Neural mechanisms supporting environment evaluation in humans and their breakdown in clinical disorders (360G-Wellcome-209108_Z_17_Z)

£250,000

My goal in this proposal is to understand the neurocognitive mechanisms by which individuals evaluate their environment. First, I will use computational modelling to characterise how individuals adjust their estimates of the reward rate in an environment on a trial by trial basis. I will manipulate the reward rate over time and model how individuals respond to these changing dynamics. I will test models with 2 learning rates that allow estimates to be adjusted with different degrees of sensitivity (contingent on whether the environment is improving or deteriorating) against models that apply a single learning rate. I will then use fMRI to examine how the time varying components of computational models map onto brain activity during the task. Second, I will look to experimentally validate recent theoretical work from computational psychiatry which proposes that a pessimistic evaluation of an environments reward rate may underpin a number of the symptoms observed in clinical disorders. By using a threat manipulation, I will examine whether being in a temporary anxious state alters how individual update reward rate estimates. I will then examine whether this generalises to individuals with high levels of trait anxiety alongside other psychiatric disorders which share anxiety like features.

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Grant Details

Amount Awarded 250000
Applicant Surname Garrett
Approval Committee Basic Science Interview Committee
Award Date 2017-11-08T00:00:00+00:00
Financial Year 2017/18
Grant Programme: Title Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship
Internal ID 209108/Z/17/Z
Lead Applicant Dr Neil Garrett
Partnership Value 250000
Planned Dates: End Date 2021-09-30T00:00:00+00:00
Planned Dates: Start Date 2018-08-13T00:00:00+00:00
Recipient Org: Country United Kingdom
Region South East
Sponsor(s) Prof Christopher Summerfield