Project Details
Projekt
Examining mechanistic principles of behavioral interventions in GTS from a TEC-perspective
Applicants
Dr. Annet Bluschke; Dr. Julia Friedrich; Dr. Nicole Wolff
Subject Area
Human Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience
Term
since 2022
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 360279285
Within the first funding period of this research group it was shown that stimulus-response binding is increased in individuals with Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (GTS) compared to typically developing controls. In this project, mechanisms of behavioral interventions for GTS (i.e.Comprehensive Behavioural Intervention for Tics (CBIT) and Exposure and response Prevention (ERP)) will be examined within the context of stimulus-response binding. We test the assumption that the TEC-framework provides a suitable basis to explain the mechanisms of action underlying these interventions in patients with GTS. Both the CBIT and the ERP training reduce GTS symptoms by addressing the binding between sensory perceptions and motor outputs and by inducing changes within this binding. While both approaches require participants to inhibit tic execution even when typical tic-triggering sensory perceptions are present, CBIT more specifically focusses on the replacement of the tic with another response, thus training the re-binding mechanisms. Based on these differences in the underlying mechanisms, CBIT and ERP will presumably each be associated with specific effects depending on whether event file coding during response selection or response inhibition is examined. To test these assumptions,children/adolescents and adults with GTS and respective TDC groups will be evaluated and compared using clinical, psychological as well as electrophysiological methods.
DFG Programme
Research Units
