| Behavior, Emotion & Basal Ganglia |
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General Statement |
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| The core of the program is to study the relationships between the functioning of the basal ganglia and psychopathology, in particular the regulation of the emotions and repetitive behaviors. This research is chiefly based on the phenomenological and psychopathological study of disturbances involving the basal ganglia, and on the effects of deep brain stimulation (DBS), which represents a novel and effective means of studying the involvement of these structures in emotional and behavioral processing. This approach aims at developing strong scientific relationships between neuroanatomy, neuro-physiology, experimental psychology, and psychopathology. |
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The central question is to know how cognition, motion, and emotion are combined in the basal ganglia to produce behaviors which in humans always integrate motor, cognitive and emotional aspects. To address this complex question, the surgical technique of DBS is used as our central paradigm. Successive levels of analysis are performed: (1) neurological and psychiatric examination of the patients, (2) application of well-structured behavioral tasks, (3) electrophysiological analysis of the activity of individual and assemblies of neurons of the basal ganglia in different intra- and post-operative conditions, (4) computerized 3D anatomical tools to localize precisely the recorded neuronal activities, (5) functional neuroimaging (PET, fMRI).
The BEBG research axis converge toward the final purpose to develop innovative neurosurgical treatments for severe behavioral disorders resistant to repeated medical treatments. |
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Hôpital de la Pitié-Salpêtrière Bâtiment Paul Castaigne - Centre d’Investigation Clinique
47 boulevard de l’Hôpital, F-75013, Paris |
