Descripción del proyecto
Comprender el efecto de las emociones durante la toma de decisiones
La emoción y la razón tienden a ser consideradas elementos opuestos. Sin embargo, la inclusión de estímulos y datos emocionales durante la toma de decisiones puede influir positivamente en la selección de conductas adaptativas, mientras que la mala gestión está profundamente presente en los trastornos psiquiátricos que afectan a la desregulación. Por desgracia, en la actualidad carecemos de conocimientos sobre la fisiopatología y la etiología de muchos de estos trastornos. El objetivo del proyecto INTENDeD, financiado con fondos europeos, es investigar la conexión, la transferencia y la aplicación de estímulos y datos emocionales entre dos regiones centrales de la asignación de valencia. Este conocimiento de la codificación de la valencia podría proporcionar a los investigadores una comprensión más profunda de cómo las emociones influyen en la toma de decisiones.
Objetivo
Emotions are often contrasted with reason. However, integration of emotional information into the decision-making processes can advantageously bias adaptive behavior selection. Miss-regulation of emotional information integration in cortical processing is a hallmark of psychiatric disorders with affect dysregulation. Our knowledge of the etiology and pathophysiology of these disorders is strongly limited by our understanding of the non-pathological neuronal circuits underlying emotional processing and makes targeted intervention methods scarce. I here propose to investigate information transfer between two hub regions involved in valence assignment to environmental stimuli and integration of this information in decision making. Gaining insight into the long-range connectivity between the basolateral complex of the amygdala (BLA) and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the integration of BLA information in the local mPFC circuit in mice will significantly advance our understanding of emotional processing during decision making. I hypothesize that the BLA can influence the mPFC in a valence-specific manner. To address how valence representation encoded in the BLA biases action selection in a decision-making task, I am going to train mice in a cost-benefit task and modulate valence-specific BLA projections to the mPFC. Furthermore, using in vivo two-photon calcium imaging and state-of-the art long range connectivity mapping methods, I will characterize if the BLA transmits differential valence information to specific mPFC subregions. Finally, I will investigate how valence-specific BLA information is integrated in the local mPFC circuit, using optogenetics based functional connectivity mapping methods in the acute brain slice preparation. This research will allow for the first time to achieve a circuit and cellular level mechanistic understanding of the influence of positive and negative valence coding in the BLA on mPFC processing and ultimately decision-making.
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MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinador
4058 Basel
Suiza