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Project

Towards a more comprehensive understanding of catecholaminergic consequences in dynamic network topology and salience processing

The network structure and organisation of the human brain has become of increasing interest to the neuroscientific community. Here, the brain can be viewed as a system with various interacting regions that produce complex behaviours. Previous work has shown that the orchestrated communication between sub-networks in the brain (‘modules’) has the potential to illuminate different cognitive processes, yet this has not yet been systematically investigated in the context of salience processing. While the underlying mechanisms regulating these interactions remain unknown, recent work suggests a prominent role of norepinephrine and dopamine. Furthermore, both norepinephrine and dopamine are implicated in salience processing, but their roles have thus far virtually been studied in isolation. Using fMRI and computational modelling, I will investigate the role of norepinephrine and dopamine on dynamic network architecture in the brain in the context of reward, novelty and emotional valance processing. This study will be performed in a healthy adult population, as well as in patients with Parkinson’s disease, a clinical group in which these neurotransmitter systems are affected.

Date:1 Nov 2019 →  31 Oct 2022
Keywords:reward, novelty, motivation, fMRI, Network topology, emotion, noradrenaline, computational modeling, dopamine