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Causal mapping of emotion networks with concurrent electrical stimulation and fMRI |
Adolphs, Ralph (contact) Howard, Matthew A. Poldrack, Russell A |
California Institute Of Technology |
2018 |
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Active |
1U01NS103780-01 |
Human Neuroscience Integrated Approaches Interventional Tools Monitor Neural Activity
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Limited treatment options exist for emotional disorders because we do not understand the neural systems by which emotions are processed. Adolphs and colleagues will study how emotion is caused by activity in brain networks. They will electrically stimulate emotion-related brain regions, such as the amygdala, in awake neurosurgical patients, and use concurrent fMRI to image the whole-brain networks engaged by the stimulated structures. Psychophysiological, behavioral, and self-report measures of emotion will be collected to quantify how the stimulation-induced activation patterns associate with specific components of emotion. This work could inform interventions to treat mood disorders through deep-brain stimulation. |
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Intraoperative studies of flexible decision-making |
Baltuch, Gordon H (contact) Gold, Joshua I |
University Of Pennsylvania |
2017 |
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Active |
1U01NS103799-01 |
Human Neuroscience Integrated Approaches Interventional Tools Monitor Neural Activity
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Even relatively simple sensory-motor decisions, such as goal-directed eye movements, exhibit sufficient flexibility and nuance to be considered a “window on cognition.” Gordon Baltuch’s team will leverage the unique opportunity provided by surgical treatment of Parkinson’s disease using deep brain stimulation, to study decision-making in the human brain at the single-neuron level. The team will simultaneously measure behavioral response time and accuracy (by asking neurosurgical patients to select a visual stimulus via eye movements) while performing brain electrophysiology. Additionally, they will conduct parallel monkey and human studies that, unlike Parkinson’s studies alone, will distinguish normal versus disrupted mechanisms in the Parkinson’s -affected brain. This project may yield a sustainable research program that probes not only neural mechanisms of decision-making, but also potential causes of, and remedies to, cognitive side effects associated with deep brain stimulation. |
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Neuronal mechanisms of human episodic memory |
Mamelak, Adam Nathaniel Rutishauser, Ueli (contact) |
Cedars-sinai Medical Center |
2017 |
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Active |
1U01NS103792-01 |
Human Neuroscience Integrated Approaches Interventional Tools Monitor Neural Activity
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No meaningful therapies for memory disorders exist, partially due to a lack of mechanistic knowledge about human memory. Ueli Rutishauser’s multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary team will study how memories of facts and events are formed and used in the human brain. The team will use electrophysiological methods to record single neurons, simultaneously in multiple brain areas, in awake patients who are implanted with electrodes to localize epileptic seizures. This work will combine single-neuron physiology, behavioral testing, electrical stimulation, and computational modeling, to address three questions: (i) how persistent activity supports memory formation, (ii) what mechanisms translate memories into decisions and judgments, and (iii) how memories are formed and recalled over time. A circuit-level understanding of memory may enable development of new treatments for memory disorders. |
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Neurostimulation and Recording of Real World Spatial Navigation in Humans |
Suthana, Nanthia A |
University Of California Los Angeles |
2017 |
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Active |
1U01NS103802-01 |
Human Neuroscience Integrated Approaches Interventional Tools Monitor Neural Activity
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Spatial memory is thought to involve neurons in the medial temporal lobe that exhibit increased firing rates when an animal is in a specific location during spatial navigation. However, human single-neuron studies have been limited to immobile subjects viewing 2-dimensional navigational tasks. Nanthia Suthana’s team will use intracranial single-neuron and local field potential recordings, combined with deep brain stimulation (DBS), in epilepsy patients performing freely-moving spatial navigation memory tasks using state-of-the-art virtual reality headset technology and full-body motion capture. The team will record from medial temporal lobe subregions, to determine the role of single neurons and oscillations during navigation and memory, and how these neurophysiological mechanisms can be enhanced by deep brain stimulation. This work may yield insights into the neuronal correlates of real-world spatial navigation and memory. |