goal or switch to an alternative. These types of decisions are known to be altered in several mental health disorders, including depression. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the ULTRA-GOAL project aims to identify the causal neural mechanisms that support goal-directed decision-making. It will use non-invasive transcranial ultrasound stimulation to modulate brain circuits involved in reward and emotion, alongside a gamified decision-making task and real-time physiological measures to track emotional states.
Objective
Many everyday scenarios require us to decide whether to persist or disengage from a course of action. For example, should we stay in a slow-moving supermarket queue or move to one that appears faster? In depressive disorders, these decisions are known to be altered, leading people to invest too little or too much effort in their goals. Despite their centrality to everyday behaviour, we lack a causal account of the neural and emotional mechanisms that shape these decisions. Neuroimaging implicates the nucleus accumbens and anterior insula, but as a correlational method, it cannot establish causality. Leveraging my expertise in ultrasound neuromodulation and clinical neuropsychology, I will address that gap by applying bilateral transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS) to these circuits in participants ranging from healthy volunteers to individuals with moderate depressive symptoms. Facial expressions and physiology (heart rate, pupil dilation, skin conductance) will provide a real-time index of emotion during decision-making. This fellowship will test TUS effects in a preregistered, double-blind, sham-controlled, within-subject study using a gamified decision-making task. Findings will advance causal understanding of how key brain circuits contribute to decisions to persist or disengage, identify emotional signatures that shape these decisions, and generate mechanistic targets for future interventions in depression. The fellowship, hosted by Prof Elsa Fouragnan at a leading centre for ultrasound neuromodulation, will consolidate international collaborations across Europe and the United States, develop my skills in computational modelling of behaviour, and accelerate my path to independence while building European capacity in translational mental health science.
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.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
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.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
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.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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
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.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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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) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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PL4 8AA Plymouth
United Kingdom
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