Neurochemical Changes in Response to Human Errors and Shifts in Attention

Shifting attention to relevant information is crucial for many different everyday life tasks. Attentional processes are often impaired in various mental health disorders, eg in ADHD or schizophrenia, or in neurological patients. These attentional impairments will influence other cognitive processes as well,In the proposed PhD project, we will focus on the underlying neurochemical processes related to error detection and the associated signal that triggers shifts in attention. Concentrations of metabolites, including the major neurotransmitters glutamate and GABA, can be measured in the brain using magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). MRS studies have typically been performed while the brain is at rest. Recent research has used MRS to measure functionally-relevant changes in neurometabolites over time (functional MRS or fMRS). Observed changes in glutamate & GABA are linked to changes in task demands and, therefore, provide a means to probe neuronal activation at a more direct level than that of fMRI.We will work together with experts in MR physics to make use of the ultra-high field strength MR system (7 T) to perform sensitive measurements of both GABA & glutamate.

In the current PhD project, we propose to use fMRS to measure glutamate and GABA changes related to errors in task responses as a first step. We will test the assumption that glutamate levels increase when an error has been committed. There are several options to develop this work further after the initial study (e.g. focus on basal forebrain or on neurochemical changes in task-relevant visual areas or application in different attentional tasks) which will be co-designed with the PhD student. The planned experiments will be conducted in healthy individuals to gain a better understanding of the underlying neurochemical changes. However, a longer-term goal would be to apply this knowledge to patient populations with a view to contribute to improving therapies for attentional impairments.