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Research project Socioemotional perception and recognition in single individuals

This project aims att studying socioemotional perception and recognition in single individuals using precision neuroimaging and AI.

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Theme

Contact person at SU

Håkan Fischer

Professor in Human biological psychology

Department of Psychology

08-16 23 57

hakan.fischer@psychology.su.se

Overview

Project period

01-01-2023 - 31-12-2026

Responsible

Department of Psychology

Participants

Department of Computer and Systems Sciences

Research subjects

Psychobiology and epidemiology

Status

Ongoing

Funding

Swedish Research Council

Research groups

The Fischer Lab

Fischer's research lab studies various aspects of emotional, social, perceptual and cognitive processing, as well as how individual differences in age, gender, genetics, personality and lack of sleep affect these processes.

Head with visible brain Illustration. Picture from iStock.

Brain research at SUBIC. Photo: Jens Olof Lasthein

Both emotional perception and recognition are of importance for social functioning throughout the human lifespan. Previous neuroimaging studies have examined socioemotional perception and recognition (for example, facial expressions) at the group level, thus overlooking the fact that this is an individual phenomenon.

Precision neuroimaging focuses on individual subjects and numerous repeated trials. Using precision imaging to study human brain function associated with socioemotional perception is an unexplored territory with great potential for groundbreaking research.

Full project title: Studying socioemotional perception and recognition in single individuals using precision neuroimaging and AI – A multimodal proof-of-concept project

Project description

Socioemotional perception and recognition are of great importance for social and emotional functioning in everyday life. Previous brain imaging studies have examined socioemotional perception and recognition (for example of facial expressions) at the group level, ignoring the fact that it is an individual phenomenon. With "precision neuroimaging," individual subjects are studied on multiple occasions instead of studying a group of individuals on few occasions as in group studies. Using precision neuroimaging to study brain function associated with socioemotional perception is an unexplored territory today that has the potential to dramatically increase our understanding of how the "emotional brain" works.

In this four-year brain imaging project, we will investigate 32 individual subjects (16 younger and 16 older adults) in 20 sessions using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In the brain scanner, individuals will be exposed to dynamic visual, auditory, and audiovisual socioemotional stimuli that vary in valence (positive-negative) and arousal level (high-low). Multimodal multivariate methodology will be used for data analysis, which includes functional and structural brain data, subjective responses, and various physiological measures. All analyses are conducted at the individual level, meaning that statistical models are fitted separately to data from each participant. The individuals in the project serve as controls for each other. Standardized functional and structural brain data analysis methods will be used in combination with exploratory AI approaches to identify correlations within and between different brain networks and behavioral outcomes.

This is a multimodal proof-of-concept project at the forefront of an upcoming paradigm shift in cognitive neuroscience that will ultimately open new scientific research areas and enable, among other things, parallel animal research to investigate neural mechanisms.