BRAVEST · Boosting Reward-based Attention through VEstibular STimulation
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2018-02-01 → 2020-01-31
- EU contribution
- €173,076
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-EF-ST
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Boosting Reward-based Attention through VEstibular STimulation
Intrinsically rewarding stimuli can strongly capture human spatial attention. This phenomenon contributes in creating some abstract “priority map” of the surrounding environment, which is therefore explored and exploited more effectively. Neuroimaging studies suggest that the Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC) holds an important role in orienting attention in space as a function of the perceived value of external stimuli. The ACC is located deep beneath the brain’s surface, and therefore it is hardly reachable with common neurostimulation devices. In contrast, Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation (GVS) has been consistently shown to activate deep brain structures involved in mood and affective processing. GVS is a safe way to stimulate the vestibular system through weak electric currents applied behind the ears; the activity of the VIII cranial nerve is modulated, resulting in mild illusions of self-movement. The first objective of the action was studying whether GVS is capable to affect human motivation, in light of these subcortical brain activations. Specifically, we sought to assess whether spatial attention is oriented by rewards, during GVS, differently with respect to sham stimulation. We reasoned that this could have clinical implications. Often, after stroke, patients may present difficulties in orienting attention toward the region of space opposite to the brain lesion (Unilateral Spatial Neglect, USN). USN has a strong and debilitating impact on daily life activities. Should GVS promote attentional orienting by value information, this technique could be used in combination with ad hoc behavioral paradigms aimed at maximizing the exploration of the neglected side of space. Testing this possibility was the second objective of the proposal.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Intrinsically rewarding stimuli strongly favour attentional capture (AC) in humans, this effect being dramatic in a number of addiction disorders. The physiology of this phenomenon is poorly understood, but recent neuroimaging studies point to a role of the Anterior Cingulate Cortex (aCC) in this kind of attentional engagement. A way to act on this circuitry would provide compelling evidence and be a major advance for the cognitive and clinical neuroscience of motivation. Most brain stimulation techniques (i.e. TMS, tDCS) typically do not allow for stimulation of deep brain structures, their effect being limited to superficial areas. In contrast, Vestibular Stimulation (VS), via galvanic or thermal activation of the peripheral organs devoted to balance, have been consistently shown to produce reliable activation of deep structures involved in mood and affective processing, including the aCC. VS are routinely employed in medicine and physiology, but a deeper understanding of their cognitive effects is needed. Here I propose having healthy participants and patients with brain damage and attentional disorders (i.e. Spatial Neglect) to complete simple behavioural tasks assessing the interaction between attention and motivation, while receiving VS. The main objective is to assess whether the modulation of brain activity through VS may modulate the degree of AC, i.e. facilitate the orienting of attention towards rewarding stimuli. Such project could not only greatly advance our knowledge on the neural circuitry underlying the interplay between reward processing and visuospatial attention, but also shed light on the neural underpinnings of the aberrant AC observed in several clinical pathologies, allowing devising novel therapeutic approaches. Beside this main goal, I will receive advanced training for fMRI analysis, boosting my attractiveness as independent scholar and allowing me to further explore the role of brain areas extending beyond the aCC.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- INSTITUT NATIONAL DE LA SANTE ET DE LA RECHERCHE MEDICALE · ParisCoordinatorFrance
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union