Descrizione del progetto
Analizzare a fondo l’elaborazione multisensoriale nel cervello
Il cervello ha la capacità unica di elaborare le informazioni provenienti dai cinque sensi primari. Attraverso sistemi fisici e percorsi intricati, gli stimoli sensoriali convergono per generare la percezione soggettiva. Il malfunzionamento di questi meccanismi può portare a varie patologie, come l’autismo. Il progetto DynaSens, finanziato dal Consiglio europeo della ricerca, intende studiare i meccanismi con cui il cervello combina gli input sensoriali e come questi processi vengano colpiti nell’autismo. I ricercatori utilizzeranno modelli computazionali, neuroimmagini e compiti percettivi per fornire una comprensione completa del funzionamento del cervello e affrontare le sfide associate ai deficit di percezione nei disturbi cognitivi.
Obiettivo
The brain’s multisensory faculty provides considerable benefits for perception, as the adaptive weighting of multiple inputs increases perceptual reliability and flexibility. However, failure of this process results in an impoverished percept, and links to perceptual deficits that occur along our life span and in disorders such as Autism. While the brain efficiently handles multiple sensory inputs, we still have a limited understanding of the underlying neural mechanisms. To advance our knowledge of how the brain processes its environment I propose a pioneering agenda that departs from previous descriptive work by linking the underlying brain mechanisms with specific multisensory computations and perception.
Precisely, I propose a programme that combines computational models of multisensory interactions with high-density neuroimaging and perceptual tasks. This interdisciplinary research builds on my pioneering multisensory work but will provide a qualitatively new and principled understanding of the neural processes that implement the well-known perceptual benefits of multisensory information.
The proposed programme advances our knowledge by addressing the following timely questions: What are the neural processes transforming multiple sensory inputs to a unified representation guiding behaviour? How does the brain control the dynamic weighting of multiple inputs and assigns these to either a single or multiple causes? Which perceptual and neural processes are affected in the multisensory deficits seen in autistic individuals or the elderly?
This agenda, by its innovative methods and deliverables, will offer a principled and comprehensive understanding of how the brain handles and merges multiple sensory inputs, and provides a framework for addressing continuing and pressing problems associated with multisensory processing deficits seen in cognitive disorders and during our life span.
Campo scientifico
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
ERC-COG - Consolidator GrantIstituzione ospitante
33615 Bielefeld
Germania