Project acronym ASSHURED
Project Analysing South-South Humanitarian Responses to Displacement from Syria: Views from Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey
Researcher (PI) Elena FIDDIAN-QASMIYEH
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH3, ERC-2016-STG
Summary Since 2012, over 4 million people have fled Syria in ‘the most dramatic humanitarian crisis that we have ever faced’ (UNHCR). By November 2015 there were 1,078,338 refugees from Syria in Lebanon, 630,776 in Jordan and 2,181,293 in Turkey. Humanitarian agencies and donor states from both the global North and the global South have funded and implemented aid programmes, and yet commentators have argued that civil society groups from the global South are the most significant actors supporting refugees in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. Whilst they are highly significant responses, however, major gaps in knowledge remain regarding the motivations, nature and implications of Southern-led responses to conflict-induced displacement. This project draws on multi-sited ethnographic and participatory research with refugees from Syria and their aid providers in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey to critically examine why, how and with what effect actors from the South have responded to the displacement of refugees from Syria. The main research aims are:
1. identifying diverse models of Southern-led responses to conflict-induced displacement,
2. examining the (un)official motivations, nature and implications of Southern-led responses,
3. examining refugees’ experiences and perceptions of Southern-led responses,
4. exploring diverse Southern and Northern actors’ perceptions of Southern-led responses,
5. tracing the implications of Southern-led initiatives for humanitarian theory and practice.
Based on a critical theoretical framework inspired by post-colonial and feminist approaches, the project contributes to theories of humanitarianism and debates regarding donor-recipient relations and refugees’ agency in displacement situations. It will also inform the development of policies to most appropriately address refugees’ needs and rights. This highly topical and innovative project thus has far-reaching implications for refugees and local communities, academics, policy-makers and practitioners.
Summary
Since 2012, over 4 million people have fled Syria in ‘the most dramatic humanitarian crisis that we have ever faced’ (UNHCR). By November 2015 there were 1,078,338 refugees from Syria in Lebanon, 630,776 in Jordan and 2,181,293 in Turkey. Humanitarian agencies and donor states from both the global North and the global South have funded and implemented aid programmes, and yet commentators have argued that civil society groups from the global South are the most significant actors supporting refugees in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. Whilst they are highly significant responses, however, major gaps in knowledge remain regarding the motivations, nature and implications of Southern-led responses to conflict-induced displacement. This project draws on multi-sited ethnographic and participatory research with refugees from Syria and their aid providers in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey to critically examine why, how and with what effect actors from the South have responded to the displacement of refugees from Syria. The main research aims are:
1. identifying diverse models of Southern-led responses to conflict-induced displacement,
2. examining the (un)official motivations, nature and implications of Southern-led responses,
3. examining refugees’ experiences and perceptions of Southern-led responses,
4. exploring diverse Southern and Northern actors’ perceptions of Southern-led responses,
5. tracing the implications of Southern-led initiatives for humanitarian theory and practice.
Based on a critical theoretical framework inspired by post-colonial and feminist approaches, the project contributes to theories of humanitarianism and debates regarding donor-recipient relations and refugees’ agency in displacement situations. It will also inform the development of policies to most appropriately address refugees’ needs and rights. This highly topical and innovative project thus has far-reaching implications for refugees and local communities, academics, policy-makers and practitioners.
Max ERC Funding
1 498 069 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-07-01, End date: 2022-06-30
Project acronym BAPS
Project Bayesian Agent-based Population Studies: Transforming Simulation Models of Human Migration
Researcher (PI) Jakub KAZIMIERZ BIJAK
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH3, ERC-2016-COG
Summary The aim of BAPS is to develop a ground-breaking simulation model of international migration, based on a population of intelligent, cognitive agents, their social networks and institutions, all interacting with one another. The project will transform the study of migration – one of the most uncertain population processes and a top-priority EU policy area – by offering a step change in the way it can be understood, predicted and managed. In this way, BAPS will effectively integrate behavioural and social theory with modelling.
To develop micro-foundations for migration studies, model design will follow cutting-edge developments in demography, statistics, cognitive psychology and computer science. BAPS will also offer a pioneering environment for applying the findings in practice through a bespoke modelling language. Bayesian statistical principles will be used to design innovative computer experiments, and learn about modelling the simulated individuals and the way they make decisions.
In BAPS, we will collate available information for migration models; build and test the simulations by applying experimental design principles to enhance our knowledge of migration processes; collect information on the underpinning decision-making mechanisms through psychological experiments; and design software for implementing Bayesian agent-based models in practice. The project will use various information sources to build models bottom-up, filling an important epistemological gap in demography.
BAPS will be carried out by the Allianz European Demographer 2015, recognised as a leader in the field for methodological innovation, directing an interdisciplinary team with expertise in demography, agent-based models, statistical analysis of uncertainty, meta-cognition, and computer simulations. The project will open up exciting research possibilities beyond demography, and will generate both academic and practical impact, offering methodological advice for policy-relevant simulations.
Summary
The aim of BAPS is to develop a ground-breaking simulation model of international migration, based on a population of intelligent, cognitive agents, their social networks and institutions, all interacting with one another. The project will transform the study of migration – one of the most uncertain population processes and a top-priority EU policy area – by offering a step change in the way it can be understood, predicted and managed. In this way, BAPS will effectively integrate behavioural and social theory with modelling.
To develop micro-foundations for migration studies, model design will follow cutting-edge developments in demography, statistics, cognitive psychology and computer science. BAPS will also offer a pioneering environment for applying the findings in practice through a bespoke modelling language. Bayesian statistical principles will be used to design innovative computer experiments, and learn about modelling the simulated individuals and the way they make decisions.
In BAPS, we will collate available information for migration models; build and test the simulations by applying experimental design principles to enhance our knowledge of migration processes; collect information on the underpinning decision-making mechanisms through psychological experiments; and design software for implementing Bayesian agent-based models in practice. The project will use various information sources to build models bottom-up, filling an important epistemological gap in demography.
BAPS will be carried out by the Allianz European Demographer 2015, recognised as a leader in the field for methodological innovation, directing an interdisciplinary team with expertise in demography, agent-based models, statistical analysis of uncertainty, meta-cognition, and computer simulations. The project will open up exciting research possibilities beyond demography, and will generate both academic and practical impact, offering methodological advice for policy-relevant simulations.
Max ERC Funding
1 455 590 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-06-01, End date: 2021-05-31
Project acronym Becoming Social
Project Social Interaction Perception and the Social Brain Across Typical and Atypical Development
Researcher (PI) Kami KOLDEWYN
Host Institution (HI) BANGOR UNIVERSITY
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH4, ERC-2016-STG
Summary Social interactions are multifaceted and subtle, yet we can almost instantaneously discern if two people are cooperating or competing, flirting or fighting, or helping or hindering each other. Surprisingly, the development and brain basis of this remarkable ability has remained largely unexplored. At the same time, understanding how we develop the ability to process and use social information from other people is widely recognized as a core challenge facing developmental cognitive neuroscience. The Becoming Social project meets this challenge by proposing the most complete investigation to date of the development of the behavioural and neurobiological systems that support complex social perception. To achieve this, we first systematically map how the social interactions we observe are coded in the brain by testing typical adults. Next, we investigate developmental change both behaviourally and neurally during a key stage in social development in typically developing children. Finally, we explore whether social interaction perception is clinically relevant by investigating it developmentally in autism spectrum disorder. The Becoming Social project is expected to lead to a novel conception of the neurocognitive architecture supporting the perception of social interactions. In addition, neuroimaging and behavioural tasks measured longitudinally during development will allow us to determine how individual differences in brain and behaviour are causally related to real-world social ability and social learning. The planned studies as well as those generated during the project will enable the Becoming Social team to become a world-leading group bridging social cognition, neuroscience and developmental psychology.
Summary
Social interactions are multifaceted and subtle, yet we can almost instantaneously discern if two people are cooperating or competing, flirting or fighting, or helping or hindering each other. Surprisingly, the development and brain basis of this remarkable ability has remained largely unexplored. At the same time, understanding how we develop the ability to process and use social information from other people is widely recognized as a core challenge facing developmental cognitive neuroscience. The Becoming Social project meets this challenge by proposing the most complete investigation to date of the development of the behavioural and neurobiological systems that support complex social perception. To achieve this, we first systematically map how the social interactions we observe are coded in the brain by testing typical adults. Next, we investigate developmental change both behaviourally and neurally during a key stage in social development in typically developing children. Finally, we explore whether social interaction perception is clinically relevant by investigating it developmentally in autism spectrum disorder. The Becoming Social project is expected to lead to a novel conception of the neurocognitive architecture supporting the perception of social interactions. In addition, neuroimaging and behavioural tasks measured longitudinally during development will allow us to determine how individual differences in brain and behaviour are causally related to real-world social ability and social learning. The planned studies as well as those generated during the project will enable the Becoming Social team to become a world-leading group bridging social cognition, neuroscience and developmental psychology.
Max ERC Funding
1 500 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-04-01, End date: 2022-03-31
Project acronym CANCERSCREEN
Project Screening for cancer in the post-genomic era: diagnostic innovation and biomedicalisation in comparative perspective
Researcher (PI) Stuart James HOGARTH
Host Institution (HI) THE CHANCELLOR MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH3, ERC-2016-STG
Summary Cancer screening and the diagnostics industry: a comparative analysis of the political economy of diagnostic innovation
A decade after the Human Genome Project, major public and private investments continue to fuel expectations of a genomic revolution in biomedicine. The freight of expectations surrounding the new “age of diagnostics” is accompanied by much uncertainty about how public policy should steer diagnostic innovation, with much debate about inter alia the harms of creating diagnostic monopolies through gene patenting, and the risks of under- or over-regulation. However, due to the paucity of research on diagnostic innovation, policy deliberation is driven more by anecdote and expert opinion than empirical evidence. With a specific focus on screening/early detection of cancer, this project will map industry dynamics, technological trajectories and regulatory developments in Europe and the USA from 1996 to the present day. Combining quantitative and qualitative methods, the project’s innovative dimensions include a new conceptual model of socio-technical transition in the diagnostics sector, and the first integrative analysis linking scientometric data on the interactions between public and private actors in the diagnostic research domain with comparative transnational analysis of regulatory decision-making. Through a novel integration of conceptual insights from the literature on biomedicalisation and scholarship on socio-technical regime change, this project aims to advance both fields of research by applying a new multi-scale, multi-level model of socio-technical transition. The project will provide unprecedented insight into the factors shaping the development of a new generation of molecular diagnostic tests, and examine how these technologies are reconfiguring disease categories and redrawing the boundaries between health and sickness. We will establish a platform of theory and methods for a broader programme of work on diagnostic innovation.
Summary
Cancer screening and the diagnostics industry: a comparative analysis of the political economy of diagnostic innovation
A decade after the Human Genome Project, major public and private investments continue to fuel expectations of a genomic revolution in biomedicine. The freight of expectations surrounding the new “age of diagnostics” is accompanied by much uncertainty about how public policy should steer diagnostic innovation, with much debate about inter alia the harms of creating diagnostic monopolies through gene patenting, and the risks of under- or over-regulation. However, due to the paucity of research on diagnostic innovation, policy deliberation is driven more by anecdote and expert opinion than empirical evidence. With a specific focus on screening/early detection of cancer, this project will map industry dynamics, technological trajectories and regulatory developments in Europe and the USA from 1996 to the present day. Combining quantitative and qualitative methods, the project’s innovative dimensions include a new conceptual model of socio-technical transition in the diagnostics sector, and the first integrative analysis linking scientometric data on the interactions between public and private actors in the diagnostic research domain with comparative transnational analysis of regulatory decision-making. Through a novel integration of conceptual insights from the literature on biomedicalisation and scholarship on socio-technical regime change, this project aims to advance both fields of research by applying a new multi-scale, multi-level model of socio-technical transition. The project will provide unprecedented insight into the factors shaping the development of a new generation of molecular diagnostic tests, and examine how these technologies are reconfiguring disease categories and redrawing the boundaries between health and sickness. We will establish a platform of theory and methods for a broader programme of work on diagnostic innovation.
Max ERC Funding
1 347 992 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-04-01, End date: 2021-09-30
Project acronym CIC
Project Context, Identity and Choice: Understanding the constraints on women's career decisions
Researcher (PI) Michelle Kim RYAN
Host Institution (HI) THE UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH3, ERC-2016-COG
Summary There has been vast improvement in workplace gender equality, but there remain marked differences in the roles in which women and men work. Explanations for this inequality have focused on the barriers women face. However, as women begin to enter male-dominated roles, a new explanation has arisen: that remaining gender inequality must reflect fundamental differences between women and men, including differences in (a) ambition and desire for power, (b) needs for work-life balance, and (c) willingness to take career risks. Central to this analysis is the assumption that the glass ceiling is broken and thus inequality must be due to women’s active choices. This explanation downplays the fact that social context continues to be a barrier to women’s success and places responsibility for gender inequality on women themselves. Indeed, there has arisen the suggestion that gender equality necessitates women overcoming ‘internal obstacles’, ‘leaning-in’ and altering their choices (Sandberg, 2013), rather than challenging the status quo. I argue that diametrically contrasting structural barriers with women’s choices is unhelpful. Instead, I suggest that women’s choices are shaped and constrained by the gendered nature of organisational and social contexts and how women see themselves within these contexts. I propose a programme of research, across 3 integrated streams, that investigates how social and organisational structures define identities and constrain women’s choices in relation to ambition, work-life balance, and career risk-taking. I have four key objectives: (1) to clarify how organisational and social contexts define identity and constrain women’s choices, (2) to use an interdisciplinary, multi-methodological approach, to produce innovative theory and data, (3) to work collaboratively with stakeholders, and (4) to inform practical interventions designed to facilitate the increase of women’s participation in hitherto male-dominated roles.
Summary
There has been vast improvement in workplace gender equality, but there remain marked differences in the roles in which women and men work. Explanations for this inequality have focused on the barriers women face. However, as women begin to enter male-dominated roles, a new explanation has arisen: that remaining gender inequality must reflect fundamental differences between women and men, including differences in (a) ambition and desire for power, (b) needs for work-life balance, and (c) willingness to take career risks. Central to this analysis is the assumption that the glass ceiling is broken and thus inequality must be due to women’s active choices. This explanation downplays the fact that social context continues to be a barrier to women’s success and places responsibility for gender inequality on women themselves. Indeed, there has arisen the suggestion that gender equality necessitates women overcoming ‘internal obstacles’, ‘leaning-in’ and altering their choices (Sandberg, 2013), rather than challenging the status quo. I argue that diametrically contrasting structural barriers with women’s choices is unhelpful. Instead, I suggest that women’s choices are shaped and constrained by the gendered nature of organisational and social contexts and how women see themselves within these contexts. I propose a programme of research, across 3 integrated streams, that investigates how social and organisational structures define identities and constrain women’s choices in relation to ambition, work-life balance, and career risk-taking. I have four key objectives: (1) to clarify how organisational and social contexts define identity and constrain women’s choices, (2) to use an interdisciplinary, multi-methodological approach, to produce innovative theory and data, (3) to work collaboratively with stakeholders, and (4) to inform practical interventions designed to facilitate the increase of women’s participation in hitherto male-dominated roles.
Max ERC Funding
1 998 722 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-07-01, End date: 2022-06-30
Project acronym DEVBRAINTRAIN
Project Neurocognitive mechanisms of inhibitory control training and transfer effects in children
Researcher (PI) Nikolaus STEINBEIS
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH4, ERC-2016-STG
Summary Inhibitory control refers to the ability to control behavioural impulses and is critical for cognitive development. It has been traditionally thought of as a stable trait across the lifespan but recent insights from cognitive neuroscience show prolonged changes in brain regions that support inhibitory control indicating greater malleability than previously believed. Because childhood inhibitory control predicts well-being later in life this suggests exciting opportunities for enhancing inhibitory control. I build on highly promising pilot results and draw on a recent neurocognitive model of inhibitory control to test 1) if inhibitory control can be enhanced during childhood, 2) if this transfers onto other domains important for healthy psychological development such as prosocial- and patient decision-making and academic achievement and 3) which factors predict training success. Children aged 5 to 10 years will undergo 8 weeks of inhibitory control training, which is a critical duration for observing prolonged training effects and be compared to a group undergoing active sham-training of comparable stimuli and duration but without inhibition. I will assess training effects on the brain and look at transfer effects onto other domains such as other executive functions, prosocial- and patient decision-making and academic achievement, both immediately and 1 year after training. I expect training to 1) improve inhibitory control, 2) transfer onto performance on above-mentioned domains and 3) elicit neural changes indicating the effectiveness of training for re- and proactive control. I also expect that individual differences in inhibitory control ability and associated brain regions prior to training will predict training success. The proposed research has the potential to generate a new and ground-breaking framework on early malleability of inhibitory control with implications for interventions at the time point of greatest likely impact.
Summary
Inhibitory control refers to the ability to control behavioural impulses and is critical for cognitive development. It has been traditionally thought of as a stable trait across the lifespan but recent insights from cognitive neuroscience show prolonged changes in brain regions that support inhibitory control indicating greater malleability than previously believed. Because childhood inhibitory control predicts well-being later in life this suggests exciting opportunities for enhancing inhibitory control. I build on highly promising pilot results and draw on a recent neurocognitive model of inhibitory control to test 1) if inhibitory control can be enhanced during childhood, 2) if this transfers onto other domains important for healthy psychological development such as prosocial- and patient decision-making and academic achievement and 3) which factors predict training success. Children aged 5 to 10 years will undergo 8 weeks of inhibitory control training, which is a critical duration for observing prolonged training effects and be compared to a group undergoing active sham-training of comparable stimuli and duration but without inhibition. I will assess training effects on the brain and look at transfer effects onto other domains such as other executive functions, prosocial- and patient decision-making and academic achievement, both immediately and 1 year after training. I expect training to 1) improve inhibitory control, 2) transfer onto performance on above-mentioned domains and 3) elicit neural changes indicating the effectiveness of training for re- and proactive control. I also expect that individual differences in inhibitory control ability and associated brain regions prior to training will predict training success. The proposed research has the potential to generate a new and ground-breaking framework on early malleability of inhibitory control with implications for interventions at the time point of greatest likely impact.
Max ERC Funding
1 500 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-09-01, End date: 2022-08-31
Project acronym DiaDev
Project Investigating the Design and Use of Diagnostic Devices in Global Health
Researcher (PI) Alice Naomi STREET
Host Institution (HI) THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH3, ERC-2016-STG
Summary Many people living in resource-poor settings have never had access to the laboratory facilities or technical expertise that are needed to diagnose diseases. With the development and deployment of a new generation of affordable, easy-to-use, and portable diagnostic devices that are designed for places with no laboratory infrastructure, the global landscape of diagnosis is dramatically changing. Can portable diagnostic devices strengthen health systems in resource-poor settings? DiaDev is the first study to comprehensively address this question through comparison across multiple devices, sites of production, and contexts of use. Diagnostic technologies are often championed as universal solutions to health equity and access. This ethnographic study investigates the extent to which how diagnostic devices work and what they can achieve depends on the locally specific relationships through which they are designed and used. Five ethnographic case studies from the USA, India and Sierra Leone examine the partnerships between donors, governments, humanitarian organisations and users that characterise current models of technological innovation and implementation in global health, the processes by which diagnostic devices are integrated with health infrastructures in target settings, and the practices of knowledge production and use they entail. The ultimate aim is to generate new insight into (i) changing relationships of power between governments, donors, and business in global health, and (ii) the ways in which diagnostic devices are transforming health systems in resource-poor settings. It will produce a new context-specific and comparative framework for exploring the opportunities and challenges involved in the design and use of diagnostic devices. Through innovative collaborative methods it will also develop a set of ‘health system strengthening tools’ that will enable stakeholders to improve the design and use of these devices in dialogue with the project findings.
Summary
Many people living in resource-poor settings have never had access to the laboratory facilities or technical expertise that are needed to diagnose diseases. With the development and deployment of a new generation of affordable, easy-to-use, and portable diagnostic devices that are designed for places with no laboratory infrastructure, the global landscape of diagnosis is dramatically changing. Can portable diagnostic devices strengthen health systems in resource-poor settings? DiaDev is the first study to comprehensively address this question through comparison across multiple devices, sites of production, and contexts of use. Diagnostic technologies are often championed as universal solutions to health equity and access. This ethnographic study investigates the extent to which how diagnostic devices work and what they can achieve depends on the locally specific relationships through which they are designed and used. Five ethnographic case studies from the USA, India and Sierra Leone examine the partnerships between donors, governments, humanitarian organisations and users that characterise current models of technological innovation and implementation in global health, the processes by which diagnostic devices are integrated with health infrastructures in target settings, and the practices of knowledge production and use they entail. The ultimate aim is to generate new insight into (i) changing relationships of power between governments, donors, and business in global health, and (ii) the ways in which diagnostic devices are transforming health systems in resource-poor settings. It will produce a new context-specific and comparative framework for exploring the opportunities and challenges involved in the design and use of diagnostic devices. Through innovative collaborative methods it will also develop a set of ‘health system strengthening tools’ that will enable stakeholders to improve the design and use of these devices in dialogue with the project findings.
Max ERC Funding
1 479 558 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-05-01, End date: 2022-04-30
Project acronym ECOLANG
Project Ecological Language: A multimodal approach to language and the brain
Researcher (PI) Gabriella VIGLIOCCO
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH4, ERC-2016-ADG
Summary The human brain has evolved the ability to support communication in complex and dynamic environments. In such environments, language is learned, and mostly used in face-to-face contexts in which processing and learning is based on multiple cues: linguistic (such as lexical, syntactic), but also discourse, prosody, face and hands (gestures). Yet, our understanding of how language is learnt and processed, and its associated neural circuitry, comes almost exclusively from reductionist approaches in which the multimodal signal is reduced to speech or text. ECOLANG will pioneer a new way to study language comprehension and learning using a real-world approach in which language is analysed in its rich face-to-face multimodal environment (i.e., language’s ecological niche). Experimental rigour is not compromised by the use of innovative technologies (combining automatic, manual and crowdsourcing methods for annotation; creating avatar stimuli for our experiments) and state-of-the-art modelling and data analysis (probabilistic modelling and network-based analyses). ECOLANG studies how the different cues available in face-to-face communication dynamically contribute to processing and learning in adults, children and aphasic patients in contexts representative of everyday conversation. We collect and annotate a corpus of naturalistic language which is then used to derive quantitative informativeness measures for each cue and their combination using computational models, tested and refined on the basis of behavioural and neuroscientific data. We use converging methodologies (behavioural, EEG, fMRI and lesion-symptom mapping) and we investigate different populations (3-4 years old children, healthy and aphasic adults) in order to develop mechanistic accounts of multimodal communication at the cognitive as well as neural level that can explain processing and learning (by both children and adults) and can have impact on the rehabilitation of language functions after stroke.
Summary
The human brain has evolved the ability to support communication in complex and dynamic environments. In such environments, language is learned, and mostly used in face-to-face contexts in which processing and learning is based on multiple cues: linguistic (such as lexical, syntactic), but also discourse, prosody, face and hands (gestures). Yet, our understanding of how language is learnt and processed, and its associated neural circuitry, comes almost exclusively from reductionist approaches in which the multimodal signal is reduced to speech or text. ECOLANG will pioneer a new way to study language comprehension and learning using a real-world approach in which language is analysed in its rich face-to-face multimodal environment (i.e., language’s ecological niche). Experimental rigour is not compromised by the use of innovative technologies (combining automatic, manual and crowdsourcing methods for annotation; creating avatar stimuli for our experiments) and state-of-the-art modelling and data analysis (probabilistic modelling and network-based analyses). ECOLANG studies how the different cues available in face-to-face communication dynamically contribute to processing and learning in adults, children and aphasic patients in contexts representative of everyday conversation. We collect and annotate a corpus of naturalistic language which is then used to derive quantitative informativeness measures for each cue and their combination using computational models, tested and refined on the basis of behavioural and neuroscientific data. We use converging methodologies (behavioural, EEG, fMRI and lesion-symptom mapping) and we investigate different populations (3-4 years old children, healthy and aphasic adults) in order to develop mechanistic accounts of multimodal communication at the cognitive as well as neural level that can explain processing and learning (by both children and adults) and can have impact on the rehabilitation of language functions after stroke.
Max ERC Funding
2 243 584 €
Duration
Start date: 2018-01-01, End date: 2022-12-31
Project acronym EmbodiedTech
Project Can humans embody augmentative robotics technology?
Researcher (PI) Tamar Rebecca MAKIN
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH4, ERC-2016-STG
Summary Wearable technology is redefining the boundaries of our own body. Wearable robotic (WR) fingers and arms are robots, designed to free up or complement our hand actions, to enhance humans’ abilities. While tremendous resources are being dedicated to the development of this groundbreaking technology, little notice is given to how the human brain might support it. The intuitive, though unfounded, view is that technology will fuse with our bodies, allowing our brains to seamlessly control it (i.e. embodied technology). This implies that our brain will share resources, originally devoted to controlling our body, to operate WRs. Here I will elucidate the conditions necessary for technological embodiment, using prosthetic limbs as a model. I will build upon knowledge gained from rehabilitation, experimental psychology and neuroscience to characterise and extend the boundaries of body representation towards successful adoption of WRs. I will combine behavioural, physiological and neuroimaging tools to address five key questions that are currently obscuring the vision of embodied technology: What conditions are necessary for a person to experience an artificial limb as part of their body? Would the resources recruited to control an artificial limb be shared, or rather conflict, with human body representation? Will the successful incorporation of WRs disorganise representations of the human limbs? Can new sensory experiences (touch) be intuitively inferred from WRs? Can the adult brain support the increased motor and cognitive demands associated with successful WRs usage? I will first focus on populations with congenital and acquired hand loss, who differ in brain resources due to plasticity, but experience similar daily-life challenges. I will then test body representation in able-bodied people while learning to use WR fingers and arm. Together, my research will provide the first foundation for guiding how to successfully incorporate technology into our body representation.
Summary
Wearable technology is redefining the boundaries of our own body. Wearable robotic (WR) fingers and arms are robots, designed to free up or complement our hand actions, to enhance humans’ abilities. While tremendous resources are being dedicated to the development of this groundbreaking technology, little notice is given to how the human brain might support it. The intuitive, though unfounded, view is that technology will fuse with our bodies, allowing our brains to seamlessly control it (i.e. embodied technology). This implies that our brain will share resources, originally devoted to controlling our body, to operate WRs. Here I will elucidate the conditions necessary for technological embodiment, using prosthetic limbs as a model. I will build upon knowledge gained from rehabilitation, experimental psychology and neuroscience to characterise and extend the boundaries of body representation towards successful adoption of WRs. I will combine behavioural, physiological and neuroimaging tools to address five key questions that are currently obscuring the vision of embodied technology: What conditions are necessary for a person to experience an artificial limb as part of their body? Would the resources recruited to control an artificial limb be shared, or rather conflict, with human body representation? Will the successful incorporation of WRs disorganise representations of the human limbs? Can new sensory experiences (touch) be intuitively inferred from WRs? Can the adult brain support the increased motor and cognitive demands associated with successful WRs usage? I will first focus on populations with congenital and acquired hand loss, who differ in brain resources due to plasticity, but experience similar daily-life challenges. I will then test body representation in able-bodied people while learning to use WR fingers and arm. Together, my research will provide the first foundation for guiding how to successfully incorporate technology into our body representation.
Max ERC Funding
1 499 406 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-02-01, End date: 2022-01-31
Project acronym FREEMIND
Project FREE the MIND: the neurocognitive determinants of intentional decision
Researcher (PI) Jiaxiang ZHANG
Host Institution (HI) CARDIFF UNIVERSITY
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH4, ERC-2016-STG
Summary Acting based on intention is a fundamental ability to our lives. Apple or orange, cash or card: we constantly make intentional decisions to fulfil our desires, even when the options have no explicit difference in their rewards. Recently, I and others have offered the first evidence to support that intentional decision and externally guided decision share similar computational principles. However, how the brain implements these principles for intentional decision remains unknown.
This project aims to establish a multilevel understanding of intentional decision, spanning from neurons to brain networks to behaviour, through a powerful combination of novel paradigms, cutting-edge brain imaging, and innovative methods. Central to my approach is formal computational modelling, allowing me to establish a quantitative link between data and theory at multiple levels of abstraction. Subproject 1 will ask which brain regions encode intentional information, when intentional processes occur, and how neurochemical concentration influences intentional decision. Subproject 2 will focus on theoretically predicted changes in intentional decision under behavioural and neural interventions. I will use brain imaging and brain stimulation to test the flexibility of intentional decision within individuals. Subproject 3 will launch the largest study to date on intentional decision. I will characterize individual differences in intentional decision from 2,000 representative samples. I will then investigate, with high statistical power, the contributions of neurochemistry and brain microstructure to individual differences in intentional decision. This project premises to establish the first neurobiological theory of intentional behaviour, and provide mechanistic understanding of its changes within and between individuals. The new theory and innovative methodology will open further research possibilities to explore intentional deficits in diseases, and the neural basis of human volition.
Summary
Acting based on intention is a fundamental ability to our lives. Apple or orange, cash or card: we constantly make intentional decisions to fulfil our desires, even when the options have no explicit difference in their rewards. Recently, I and others have offered the first evidence to support that intentional decision and externally guided decision share similar computational principles. However, how the brain implements these principles for intentional decision remains unknown.
This project aims to establish a multilevel understanding of intentional decision, spanning from neurons to brain networks to behaviour, through a powerful combination of novel paradigms, cutting-edge brain imaging, and innovative methods. Central to my approach is formal computational modelling, allowing me to establish a quantitative link between data and theory at multiple levels of abstraction. Subproject 1 will ask which brain regions encode intentional information, when intentional processes occur, and how neurochemical concentration influences intentional decision. Subproject 2 will focus on theoretically predicted changes in intentional decision under behavioural and neural interventions. I will use brain imaging and brain stimulation to test the flexibility of intentional decision within individuals. Subproject 3 will launch the largest study to date on intentional decision. I will characterize individual differences in intentional decision from 2,000 representative samples. I will then investigate, with high statistical power, the contributions of neurochemistry and brain microstructure to individual differences in intentional decision. This project premises to establish the first neurobiological theory of intentional behaviour, and provide mechanistic understanding of its changes within and between individuals. The new theory and innovative methodology will open further research possibilities to explore intentional deficits in diseases, and the neural basis of human volition.
Max ERC Funding
1 487 908 €
Duration
Start date: 2017-03-01, End date: 2022-02-28
