Objective How we decide between different alternatives is a central question to cognitive neuroscience. Decisions may appear trivial (selecting between two meals), or sophisticated and long reaching (deciding whom to marry). Decisions constitute a highly dynamical process of evidence accumulation. These dynamics can be represented in cortical oscillations, which have attracted great interest as a key mechanism that coordinates fast computations. While a few studies have investigated the role of cortical oscillations in decision making, the underlying mechanisms translating neurochemical activity into network dynamics and ultimately into choice remain unknown. Although neuromodulator effects are well described at the cellular level, their network effects during high-level behaviours are not well understood. There is however evidence that neuromodulators also control cortical oscillations and that this may have behavioural relevance. For a mechanistic understanding of human decision making, it is essential to (1) study its fast temporal cortical dynamics and (2) understand how neurochemical signalling gives rise to network dynamics and ultimately to cognition. Biophysical network models are excellent tools for linking these different levels of investigation. Such an understanding is critically important not only from a basic science perspective, it will also further our understanding of psychiatric diseases, which are often characterized by anomalies in neurochemical systems, neural oscillations and decision making.The novel approach that is core to this proposal is to investigate whether and how neurochemical systems guide decision behaviour by modulating cortical dynamics. To achieve this ambitious goal, I will use a combination of imaging methods with computational modelling, pharmacological challenges and electrical brain stimulation. This new approach will allow me to move towards a mechanistic understanding of the systems-level dynamics underlying decision making. Fields of science natural sciencesbiological sciencesneurobiologycognitive neuroscience Keywords Decision-making cognition cortex neural oscillations neurochemical mechanisms computational modelling magnetoencephalography Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme Topic(s) ERC-2017-COG - ERC Consolidator Grant Call for proposal ERC-2017-COG See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-COG - Consolidator Grant Host institution HEINRICH-HEINE-UNIVERSITAET DUESSELDORF Net EU contribution € 1 903 698,00 Address UNIVERSITAETSSTRASSE 1 40225 Dusseldorf Germany See on map Region Nordrhein-Westfalen Düsseldorf Düsseldorf, Kreisfreie Stadt Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 1 903 698,00 Beneficiaries (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all HEINRICH-HEINE-UNIVERSITAET DUESSELDORF Germany Net EU contribution € 1 903 698,00 Address UNIVERSITAETSSTRASSE 1 40225 Dusseldorf See on map Region Nordrhein-Westfalen Düsseldorf Düsseldorf, Kreisfreie Stadt Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 1 903 698,00
