Project acronym DRASTIC
Project Apathy in schizophrenia: time for a DRASTIC (Dual Routes to Apathy in Schizophrenia: Treatment, Imaging, Cognition) study
Researcher (PI) Andreas Aleman
Host Institution (HI) ACADEMISCH ZIEKENHUIS GRONINGEN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH4, ERC-2012-StG_20111124
Summary Apathy is a prominent and severely debilitating aspect of several psychiatric disorders, most notably schizophrenia. Little is known regarding the neuroscientific basis of apathy, however. Clinically, it has been suggested that two forms of apathy can be distinguished: cognitive apathy (CA) which concerns reduced initiative to start daily activities and social-emotional apathy (SEA) which concerns reduced interest in otherwise gratifying activities. I hypothesize that CA is primarily a dysfunction of cognitive control and self-initiated action, whereas SEA is primarily a failure to signal the salience of positive events. The present project, for the first time, tests the hypothesis that two neuroanatomically distinct routes underlie these two forms of apathy: a dorsal frontostriatal circuit including also the right parietal cortex for CA (associated with abnormalities of glutamate neurotransmission), and a more ventral frontostriatal circuit including the reward system for SEA (involving abnormal dopamine transmission). The objective of this project is threefold. First, to investigate the two neural circuits in relation to the two forms of apathy using functional MRI and positron emission tomography. Second, I will test the hypothesis that CA is associated with poorer long-term functioning using longitudinal data. Third, we will conduct a controlled treatment study of a novel intervention to improve CA: transcranial magnetic stimulation over the right prefrontal cortex to target the relevant network.
Thus, the present proposal aims to elucidate fundamental cognitive and emotional processes underlying apathy by unravelling the neural basis of two pathways that may lead to apathy. Last but not least, the treatment study may contribute to novel strategies that will ultimately improve patients’ lives. The results will also have implications for understanding apathy in patients with depression, brain damage and neurodegenerative diseases.
Summary
Apathy is a prominent and severely debilitating aspect of several psychiatric disorders, most notably schizophrenia. Little is known regarding the neuroscientific basis of apathy, however. Clinically, it has been suggested that two forms of apathy can be distinguished: cognitive apathy (CA) which concerns reduced initiative to start daily activities and social-emotional apathy (SEA) which concerns reduced interest in otherwise gratifying activities. I hypothesize that CA is primarily a dysfunction of cognitive control and self-initiated action, whereas SEA is primarily a failure to signal the salience of positive events. The present project, for the first time, tests the hypothesis that two neuroanatomically distinct routes underlie these two forms of apathy: a dorsal frontostriatal circuit including also the right parietal cortex for CA (associated with abnormalities of glutamate neurotransmission), and a more ventral frontostriatal circuit including the reward system for SEA (involving abnormal dopamine transmission). The objective of this project is threefold. First, to investigate the two neural circuits in relation to the two forms of apathy using functional MRI and positron emission tomography. Second, I will test the hypothesis that CA is associated with poorer long-term functioning using longitudinal data. Third, we will conduct a controlled treatment study of a novel intervention to improve CA: transcranial magnetic stimulation over the right prefrontal cortex to target the relevant network.
Thus, the present proposal aims to elucidate fundamental cognitive and emotional processes underlying apathy by unravelling the neural basis of two pathways that may lead to apathy. Last but not least, the treatment study may contribute to novel strategies that will ultimately improve patients’ lives. The results will also have implications for understanding apathy in patients with depression, brain damage and neurodegenerative diseases.
Max ERC Funding
1 499 780 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-04-01, End date: 2018-03-31
Project acronym EM
Project Elevated Minds. The Sublime in the Public Arts in 17th-century Paris and Amsterdam
Researcher (PI) Stijn Bussels
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITEIT LEIDEN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH5, ERC-2012-StG_20111124
Summary By focussing on how the sublime was used in Amsterdam and Paris in grands travaux and in the theatre and spectacle as part of a strategy to persuade the population of the regime’s legitimacy, this program aims to reconstruct an unknown part of the history of the sublime, and lay the foundation for a study of its role in the visual arts and the theatre of early modern Europe. The hypothesis of this program is that early, often hitherto unknown editions and varieties of the sublime from France and the Dutch Republic should be understood primarily against a political background. Many of these were dedicated to important members of ruling families, made for prominent politicians, or read by the ruling classes. Many poems, plays, spectacle, paintings, buildings and public spaces that were experienced as sublime have clear connections with political issues, in particular with the legitimacy of new rulers or regimes, the murder of politicians, or even regicide. In Amsterdam and Paris conspicuous public works served to proclaim that legitimacy, but also became the locus of its contestation. The sublime was used both as a means of persuasion and as a way of articulating the effect of these works on the viewer.
Summary
By focussing on how the sublime was used in Amsterdam and Paris in grands travaux and in the theatre and spectacle as part of a strategy to persuade the population of the regime’s legitimacy, this program aims to reconstruct an unknown part of the history of the sublime, and lay the foundation for a study of its role in the visual arts and the theatre of early modern Europe. The hypothesis of this program is that early, often hitherto unknown editions and varieties of the sublime from France and the Dutch Republic should be understood primarily against a political background. Many of these were dedicated to important members of ruling families, made for prominent politicians, or read by the ruling classes. Many poems, plays, spectacle, paintings, buildings and public spaces that were experienced as sublime have clear connections with political issues, in particular with the legitimacy of new rulers or regimes, the murder of politicians, or even regicide. In Amsterdam and Paris conspicuous public works served to proclaim that legitimacy, but also became the locus of its contestation. The sublime was used both as a means of persuasion and as a way of articulating the effect of these works on the viewer.
Max ERC Funding
1 245 742 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-02-01, End date: 2018-01-31
Project acronym FIGHT
Project FIGHT – Fighting Monopolies, Defying Empires 1500-1750: a Comparative Overview of Free Agents and Informal Empires in Western Europe and the Ottoman Empire
Researcher (PI) Catia Alexandra Pereira Antunes
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITEIT LEIDEN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH6, ERC-2012-StG_20111124
Summary How did free agents (entrepreneurs operating outside of the state-sponsored monopolies) in Western Europe and the Ottoman Empire react to the creation of colonial monopolies (royal monopolies and chartered companies) by centralized states between 1500 and 1750? This question will be answered by looking at the role individuals played in the construction of informal empires, defined as a multitude of self-organized networks operating world-wide, whose main goal was safeguarding personal advantages and maximizing profits, in spite of state intervention.
Self-organized networks of free agents fought royal monopolies held by the Ottoman Sultans, the Iberian and French Kings and the Dutch, English, Swedish and Danish chartered companies. Free agents, their families and networks operated, in the Atlantic and/or Asia, across geographical borders between empires, went beyond the restrictions imposed by religious differences, ethnicity, defying the interests of the central states in Europe and Asia, questioning loyalties and redefining identities. This informal empire brought to fruition by the individual choices of free agents and their networks as a reaction to the State imposed monopolies was, I hypothesize, a borderless, self-organized, often cross-cultural, multi-ethnic, pluri-national and stateless world.
My approach is innovative in that it employs a theoretical grid for the analysis of the instances in which Early Modern monopolies were challenged, mediated, co-opted or simply hijacked by free agents. My model delineates actions and re-actions such as illegal activities, cooperative strategies or extensive collaboration between networks and the central states. Based on the unique comparison between Western Europe and the Ottoman Empire, as well as in the analyses of the Atlantic and Asian expansions of European powers, my proposal will pioneer a new approach to the comparative history of empires during the Early Modern period.
Summary
How did free agents (entrepreneurs operating outside of the state-sponsored monopolies) in Western Europe and the Ottoman Empire react to the creation of colonial monopolies (royal monopolies and chartered companies) by centralized states between 1500 and 1750? This question will be answered by looking at the role individuals played in the construction of informal empires, defined as a multitude of self-organized networks operating world-wide, whose main goal was safeguarding personal advantages and maximizing profits, in spite of state intervention.
Self-organized networks of free agents fought royal monopolies held by the Ottoman Sultans, the Iberian and French Kings and the Dutch, English, Swedish and Danish chartered companies. Free agents, their families and networks operated, in the Atlantic and/or Asia, across geographical borders between empires, went beyond the restrictions imposed by religious differences, ethnicity, defying the interests of the central states in Europe and Asia, questioning loyalties and redefining identities. This informal empire brought to fruition by the individual choices of free agents and their networks as a reaction to the State imposed monopolies was, I hypothesize, a borderless, self-organized, often cross-cultural, multi-ethnic, pluri-national and stateless world.
My approach is innovative in that it employs a theoretical grid for the analysis of the instances in which Early Modern monopolies were challenged, mediated, co-opted or simply hijacked by free agents. My model delineates actions and re-actions such as illegal activities, cooperative strategies or extensive collaboration between networks and the central states. Based on the unique comparison between Western Europe and the Ottoman Empire, as well as in the analyses of the Atlantic and Asian expansions of European powers, my proposal will pioneer a new approach to the comparative history of empires during the Early Modern period.
Max ERC Funding
1 499 933 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-01-01, End date: 2017-12-31
Project acronym GLOLAND
Project Integrating human agency in global-scale land change models
Researcher (PI) Pieter Verburg
Host Institution (HI) STICHTING VU
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH3, ERC-2012-StG_20111124
Summary Current global-scale research on environmental change has a strong focus on the physical processes that underlie changes in the earth system. Although global environmental change is driven by individual and collective human decisions, most earth system and integrated assessment models lack a proper representation of variation in human decision making. The importance of variation in local context has caused much social-science research on the underlying driving factors and decision making structures to focus on local case studies. Consequently, important insights from social-science have been ignored in global-scale assessment models.
The proposed research, which focuses on land system change as one of the dominant processes of global environmental change, contributes to a new generation of integrated global assessment models. These models will explicitly account for the (spatial) variation in decision making to support the design of earth system governance.
An improved understanding of the factors that drive decision making will be obtained through a novel approach for the meta-analysis of existing case studies worldwide. Supplementary empirical evidence will be collected by analyzing a number of transects and disentangling the global and local factors that influence land change decisions. Generalized, global-scale multi-agent modelling systems that represent variation in decision making will be developed. While the current approaches are driven mainly by changes in consumption patterns and demography, we propose an alternative approach that accounts for the full range of ecosystem service demands and explicitly addresses the spatial relationship between demand and supply of those services that influence decision making. Incorporating the findings into existing integrated assessment models will be supported by a trans-disciplinary approach to identify the requirements of the science-policy process in earth system governance.
Summary
Current global-scale research on environmental change has a strong focus on the physical processes that underlie changes in the earth system. Although global environmental change is driven by individual and collective human decisions, most earth system and integrated assessment models lack a proper representation of variation in human decision making. The importance of variation in local context has caused much social-science research on the underlying driving factors and decision making structures to focus on local case studies. Consequently, important insights from social-science have been ignored in global-scale assessment models.
The proposed research, which focuses on land system change as one of the dominant processes of global environmental change, contributes to a new generation of integrated global assessment models. These models will explicitly account for the (spatial) variation in decision making to support the design of earth system governance.
An improved understanding of the factors that drive decision making will be obtained through a novel approach for the meta-analysis of existing case studies worldwide. Supplementary empirical evidence will be collected by analyzing a number of transects and disentangling the global and local factors that influence land change decisions. Generalized, global-scale multi-agent modelling systems that represent variation in decision making will be developed. While the current approaches are driven mainly by changes in consumption patterns and demography, we propose an alternative approach that accounts for the full range of ecosystem service demands and explicitly addresses the spatial relationship between demand and supply of those services that influence decision making. Incorporating the findings into existing integrated assessment models will be supported by a trans-disciplinary approach to identify the requirements of the science-policy process in earth system governance.
Max ERC Funding
1 499 639 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-02-01, End date: 2019-01-31
Project acronym IsPovertyDestiny?
Project Is Poverty Destiny? A New Empirical Foundation for Long-Term African Welfare Analysis
Researcher (PI) Ewout Hielke Pieter Frankema
Host Institution (HI) WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH6, ERC-2012-StG_20111124
Summary This project aims to create a new empirical foundation for the study of long-term African welfare development, in order to provide new impetus to the debate on the root causes of African poverty. What is missing is a systematic account of long-term welfare development that connects the colonial era (c. 1880–1960) to the post-colonial era (c. 1960–present) on the basis of temporally consistent and internationally comparable living standard indicators. The lack of such an empirical foundation has left important research questions unresolved. Firstly, did African income levels fall behind those of the rest of the world during the deep economic and political crises of the late 20th century or long before that? Secondly, to what extent did ordinary Africans benefit from the expansion of colonial trade and foreign investment between 1880 and 1960? Thirdly, to what extent has African welfare growth been constrained by structural development impediments, such as adverse geographical conditions? This project will take three key steps in order to push current research on these questions beyond the state-of-the-art. Firstly, the project will measure the annual development of real wages of various categories of indigenous labourers in selected cities and rural areas in the former British and French African colonies from the 1880s onwards, using the vastly important, but largely unexploited, wage and price statistics from colonial archival sources; then connect these to existing post-colonial wage and price series. Secondly, the project will compare long-term trajectories of African welfare development to those of other world regions, using the available datasets on historical living standards for Europe, Asia and Latin America. Thirdly, the project will explain the observed intra-African variation in these trajectories by integrating the ultimate sources of long-term economic growth (geography, institutions and trade) into a single analytical framework.
Summary
This project aims to create a new empirical foundation for the study of long-term African welfare development, in order to provide new impetus to the debate on the root causes of African poverty. What is missing is a systematic account of long-term welfare development that connects the colonial era (c. 1880–1960) to the post-colonial era (c. 1960–present) on the basis of temporally consistent and internationally comparable living standard indicators. The lack of such an empirical foundation has left important research questions unresolved. Firstly, did African income levels fall behind those of the rest of the world during the deep economic and political crises of the late 20th century or long before that? Secondly, to what extent did ordinary Africans benefit from the expansion of colonial trade and foreign investment between 1880 and 1960? Thirdly, to what extent has African welfare growth been constrained by structural development impediments, such as adverse geographical conditions? This project will take three key steps in order to push current research on these questions beyond the state-of-the-art. Firstly, the project will measure the annual development of real wages of various categories of indigenous labourers in selected cities and rural areas in the former British and French African colonies from the 1880s onwards, using the vastly important, but largely unexploited, wage and price statistics from colonial archival sources; then connect these to existing post-colonial wage and price series. Secondly, the project will compare long-term trajectories of African welfare development to those of other world regions, using the available datasets on historical living standards for Europe, Asia and Latin America. Thirdly, the project will explain the observed intra-African variation in these trajectories by integrating the ultimate sources of long-term economic growth (geography, institutions and trade) into a single analytical framework.
Max ERC Funding
1 498 082 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-12-01, End date: 2017-11-30
Project acronym LANDGRABRU
Project ‘Land grabbing’ in Russia: Large-scale investors and post-Soviet rural communities
Researcher (PI) Anne Visser
Host Institution (HI) ERASMUS UNIVERSITEIT ROTTERDAM
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH2, ERC-2012-StG_20111124
Summary "The mid-2000s saw the emergence of large-scale land acquisitions. While processes of agricultural ‘land grabbing’ have received considerable global attention, particularly in Africa, the land grabbing issue in the countries of the post-Soviet region has gone largely unnoticed
This research proposal aims to explore this omission in the ‘land grab’ debate by studying the case of Russia. The main research question is: To what extent and how has global land grabbing occurred in Russia, with what implications to local communities, and how have local communities resisted or modified these land deals (if at all)?
The proposed research is pertinent by providing a case distinct from other regions, which is likely to raise new insights on global land grabbing. Several features make the case of Russia remarkably divergent. First, whereas in most parts of the world the current trends see an increase in population density and marginal and forest land being converted into cultivated land, Russia is witness to massive land abandonment and reforestation. Another particular feature is the low level presence of an autonomously organized civil society (which also manifests on the issue of land grabbing contestation).
This research will be the first comprehensive study of land grabbing and related rural social movements in Russia and the post-Soviet area at large. Rural movements have been studied mainly in Latin-America, Africa and Asia. In contrast, research on rural movements in post/reform socialist contexts (such as China) is still in its infancy, and practically absent in Russia. The proposed research aims to establish a new field of ‘(post)-socialist land grabbing and rural social mobilisation’ studies. Moreover, it will contribute to more broad debates on civil society and protest in state dominated, post/reform-socialist countries, by studying these issues from the perspective of the (mostly ignored) rural areas."
Summary
"The mid-2000s saw the emergence of large-scale land acquisitions. While processes of agricultural ‘land grabbing’ have received considerable global attention, particularly in Africa, the land grabbing issue in the countries of the post-Soviet region has gone largely unnoticed
This research proposal aims to explore this omission in the ‘land grab’ debate by studying the case of Russia. The main research question is: To what extent and how has global land grabbing occurred in Russia, with what implications to local communities, and how have local communities resisted or modified these land deals (if at all)?
The proposed research is pertinent by providing a case distinct from other regions, which is likely to raise new insights on global land grabbing. Several features make the case of Russia remarkably divergent. First, whereas in most parts of the world the current trends see an increase in population density and marginal and forest land being converted into cultivated land, Russia is witness to massive land abandonment and reforestation. Another particular feature is the low level presence of an autonomously organized civil society (which also manifests on the issue of land grabbing contestation).
This research will be the first comprehensive study of land grabbing and related rural social movements in Russia and the post-Soviet area at large. Rural movements have been studied mainly in Latin-America, Africa and Asia. In contrast, research on rural movements in post/reform socialist contexts (such as China) is still in its infancy, and practically absent in Russia. The proposed research aims to establish a new field of ‘(post)-socialist land grabbing and rural social mobilisation’ studies. Moreover, it will contribute to more broad debates on civil society and protest in state dominated, post/reform-socialist countries, by studying these issues from the perspective of the (mostly ignored) rural areas."
Max ERC Funding
820 832 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-01-01, End date: 2017-12-31
Project acronym LEXMERCPUB
Project Transnational Private-Public Arbitration as Global Regulatory Governance: Charting and Codifying the Lex Mercatoria Publica
Researcher (PI) Stephan Wolf-Bernhard Schill
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH2, ERC-2012-StG_20111124
Summary The proposed research will analyze the rising phenomenon of transnational arbitrations between private economic actors and public law bodies as a mechanism of global regulatory governance. It breaks with the prevailing view that arbitration involves no more than settling individual disputes and hypothesizes instead that arbitrators generate the rules governing public-private relations rather independently of specific domestic legal systems and their democratic processes, and thereby prospectively steer and restrict government conduct. The body of law thus crafted by arbitral tribunals is what the project designates as lex mercatoria publica, in allusion to the a-national law generated by arbitral tribunals in international private-private disputes.
Unlike existing research, the proposed project will provide a comprehensive (historic, sociological, political, economic, and legal) perspective on the lex mercatoria publica and explore its legitimacy. It will, by empirically charting the modern and historic practice of private-public arbitration, describe and analyze the content of the lex mercatoria publica and develop, through comparative law research, normative criteria to assess the legitimacy of private-public arbitrations in democratic societies that are based on the rule of law. The research will result in a comprehensive online database and a codification of both the principles of private-public arbitration and of the lex mercatoria publica as developed and applied by arbitral tribunals.
The project will enable arbitrators, judges, and other international and national decision-makers to render more predictable, more circumspect, overall better, and fairer decisions concerning private-public arbitration. This will provide solid foundations for enhancing transnational private-public arbitration as an institution of global regulatory governance in the interest of better and more efficient cooperation between states and private economic actors in the global economy.
Summary
The proposed research will analyze the rising phenomenon of transnational arbitrations between private economic actors and public law bodies as a mechanism of global regulatory governance. It breaks with the prevailing view that arbitration involves no more than settling individual disputes and hypothesizes instead that arbitrators generate the rules governing public-private relations rather independently of specific domestic legal systems and their democratic processes, and thereby prospectively steer and restrict government conduct. The body of law thus crafted by arbitral tribunals is what the project designates as lex mercatoria publica, in allusion to the a-national law generated by arbitral tribunals in international private-private disputes.
Unlike existing research, the proposed project will provide a comprehensive (historic, sociological, political, economic, and legal) perspective on the lex mercatoria publica and explore its legitimacy. It will, by empirically charting the modern and historic practice of private-public arbitration, describe and analyze the content of the lex mercatoria publica and develop, through comparative law research, normative criteria to assess the legitimacy of private-public arbitrations in democratic societies that are based on the rule of law. The research will result in a comprehensive online database and a codification of both the principles of private-public arbitration and of the lex mercatoria publica as developed and applied by arbitral tribunals.
The project will enable arbitrators, judges, and other international and national decision-makers to render more predictable, more circumspect, overall better, and fairer decisions concerning private-public arbitration. This will provide solid foundations for enhancing transnational private-public arbitration as an institution of global regulatory governance in the interest of better and more efficient cooperation between states and private economic actors in the global economy.
Max ERC Funding
1 223 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-03-01, End date: 2019-02-28
Project acronym NEUROCOOPERATION
Project Trust & Reciprocity: neural and psychological models of social cooperation
Researcher (PI) Alan Sanfey
Host Institution (HI) STICHTING KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH4, ERC-2012-StG_20111124
Summary Novel interdisciplinary approaches offer an exciting avenue to study interactive decision-making by combining the methods of behavioral experiments, functional neuroimaging, and formal economic models. This project employs this approach to explore decision-making related to trust, reciprocity, cooperation and fairness in social interactive scenarios. These processes are vital for the successful functioning of society, but there have been relatively few studies of the mechanisms involved. This proposal will examine in detail the psychological and neural mechanisms behind these processes. Project 1 will investigate how we place trust in others, by using behavioral, neuroimaging, and computational modeling. The aims are to explore the influence of both automatically processed cues as well as the cognitive processes of learning from experience. Project 2 will investigate how we reciprocate trust, in particular the role of positive and negative emotions in this decision. The aim is to construct detailed, neurally-inspired models of this process, and test competing theories of reciprocation. Project 3 will explore the factors underlying cooperation between individuals and groups, particularly with relevance to the roles of reward, punishment and agency. Finally, Project 4 will investigate how our expectations of the world shape our responses to social situations. Social norms can have a large impact on our decisions, and we will build models that incorporate expectations and explore their neural correlates. Overall, this project can greatly enhance our knowledge of decision-making in social interactive contexts, with both theoretical and practical relevance. The innovative approach has the potential to advance our knowledge of existing theoretical accounts by constraining models based on the underlying neurobiology, and the knowledge gleaned can have a real impact on questions of public policy.
Summary
Novel interdisciplinary approaches offer an exciting avenue to study interactive decision-making by combining the methods of behavioral experiments, functional neuroimaging, and formal economic models. This project employs this approach to explore decision-making related to trust, reciprocity, cooperation and fairness in social interactive scenarios. These processes are vital for the successful functioning of society, but there have been relatively few studies of the mechanisms involved. This proposal will examine in detail the psychological and neural mechanisms behind these processes. Project 1 will investigate how we place trust in others, by using behavioral, neuroimaging, and computational modeling. The aims are to explore the influence of both automatically processed cues as well as the cognitive processes of learning from experience. Project 2 will investigate how we reciprocate trust, in particular the role of positive and negative emotions in this decision. The aim is to construct detailed, neurally-inspired models of this process, and test competing theories of reciprocation. Project 3 will explore the factors underlying cooperation between individuals and groups, particularly with relevance to the roles of reward, punishment and agency. Finally, Project 4 will investigate how our expectations of the world shape our responses to social situations. Social norms can have a large impact on our decisions, and we will build models that incorporate expectations and explore their neural correlates. Overall, this project can greatly enhance our knowledge of decision-making in social interactive contexts, with both theoretical and practical relevance. The innovative approach has the potential to advance our knowledge of existing theoretical accounts by constraining models based on the underlying neurobiology, and the knowledge gleaned can have a real impact on questions of public policy.
Max ERC Funding
1 451 927 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-03-01, End date: 2018-02-28
Project acronym NEURODEFENSE
Project Neural control of human freeze-fight-flight
Researcher (PI) Karin Roelofs
Host Institution (HI) STICHTING KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH4, ERC-2012-StG_20111124
Summary This study investigates the mechanistic bases of human freeze-fight-flight reactions.
The ability to control our social behavior is essential for almost every social interaction. It frequently fails in challenging situations when people fall back on basic defensive „freeze-fight-flight‟ (FFF) reactions. It chronically fails in social motivational disorders, with social anxiety as one extreme, and aggression as another. Such disorders are notoriously resistant to therapy. Accordingly, it is essential that we obtain mechanistic insight into the psychological and neurobiological control of human FFF behavior.
Upon a social challenge, an automatic attentive immobility, the freeze reaction, serves fast risk-assessment, needed to optimize subsequent fight-or-flight responses. Precise temporal tuning of FFF responses is critical to adequate coping with social challenges. It is orchestrated by complex neuroendocrine systems, utilizing the steroid hormone testosterone. Imbalances in the temporal dynamics and associated neuroendocrine control of FFF behaviors are highly predictive of animal fear and aggression. Testing these mechanisms in humans is critical to advance mechanistic insight in human FFF control, but has as of yet been foreclosed in the absence of the requisite tools to objectively measure human FFF. Recent innovations have enabled us to demonstrate that human freeze reactions to social threat mimic animal freeze responses (bodily immobility and fear bradycardia). These findings open up paths toward investigating the role of FFF reactions in social motivational disorders.
The major aim of the proposed research program is to reveal the mechanistic basis of human FFF regulation through the use of three cutting-edge methods: First I intend to integrate body-postural and electroencephalographic measures to detect, for the first time, the temporal dynamics and neuroendocrine control of the full FFF sequence in healthy individuals and patients with social anxiety and aggressive disorders. Second, I will apply hormonal and neural interventions to directly manipulate human FFF control using testosterone administration and transcranial magnetic stimulation. Third, and most crucially, I will validate the predictive value of basic FFF tendencies prospectively in a large longitudinal study. I will test adolescents in a critical transition phase (age 14-17) when they are most vulnerable to social and hormonal influences and when most symptoms develop.
The projected findings will advance core theoretical knowledge of the mechanistic basis of human emotion regulation. Moreover they are of critical importance for clinical treatment and society, breaking the grounds for early symptom detection and (preventive) intervention into social anxiety and aggressive disorders that form an ever-growing burden for society.
Summary
This study investigates the mechanistic bases of human freeze-fight-flight reactions.
The ability to control our social behavior is essential for almost every social interaction. It frequently fails in challenging situations when people fall back on basic defensive „freeze-fight-flight‟ (FFF) reactions. It chronically fails in social motivational disorders, with social anxiety as one extreme, and aggression as another. Such disorders are notoriously resistant to therapy. Accordingly, it is essential that we obtain mechanistic insight into the psychological and neurobiological control of human FFF behavior.
Upon a social challenge, an automatic attentive immobility, the freeze reaction, serves fast risk-assessment, needed to optimize subsequent fight-or-flight responses. Precise temporal tuning of FFF responses is critical to adequate coping with social challenges. It is orchestrated by complex neuroendocrine systems, utilizing the steroid hormone testosterone. Imbalances in the temporal dynamics and associated neuroendocrine control of FFF behaviors are highly predictive of animal fear and aggression. Testing these mechanisms in humans is critical to advance mechanistic insight in human FFF control, but has as of yet been foreclosed in the absence of the requisite tools to objectively measure human FFF. Recent innovations have enabled us to demonstrate that human freeze reactions to social threat mimic animal freeze responses (bodily immobility and fear bradycardia). These findings open up paths toward investigating the role of FFF reactions in social motivational disorders.
The major aim of the proposed research program is to reveal the mechanistic basis of human FFF regulation through the use of three cutting-edge methods: First I intend to integrate body-postural and electroencephalographic measures to detect, for the first time, the temporal dynamics and neuroendocrine control of the full FFF sequence in healthy individuals and patients with social anxiety and aggressive disorders. Second, I will apply hormonal and neural interventions to directly manipulate human FFF control using testosterone administration and transcranial magnetic stimulation. Third, and most crucially, I will validate the predictive value of basic FFF tendencies prospectively in a large longitudinal study. I will test adolescents in a critical transition phase (age 14-17) when they are most vulnerable to social and hormonal influences and when most symptoms develop.
The projected findings will advance core theoretical knowledge of the mechanistic basis of human emotion regulation. Moreover they are of critical importance for clinical treatment and society, breaking the grounds for early symptom detection and (preventive) intervention into social anxiety and aggressive disorders that form an ever-growing burden for society.
Max ERC Funding
1 499 530 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-06-01, End date: 2018-05-31
Project acronym PLIOPROX
Project New proxies to quantify continental climate development during the Pliocene
Researcher (PI) Johannes Weijers
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITEIT UTRECHT
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE10, ERC-2012-StG_20111012
Summary Atmospheric CO2 concentrations have risen rapidly since pre-industrial times and our current climate is not yet in equilibrium with this; it will change. To obtain insight in the type and magnitude of this change and to validate climate models used to project these changes, we need to look back at past climates. The most recent time in Earth history with CO2 levels that were similar to today is the Pliocene. The Pliocene thus provides a unique window into a world that exhibited many of the climate characteristics that we might experience. These are documented by proxies locked into sedimentary archives, especially marine sediments. It remains a challenge for palaeoclimatologists, however, to quantify past terrestrial temperatures. I have recently developed a novel proxy for quantitative annual mean air temperature reconstruction, which is based on the distribution of membrane lipids synthesised by soil bacteria. Upon soil erosion these molecules are transported to the marine realm where they become part of the marine sedimentary archive.
The PlioProx project aims at a quantitative reconstruction of continental temperatures and latitudinal temperature gradients for the Pliocene. This will be achieved by applying this new palaeothermometer to high resolution marine sediment records near river outflows to generate river-basin integrated records of continental air temperature. This approach also allows for a direct comparison to reconstructed sea surface temperatures. Using globally distributed sediment records, latitudinal temperature gradients will be constructed which will be compared to moisture transport and rainout, reconstructed using stable hydrogen isotopes from plant wax lipids. Results will provide vital new insights in climate evolution on land under elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations. It will also contribute to improving the next generation earth system models that are used to predict future climate.
Summary
Atmospheric CO2 concentrations have risen rapidly since pre-industrial times and our current climate is not yet in equilibrium with this; it will change. To obtain insight in the type and magnitude of this change and to validate climate models used to project these changes, we need to look back at past climates. The most recent time in Earth history with CO2 levels that were similar to today is the Pliocene. The Pliocene thus provides a unique window into a world that exhibited many of the climate characteristics that we might experience. These are documented by proxies locked into sedimentary archives, especially marine sediments. It remains a challenge for palaeoclimatologists, however, to quantify past terrestrial temperatures. I have recently developed a novel proxy for quantitative annual mean air temperature reconstruction, which is based on the distribution of membrane lipids synthesised by soil bacteria. Upon soil erosion these molecules are transported to the marine realm where they become part of the marine sedimentary archive.
The PlioProx project aims at a quantitative reconstruction of continental temperatures and latitudinal temperature gradients for the Pliocene. This will be achieved by applying this new palaeothermometer to high resolution marine sediment records near river outflows to generate river-basin integrated records of continental air temperature. This approach also allows for a direct comparison to reconstructed sea surface temperatures. Using globally distributed sediment records, latitudinal temperature gradients will be constructed which will be compared to moisture transport and rainout, reconstructed using stable hydrogen isotopes from plant wax lipids. Results will provide vital new insights in climate evolution on land under elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations. It will also contribute to improving the next generation earth system models that are used to predict future climate.
Max ERC Funding
1 500 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-10-01, End date: 2017-09-30
Project acronym ROSE
Project Restriction and Obviation in Scalar Expressions: the semantics and pragmatics of range markers across and throughout languages
Researcher (PI) Rick Willem Frans Nouwen
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITEIT UTRECHT
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH4, ERC-2012-StG_20111124
Summary "Most languages have a fairly well developed system of words for numbers, called numerals. It is cross-linguistically common, moreover, for languages to have a very rich paradigm of modifiers of such numerals. For instance, English allows the numeral ""fifty"" to be modified by comparatives (""more than 50""), (adverbial) superlatives (""at least 50""), equatives (""as many as 50""), locative prepositions (""over 50""), directional prepositions (""up to 50""), disjunctions (""50 or more"") and adverbs (""exactly 50""). As illustrated by the set of English modifiers, typically, such paradigms do not consist of specialised vocabulary but instead consist of expressions 'borrowed' from other areas of the grammar. This project sets out to use the rich vocabulary of modified numerals to make advances in semantics and pragmatics. In particular, we will look at a subset of modifiers that have restrictions on their use, restrictions that may be obviated in specific contexts. This subset contains e.g. adverbial superlatives and directional prepositions. Accordingly, there is a semantic connection between superlativity and spatial expression that needs to be explored. More importantly, however, the found connections will clarify the nature of numerical, and more generally scalar, quantification. This is very welcome, since there is a surprising lack of insight in how we use numerical expressions to communicate quantitative information. In particular, there is no consensus as to what semantic and pragmatic processes govern the relatively simple meanings conveyed by sentences containing numerals and similarly scalar expressions. What is needed right now to break through this standstill are projects that aim at uncovering hitherto unexplored connections within language. Significant theoretical progress moreover relies on access to large bodies of new and reliable data. To this end, the project includes in-depth cross-linguistic and experimental studies."
Summary
"Most languages have a fairly well developed system of words for numbers, called numerals. It is cross-linguistically common, moreover, for languages to have a very rich paradigm of modifiers of such numerals. For instance, English allows the numeral ""fifty"" to be modified by comparatives (""more than 50""), (adverbial) superlatives (""at least 50""), equatives (""as many as 50""), locative prepositions (""over 50""), directional prepositions (""up to 50""), disjunctions (""50 or more"") and adverbs (""exactly 50""). As illustrated by the set of English modifiers, typically, such paradigms do not consist of specialised vocabulary but instead consist of expressions 'borrowed' from other areas of the grammar. This project sets out to use the rich vocabulary of modified numerals to make advances in semantics and pragmatics. In particular, we will look at a subset of modifiers that have restrictions on their use, restrictions that may be obviated in specific contexts. This subset contains e.g. adverbial superlatives and directional prepositions. Accordingly, there is a semantic connection between superlativity and spatial expression that needs to be explored. More importantly, however, the found connections will clarify the nature of numerical, and more generally scalar, quantification. This is very welcome, since there is a surprising lack of insight in how we use numerical expressions to communicate quantitative information. In particular, there is no consensus as to what semantic and pragmatic processes govern the relatively simple meanings conveyed by sentences containing numerals and similarly scalar expressions. What is needed right now to break through this standstill are projects that aim at uncovering hitherto unexplored connections within language. Significant theoretical progress moreover relies on access to large bodies of new and reliable data. To this end, the project includes in-depth cross-linguistic and experimental studies."
Max ERC Funding
1 300 518 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-03-01, End date: 2018-02-28
Project acronym SEDBIOGEOCHEM2.0
Project Hardwiring the ocean floor: the impact of microbial electrical circuitry on biogeochemical cycling in marine sediments
Researcher (PI) Filip Meysman
Host Institution (HI) STICHTING NIOZ, KONINKLIJK NEDERLANDS INSTITUUT VOOR ONDERZOEK DER ZEE
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE10, ERC-2012-StG_20111012
Summary Although it is well known that microbial cells can exhibit sophisticated cooperative behaviour, none of the recent advancements in geomicrobiology has been so perplexing as the proposal that microbial populations are capable of fast, electrical communication over centimetre scale distances. This metabolic tour-de-force was recently documented from laboratory incubations with marine sediments. Clearly, the phenomenon is so thought provoking, and its consequences are so far reaching, that independent verification is absolutely needed. Recently, my research group has collected strong evidence that long-distance electron transport is not merely a laboratory phenomenon, but that it effectively happens under in situ conditions in marine sediments. These observations open a broad avenue for new research, since at present, we no understanding of the prevalence of long-distance electron transport in natural environments, let alone, its impact on biogeochemical cycling. In response, this ERC project proposes an in depth investigation into long-distance electron transport in aquatic sediments: when and where does it occur, which redox pathways and microbial players are involved, what is the effective mechanism of electron transfer, and what are its biogeochemical implications. Clearly, this idea of long-distance electron transport would add a whole new dimension to microbial ecology, radically changing our views on microbial cooperation. Yet, the consequences for carbon sequestration and mineral cycling in sediments and soils could even be more astounding, allowing an unprecedented flexibility in redox pathways. Since the same type of extracellular electron transport is at work in engineered systems like microbial fuel cells, it could also improve our understanding of such biotechnological applications.
Summary
Although it is well known that microbial cells can exhibit sophisticated cooperative behaviour, none of the recent advancements in geomicrobiology has been so perplexing as the proposal that microbial populations are capable of fast, electrical communication over centimetre scale distances. This metabolic tour-de-force was recently documented from laboratory incubations with marine sediments. Clearly, the phenomenon is so thought provoking, and its consequences are so far reaching, that independent verification is absolutely needed. Recently, my research group has collected strong evidence that long-distance electron transport is not merely a laboratory phenomenon, but that it effectively happens under in situ conditions in marine sediments. These observations open a broad avenue for new research, since at present, we no understanding of the prevalence of long-distance electron transport in natural environments, let alone, its impact on biogeochemical cycling. In response, this ERC project proposes an in depth investigation into long-distance electron transport in aquatic sediments: when and where does it occur, which redox pathways and microbial players are involved, what is the effective mechanism of electron transfer, and what are its biogeochemical implications. Clearly, this idea of long-distance electron transport would add a whole new dimension to microbial ecology, radically changing our views on microbial cooperation. Yet, the consequences for carbon sequestration and mineral cycling in sediments and soils could even be more astounding, allowing an unprecedented flexibility in redox pathways. Since the same type of extracellular electron transport is at work in engineered systems like microbial fuel cells, it could also improve our understanding of such biotechnological applications.
Max ERC Funding
1 497 996 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-09-01, End date: 2017-08-31
Project acronym SINK
Project Subduction Initiation reconstructed from Neotethyan Kinematics (SINK): An iterative geological and numerical study of the driving forces behind plate tectonics
Researcher (PI) Douwe Jacob Jan Van Hinsbergen
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITEIT UTRECHT
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE10, ERC-2012-StG_20111012
Summary "The concept of Plate Tectonics, as fundamentally unifying to Earth Sciences as Darwin’s Evolution Theory is to Life Sciences, mathematically describes the complex evolution of Earth’s outer shell in terms of lithosphere plates and their interactions. There is no widely accepted dynamic mechanism, however, that explains why plate tectonics developed and continues. Subduction of oceanic lithosphere into the mantle, compensated by spreading of new oceanic lithosphere elsewhere is a key element of plate tectonics. Half of the subduction zones active today formed in the Cenozoic, and subduction initiation must be a common and fundamental element of plate tectonics. Geophysical models demonstrate that forcing is required to initiate subduction at weakness zones. Mechanisms producing this forcing remain unexplored, but may include clogging of existing subduction zones with continental lithosphere, formation of high plateaus as a result of absolute plate motions and arrival of mantle plumes below plates.
I aim to identify the mechanisms that force subduction initiation, using a novel and multidisciplinary approach. (1) I will design a Natural Laboratory, in which subduction initiation events, absolute and relative plate motions, continental subduction and mantle plumes are reconstructed. The Alpine-Himalayan mountain range that formed during closure of the Neotethyan Ocean is an ideal natural laboratory in which subduction initiation events and geological expressions of all potential driving mechanisms have been and will be reconstructed. (2) To test whether the reconstructed geological ‘incidents’ are causally related, a Numerical Laboratory will be designed, to conduct numerical modeling experiments based on fundamental geophysics. SINK will iteratively integrate the natural and numerical laboratories to advance our understanding of the processes that drive subduction initiation, as an essential step towards a dynamic and quantitative model to explain plate tectonics."
Summary
"The concept of Plate Tectonics, as fundamentally unifying to Earth Sciences as Darwin’s Evolution Theory is to Life Sciences, mathematically describes the complex evolution of Earth’s outer shell in terms of lithosphere plates and their interactions. There is no widely accepted dynamic mechanism, however, that explains why plate tectonics developed and continues. Subduction of oceanic lithosphere into the mantle, compensated by spreading of new oceanic lithosphere elsewhere is a key element of plate tectonics. Half of the subduction zones active today formed in the Cenozoic, and subduction initiation must be a common and fundamental element of plate tectonics. Geophysical models demonstrate that forcing is required to initiate subduction at weakness zones. Mechanisms producing this forcing remain unexplored, but may include clogging of existing subduction zones with continental lithosphere, formation of high plateaus as a result of absolute plate motions and arrival of mantle plumes below plates.
I aim to identify the mechanisms that force subduction initiation, using a novel and multidisciplinary approach. (1) I will design a Natural Laboratory, in which subduction initiation events, absolute and relative plate motions, continental subduction and mantle plumes are reconstructed. The Alpine-Himalayan mountain range that formed during closure of the Neotethyan Ocean is an ideal natural laboratory in which subduction initiation events and geological expressions of all potential driving mechanisms have been and will be reconstructed. (2) To test whether the reconstructed geological ‘incidents’ are causally related, a Numerical Laboratory will be designed, to conduct numerical modeling experiments based on fundamental geophysics. SINK will iteratively integrate the natural and numerical laboratories to advance our understanding of the processes that drive subduction initiation, as an essential step towards a dynamic and quantitative model to explain plate tectonics."
Max ERC Funding
1 499 880 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-09-01, End date: 2017-08-31
Project acronym SPEED
Project Speeded decision-making in the basal ganglia: An integrative model-based approach
Researcher (PI) Birte Uta Forstmann
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH4, ERC-2012-StG_20111124
Summary Speeded decision-making is essential for adaptive behavior in an impatient world. Fight or flight, stop or go, left or right, shoot or pass, peanut butter or jelly: our environment constantly demands decisions. Choosing prematurely can result in death, traffic accidents, collisions, lost games, and a distasteful sandwich -- a
similar fate awaits those who ponder over their decisions for too long. Because of its pivotal role in how we interact with the world, the topic of speeded decision-making has been studied by many disciplines, including mathematical psychology, experimental psychology, and the cognitive neurosciences. These disciplines often work in isolation, and the main goal and defining feature of this proposal is to study speeded decision-making using an integrative, model-based approach (e.g., Forstmann et al., 2011, TICS).
Summary
Speeded decision-making is essential for adaptive behavior in an impatient world. Fight or flight, stop or go, left or right, shoot or pass, peanut butter or jelly: our environment constantly demands decisions. Choosing prematurely can result in death, traffic accidents, collisions, lost games, and a distasteful sandwich -- a
similar fate awaits those who ponder over their decisions for too long. Because of its pivotal role in how we interact with the world, the topic of speeded decision-making has been studied by many disciplines, including mathematical psychology, experimental psychology, and the cognitive neurosciences. These disciplines often work in isolation, and the main goal and defining feature of this proposal is to study speeded decision-making using an integrative, model-based approach (e.g., Forstmann et al., 2011, TICS).
Max ERC Funding
1 487 587 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-02-01, End date: 2018-01-31
Project acronym VicariousBrain
Project Cracking the code and flow of empathy
Researcher (PI) Christian Keysers
Host Institution (HI) KONINKLIJKE NEDERLANDSE AKADEMIE VAN WETENSCHAPPEN - KNAW
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH4, ERC-2012-StG_20111124
Summary Humans are exquisitely able to sense the motor intentions and emotions of others. In the last decade, using single cell recordings in monkeys and fMRI in humans, I have contributed to show that (1) mirror neurons and brain regions involved in the execution of a goal directed action also respond to the sound and sight of other people performing a corresponding action and (2) brain regions involved in feeling an emotion also respond when witnessing that emotion in others. Here, I propose to explore two critical questions raised by these findings.
1) How does the distributed network of brain regions involved in action observation integrate information across regions? We will use effective connectivity analyses of electrophysiological signals in monkeys (ECoG) and humans (EEG, MEG, ECoG) to explore the direction of information flow between these regions to challenge traditional models of action observation. Results might turn traditional models of (social) perception up-side-down by demonstrating that internal models are the driving force of perception.
2) I will leverage an animal model of empathy we recently developed, to finally explore how neurons in brain regions associated with empathy respond during the experience and witnessing of emotions. Through a combination of PET, multi-tetrode recordings and deactivation studies, I will shift the focus of the neuroscience of empathy from fMRI blobs to neurons and their interactions across brain regions. Given the tremendous interest in emotional empathy across many fields, understanding its neural causes will open exciting new horizons for our mechanistic understanding of this fundamental human capacity and the therapy of psychiatric disorders of empathy costing our society hundreds of billions every year.
Summary
Humans are exquisitely able to sense the motor intentions and emotions of others. In the last decade, using single cell recordings in monkeys and fMRI in humans, I have contributed to show that (1) mirror neurons and brain regions involved in the execution of a goal directed action also respond to the sound and sight of other people performing a corresponding action and (2) brain regions involved in feeling an emotion also respond when witnessing that emotion in others. Here, I propose to explore two critical questions raised by these findings.
1) How does the distributed network of brain regions involved in action observation integrate information across regions? We will use effective connectivity analyses of electrophysiological signals in monkeys (ECoG) and humans (EEG, MEG, ECoG) to explore the direction of information flow between these regions to challenge traditional models of action observation. Results might turn traditional models of (social) perception up-side-down by demonstrating that internal models are the driving force of perception.
2) I will leverage an animal model of empathy we recently developed, to finally explore how neurons in brain regions associated with empathy respond during the experience and witnessing of emotions. Through a combination of PET, multi-tetrode recordings and deactivation studies, I will shift the focus of the neuroscience of empathy from fMRI blobs to neurons and their interactions across brain regions. Given the tremendous interest in emotional empathy across many fields, understanding its neural causes will open exciting new horizons for our mechanistic understanding of this fundamental human capacity and the therapy of psychiatric disorders of empathy costing our society hundreds of billions every year.
Max ERC Funding
1 761 239 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-01-01, End date: 2017-12-31
