FOR 2698:  Cognitive theory for Tourette syndrome – a novel perspective

• Subject Area: Medicine ; Social and Behavioural Sciences
• Term: since 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 360279285

Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (GTS) is a common multifaceted neuropsychiatric disorder with motorand vocal tics including echo- and coprophenomena as cardinal and defining clinical features. Despitean abundance of neuroscientific studies in children and adults with GTS, no generally acceptedconcept of tics or GTS has emerged. In the first funding period, we examined the suitability of acognitive framework (i.e., the Theory of Event Coding) to conceptualize tics and other associatedphenomena in GTS. We could confirm our major hypothesis that GTS can be characterized by ahyperbinding of perception and action processes and that such alterations are central for theunderstanding of GTS. In the second funding period, we will build on these results and will addressimportant open questions that are related to four major research fields examined in complementaryprojects: (i) We will examine the feasibility to modulate perception-action binding as part of (novel)treatment approaches. (ii) We will examine the question of how binding is modulated in remitting vs.persisting GTS. (iii) We will address what role binding vs. retrieval processes play in perception-actionintegration in patients with GTS. (iv) We will also transfer event files coding mechanisms from thecognitive to the socio-affective domain. In all projects, we will put a special emphasis on theinvestigation of neurophysiological processes underlying the examined dynamics. The secondfunding period is intended to establish the basis for a transfer of the validated cognitive-theoreticalconceptualization of GTS into clinical applications.

• DFG Programme: Research Units

Projects

• Coordination Funds (Applicant Münchau, Alexander )
• Coordination Funds (Applicant Münchau, Alexander )
• Delineation of event file coding in somatosensory-motor pathways (Applicants Beste, Christian ;  Bäumer, Tobias )
• Event-binding and coprolalic tics (Applicants Münte, Thomas F. ;  Roessner, Veit )
• Examining mechanistic principles of behavioral interventions in GTS from a TEC-perspective (Applicants Bluschke, Annet ;  Münchau, Alexander ;  Wolff, Nicole )
• Hyperbinding effects in patients with GTS – taking a closer look (Applicants Beste, Christian ;  Bäumer, Tobias ;  Frings, Christian )
• Modulation of clinical phenomena and event file coding by repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (Applicants Münchau, Alexander ;  Park, Ph.D., So Young Q. )
• Modulation of event file coding during response selection and inhibition by repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in GTS (Applicants Beste, Christian ;  Weißbach, Anne )
• Neuromodulation of event file coding in GTS using transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) – a noninvasive brain stimulation approach (Applicants Beste, Christian ;  Münchau, Alexander )
• Neurophysiological correlates of the development of event file coding: a comparison of maturational and Tourette-related mechanisms (Applicants Li, Ph.D., Shu-Chen ;  Münchau, Alexander )
• Neuropsychopharmacology of event file coding in GTS using EEG-beamforming (Applicants Beste, Christian ;  Bluschke, Annet )
• Project 2: Longitudinal development of perception-action integration in GTS: in search for mechanisms underlying symptom remission (Applicants Li, Ph.D., Shu-Chen ;  Münchau, Alexander )
• Social events – An event coding approach to echophenomena in GTS (Applicants Krach, Sören ;  Krämer, Ulrike M. )

• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Alexander Münchau