Project acronym ECSPLAIN
Project Early Cortical Sensory Plasticity and Adaptability in Human Adults
Researcher (PI) Maria Concetta Morrone
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITA DI PISA
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH4, ERC-2013-ADG
Summary Neuronal plasticity is an important mechanism for memory and cognition, and also fundamental to fine-tune perception to the environment. It has long been thought that sensory neural systems are plastic only in very young animals, during the so-called “critical period”. However, recent evidence – including work from our laboratory – suggests that the adult brain may retain far more capacity for plastic change than previously assumed, even for basic visual properties like ocular dominance. This project probes the underlying neural mechanisms of adult human plasticity, and investigates its functional role in important processes such as response optimization, auto-calibration and recovery of function. We propose a range of experiments employing many experimental techniques, organized within four principle research lines. The first (and major) research line studies the effects of brief periods of monocular deprivation on functional cortical reorganization of adults, measured by psychophysics (binocular rivalry), ERP, functional imaging and MR spectroscopy. We will also investigate the clinical implications of monocular patching of children with amblyopia. Another research line looks at the effects of longer-term deprivation, such as those induced by hereditary cone dystrophy. Another examines the interplay between plasticity and visual adaptation in early visual cortex, with techniques aimed to modulate retinotopic organization of primary visual cortex. Finally we will use fMRI to study development and plasticity in newborns, providing benchmark data to assess residual plasticity of older humans. Pilot studies have been conducted on most of the proposed lines of research (including fMRI recording from alert newborns), attesting to their feasibility and the likelihood of them being completed within the timeframe of this grant. The PI has considerable experience in all these research areas.
Summary
Neuronal plasticity is an important mechanism for memory and cognition, and also fundamental to fine-tune perception to the environment. It has long been thought that sensory neural systems are plastic only in very young animals, during the so-called “critical period”. However, recent evidence – including work from our laboratory – suggests that the adult brain may retain far more capacity for plastic change than previously assumed, even for basic visual properties like ocular dominance. This project probes the underlying neural mechanisms of adult human plasticity, and investigates its functional role in important processes such as response optimization, auto-calibration and recovery of function. We propose a range of experiments employing many experimental techniques, organized within four principle research lines. The first (and major) research line studies the effects of brief periods of monocular deprivation on functional cortical reorganization of adults, measured by psychophysics (binocular rivalry), ERP, functional imaging and MR spectroscopy. We will also investigate the clinical implications of monocular patching of children with amblyopia. Another research line looks at the effects of longer-term deprivation, such as those induced by hereditary cone dystrophy. Another examines the interplay between plasticity and visual adaptation in early visual cortex, with techniques aimed to modulate retinotopic organization of primary visual cortex. Finally we will use fMRI to study development and plasticity in newborns, providing benchmark data to assess residual plasticity of older humans. Pilot studies have been conducted on most of the proposed lines of research (including fMRI recording from alert newborns), attesting to their feasibility and the likelihood of them being completed within the timeframe of this grant. The PI has considerable experience in all these research areas.
Max ERC Funding
2 493 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2014-05-01, End date: 2019-04-30
Project acronym Perceptual Awareness
Project Perceptual Awareness in the Reorganizing Brain
Researcher (PI) Carlo Alberto Marzi
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI VERONA
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH4, ERC-2013-ADG
Summary "The present project aims at casting light on the neural and cognitive reorganization of visual function following unilateral lesion at various levels of the central visual system such as optic tract, optic radiation, primary visual cortex, extrastriate visual areas. In the first part of the project we will employ behavioural as well as brain imaging methods to study the basic neural mechanisms of blindsight, that is, above chance visually guided behaviour in hemianopic patients in the absence of visual awareness. The neural and cognitive substrate of this condition will be compared with that of conscious vision in order to tease apart the neural and cognitive mechanisms responsible of the shift from unconscious to conscious vision. In addition to purely behavioural experiments all patients will be tested while recording, in planned sequential experiments, ERP, MEG and fMRI to assess the processing stage and the brain areas subserving unconscious and conscious vision, respectively. This procedure will enable us to correlate the level of perceptual awareness retained or acquired and the lesion site. In the second part of the project we will use visual imagery to ""access"" the deafferented or lesioned visual cortex. By means of fMRI and MEG recording we will assess the effect on specific cortical areas of focusing a mental visual image on given portions of either the intact or the hemianopic field. The results of this procedure will constraint the development of novel imagery-based visual rehabilitation protocols tailored individually on the basis of the lesion profile of the patients and on the presence of concurrent brain imaging feedback on the plastic cortical changes occurred as a result of specific training."
Summary
"The present project aims at casting light on the neural and cognitive reorganization of visual function following unilateral lesion at various levels of the central visual system such as optic tract, optic radiation, primary visual cortex, extrastriate visual areas. In the first part of the project we will employ behavioural as well as brain imaging methods to study the basic neural mechanisms of blindsight, that is, above chance visually guided behaviour in hemianopic patients in the absence of visual awareness. The neural and cognitive substrate of this condition will be compared with that of conscious vision in order to tease apart the neural and cognitive mechanisms responsible of the shift from unconscious to conscious vision. In addition to purely behavioural experiments all patients will be tested while recording, in planned sequential experiments, ERP, MEG and fMRI to assess the processing stage and the brain areas subserving unconscious and conscious vision, respectively. This procedure will enable us to correlate the level of perceptual awareness retained or acquired and the lesion site. In the second part of the project we will use visual imagery to ""access"" the deafferented or lesioned visual cortex. By means of fMRI and MEG recording we will assess the effect on specific cortical areas of focusing a mental visual image on given portions of either the intact or the hemianopic field. The results of this procedure will constraint the development of novel imagery-based visual rehabilitation protocols tailored individually on the basis of the lesion profile of the patients and on the presence of concurrent brain imaging feedback on the plastic cortical changes occurred as a result of specific training."
Max ERC Funding
2 139 556 €
Duration
Start date: 2014-03-01, End date: 2019-02-28
Project acronym RELATIVISM
Project "The Emergence of Relativism -- Historical, Philosophical and Sociological Perspectives"
Researcher (PI) Martin Paul Heinrich Kusch
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITAT WIEN
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH4, ERC-2013-ADG
Summary "Although philosophers as well as scientists are frequently involved in debates over the threat or promise of relativism, there has been little detailed historical, philosophical or sociological work on its emergence and early development. This project addresses this lacuna in a fundamentally new way: it investigates the history of relativism in the German-speaking world (and to some degree, beyond) in the 19th and early 20th century across several disciplines--philosophy, physiology, psychology, history, linguistics, theology, law, linguistics, anthropology, sociology--using integrated historical, sociological and philosophical methods.
The main objectives of this project are thus to:
(1) retrace the intellectual history of the emergence of important forms of relativism (and the counterpart versions of anti-relativism) in 19th and early-20th-century German-speaking philosophy and science;
(2) explain some key junctures of this intellectual history in sociological terms; and
(3) critically evaluate the central arguments for and against relativism as they evolved in the period under investigation, and as they have been developed further in more recent discussions.
Accordingly, the overall project has three main perspectives: Intellectual History of Philosophy and the Sciences, Sociology of Knowledge, and Philosophy.
Methodologically, the project will be innovative in building on the tensions between these three perspectives. E.g. philosophical studies on causal explanation will be used to sharpen sociological or historical analyses. And these analyses will in turn suggest new forms of philosophical reflection on the determinants of intellectual content.
The results of this project are bound to benefit all of the mentioned disciplines in which debates over relativism loom large. Some of the results will be of significance also to wider social debates over, say, multiculturalism or pluralism (themes beyond the immediate focus of the project)."
Summary
"Although philosophers as well as scientists are frequently involved in debates over the threat or promise of relativism, there has been little detailed historical, philosophical or sociological work on its emergence and early development. This project addresses this lacuna in a fundamentally new way: it investigates the history of relativism in the German-speaking world (and to some degree, beyond) in the 19th and early 20th century across several disciplines--philosophy, physiology, psychology, history, linguistics, theology, law, linguistics, anthropology, sociology--using integrated historical, sociological and philosophical methods.
The main objectives of this project are thus to:
(1) retrace the intellectual history of the emergence of important forms of relativism (and the counterpart versions of anti-relativism) in 19th and early-20th-century German-speaking philosophy and science;
(2) explain some key junctures of this intellectual history in sociological terms; and
(3) critically evaluate the central arguments for and against relativism as they evolved in the period under investigation, and as they have been developed further in more recent discussions.
Accordingly, the overall project has three main perspectives: Intellectual History of Philosophy and the Sciences, Sociology of Knowledge, and Philosophy.
Methodologically, the project will be innovative in building on the tensions between these three perspectives. E.g. philosophical studies on causal explanation will be used to sharpen sociological or historical analyses. And these analyses will in turn suggest new forms of philosophical reflection on the determinants of intellectual content.
The results of this project are bound to benefit all of the mentioned disciplines in which debates over relativism loom large. Some of the results will be of significance also to wider social debates over, say, multiculturalism or pluralism (themes beyond the immediate focus of the project)."
Max ERC Funding
2 494 982 €
Duration
Start date: 2014-06-01, End date: 2019-05-31
Project acronym TRANS-NANO
Project Advancing the Study of Chemical, Structural and Surface Transformations in Colloidal Nanocrystals
Researcher (PI) Liberato Manna
Host Institution (HI) FONDAZIONE ISTITUTO ITALIANO DI TECNOLOGIA
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), PE5, ERC-2013-CoG
Summary Colloidal inorganic nanocrystals (NCs) are among the most investigated nanomaterials in Nanoscience due to their high versatility. Research on NCs went through much advancement lately, especially on synthesis, assembly and on the study of their transformations, most notably via cation exchange (all fields in which the PI has contributed already). However, the integration of NCs with fabrication tools that employ conditions such as irradiation, etching and annealing is at a very early stage since we do not have a systematic knowledge of what transformations are triggered in the NCs under those conditions. Also, an issue related to the incorporation of NCs in materials/devices is whether, over time, the NCs will remain as they are, or they will transform into other structures. Plus, these transformations in NCs are poorly studied as they require fast recording techniques. This proposal will embark on an ambitious investigation of post-synthetic transformations in solution-grown NCs: by advancing the understanding of various aspects of chemical, structural and surface transformation of NCs, we will uncover new fabrication techniques that will employ such nanostructures as the key ingredients. This in turn will have a strong impact in opto-electronics, as several electronic components entirely made of NCs will be delivered. Four objectives are targeted: i) developing radically new sets of experimental tools for the investigation of chemical transformations in NCs, above all the ability to monitor in real time these transformations; ii) developing solution-grown nanostructures able to undergo programmed transformations under a defined stimulus; iii) understanding the role of irradiation on the fate of surface ligands and on cation exchange reactions in NCs; iv) combining chemical, structural and surface transformations towards NC-based opto-electronics. The success of the proposal hinges on the proven capabilities of the PI, with ample support from the host Institution.
Summary
Colloidal inorganic nanocrystals (NCs) are among the most investigated nanomaterials in Nanoscience due to their high versatility. Research on NCs went through much advancement lately, especially on synthesis, assembly and on the study of their transformations, most notably via cation exchange (all fields in which the PI has contributed already). However, the integration of NCs with fabrication tools that employ conditions such as irradiation, etching and annealing is at a very early stage since we do not have a systematic knowledge of what transformations are triggered in the NCs under those conditions. Also, an issue related to the incorporation of NCs in materials/devices is whether, over time, the NCs will remain as they are, or they will transform into other structures. Plus, these transformations in NCs are poorly studied as they require fast recording techniques. This proposal will embark on an ambitious investigation of post-synthetic transformations in solution-grown NCs: by advancing the understanding of various aspects of chemical, structural and surface transformation of NCs, we will uncover new fabrication techniques that will employ such nanostructures as the key ingredients. This in turn will have a strong impact in opto-electronics, as several electronic components entirely made of NCs will be delivered. Four objectives are targeted: i) developing radically new sets of experimental tools for the investigation of chemical transformations in NCs, above all the ability to monitor in real time these transformations; ii) developing solution-grown nanostructures able to undergo programmed transformations under a defined stimulus; iii) understanding the role of irradiation on the fate of surface ligands and on cation exchange reactions in NCs; iv) combining chemical, structural and surface transformations towards NC-based opto-electronics. The success of the proposal hinges on the proven capabilities of the PI, with ample support from the host Institution.
Max ERC Funding
2 430 720 €
Duration
Start date: 2014-03-01, End date: 2019-02-28
Project acronym Transfer-Learning
Project Transfer Learning within and between brains
Researcher (PI) Giorgio Coricelli
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI TRENTO
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH4, ERC-2013-CoG
Summary The neural bases of adaptive behavior in social environments are far from being understood. We propose to use both computational and neuroscientific methodologies to provide new and more accurate models of learning in interactive settings. The long-term objective is to develop a neural theory of learning: a mathematical framework that describes the computations mediating social learning in terms of neural signals, structures and plasticity. We plan to develop a model of adaptive learning based on three basic principles: (1) the observation of the outcome of un-chosen options improves the decisions taken in the learning process, (2) learning can be transferred from one domain to another, and (3) learning can be transferred from one agent to another (i.e. social learning). In all three cases, humans appear able to construct and transfer knowledge from sources other than their own direct experience, an underappreciated though we believe critical aspect of learning. Our approach will combine neural and behavioral data with computational models of learning. The hypotheses will be formalized into machine learning algorithms and neural networks of “regret” learning, to quantify the evolution of the learning computations on a trial-by-trial basis from the sequence of stimuli, choices and outcomes. The existence and accuracy of the predicted computations will be then tested on neural signals recorded with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The potential findings of this project could lead us to suggest general principles of social learning, and we will be able to measure and model neural activation to show those general principles in action. In addition, our results could have important implications into policy-making - by revealing what type of information agents are naturally inclined to better learn from - and clinical practice - by outlining potential diagnostic procedures and behavioral therapies for disorders affecting social behavior.
Summary
The neural bases of adaptive behavior in social environments are far from being understood. We propose to use both computational and neuroscientific methodologies to provide new and more accurate models of learning in interactive settings. The long-term objective is to develop a neural theory of learning: a mathematical framework that describes the computations mediating social learning in terms of neural signals, structures and plasticity. We plan to develop a model of adaptive learning based on three basic principles: (1) the observation of the outcome of un-chosen options improves the decisions taken in the learning process, (2) learning can be transferred from one domain to another, and (3) learning can be transferred from one agent to another (i.e. social learning). In all three cases, humans appear able to construct and transfer knowledge from sources other than their own direct experience, an underappreciated though we believe critical aspect of learning. Our approach will combine neural and behavioral data with computational models of learning. The hypotheses will be formalized into machine learning algorithms and neural networks of “regret” learning, to quantify the evolution of the learning computations on a trial-by-trial basis from the sequence of stimuli, choices and outcomes. The existence and accuracy of the predicted computations will be then tested on neural signals recorded with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The potential findings of this project could lead us to suggest general principles of social learning, and we will be able to measure and model neural activation to show those general principles in action. In addition, our results could have important implications into policy-making - by revealing what type of information agents are naturally inclined to better learn from - and clinical practice - by outlining potential diagnostic procedures and behavioral therapies for disorders affecting social behavior.
Max ERC Funding
1 999 998 €
Duration
Start date: 2014-08-01, End date: 2020-01-31
