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Su obtained a 3-year post-doctoral fellowship from the Belgian FNRS. June 2023

Congratulations to Su who got a postdoctoral grant from the Belgian Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique (FNRS) involving 3 years of funding.
This proposal aims to understand the causal role of pupil-linked arousal (PLA), including the specific contribution of PLA-related neuromodulators, such as norepinephrine (NE) and dopamine (DA), in the regulation of speed-accuracy tradeoff (SAT) during decision-making. We propose that the function of PLA includes a locus coeruleus (LC)-NE-mediated route enhancing information processing and materializing into augmented decision accuracy, as well as a substantia nigra (SN)-DA-mediated route causing behavioral invigoration and materializing into boosted decision speed. We will test this idea in 3 work packages (WPs) using interferential approaches. This work is relevant for fundamental neuroscience and also for neurology, as it will help better understand the causal role of arousal in regulating the speed and accuracy of our behaviors, and will open the path to potential treatments in associated neurological disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease.