Thesis supervisor: Péter Pajkossy
Location of studies (in Hungarian): BME Kognitív Tudományi Tanszék Abbreviation of location of studies: BME
Description of the research topic:
Changes in pupil size are associated with several aspect of information processing (mental effort, surprise, exploration). Recent research seems to clarify the neural background underlying this link: the pupil size is determined by the activity of the brain-stem nucleus Locus Coeruleus (LC). Because the activity of several cortical network is influenced by the LC through the neurotransmitter noradrenaline (NA), this ’LC/NA system’ is suggested to play an important role in information processing and behaviour. The aim of our research is to reveal how the LC/NA system is involved in flexible switch of attention, reinforcement learning and episodic memory.
Aston-Jones, G., & Cohen, J. D. (2005). An integrative theory of locus coeruleus-norepinephrine function: adaptive gain and optimal performance. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 28, 403-450.
Pajkossy, P., Szőllősi, Á., Demeter, G., & Racsmány, M. (2017). Tonic noradrenergic activity modulates explorative behavior and attentional set shifting: evidence from pupillometry and gaze pattern analysis. Psychophysiology, 54, 1839-1854.
Required language skills: english Number of students who can be accepted: 1