Emotions are a central part of our mental self and health. But how are they wired in the brain? We use molecular, pharmacogenetic, and optogenetic methods to map neural circuits for emotional behaviors. By combining these manipulations with electrophysiological methods, we explore how these circuits control affective processing and, in turn, how genes and psychoactive drugs modulate circuit activity, emotional states, and affective traits. Therefore, in our lab we investigate these phenomena by using two main initiatives: the circuit neuroscience and the neurogenetic initiative.
Affective processing
Individuals strive to avoid danger while pursuing opportunities, whether in the wild or in complex societies. These behaviors are guided by affective networks in the brain that detect threats and rewards, motivating appropriate responses.
In a circuit neuroscience initiative, we deconstruct how the brain processes affective stimulus and transforms them into behavior at the neuronal network level. Our research combines techniques like neuronal tracing, genetics, and optogenetic manipulation to map brain circuits for affective processing. We integrate these methods with electrophysiology, Ca2+ imaging, and preclinical fMRI to explore how these circuits encode affective states, and how genes remodel circuit activity, emotional states, and behavioral responses.
We have identified a cortico-limbic circuit module between the amygdala, brainstem, and insular cortex. This module serves as a model to study two crucial steps in this process (Grössl et al., 2018, Kargl et al., 2020): (1) How does the brain builds affective models and integrates interoceptive intuition (gut feelings) to assign an affective value—salience (importance) and valence (good or bad)—to environmental stimuli (Sladky et al., 2024)? and (2) How are these affective responses regulated in terms of space (object navigation) and time (impulse control) (Piszczek et al., 2022)?
Behavioral diversity
Individual brains interpret and respond to the world in unique ways. Some are more impulsive or dominant, while others might be more anxious. What factors contribute to this diversity? To a large degree, neuronal circuitry can be genetically programmed to influence specific behavioral biases manifesting as either, a behavioral trait or a psychiatric disease such as stress-related disorders. We hypothesize that most of the genetic variance accumulates along specific sites in the neuronal networks, biasing local computations, which underlie transitions between behavioral phenotypes and/or traits (Piszczek et al., 2022, Ganglberger et al., 2018).
In a neurogenetic initiative, we are currently implementing integrated workflows that connect circuit neuroscience with neurogenetic data (Pfaff et al., 2019), comparative neuroscience, and ecologically-relevant habitats. Furthermore, we are combining multimodal brain data across species (Ganglberger et al., 2024, Ganglberger et al., 2020), and across evolutionary phylogenies (Kaczanowska et al., 2022). This multimodal comparative approach allows us to investigate how sets of genes might bias circuit activity and behavioral responses, within populations, between species, and across evolutionary timescales. Ultimately, this holistic strategy aims to enhance our understanding of the factors that constrain and promote the relation between genetic variance, circuit computation, and affective traits – processes that drive behavioral diversity in health and psychiatric conditions, while also shedding light on the evolutionary trajectories of neural systems (Piszczek et al., 2024).
