GW4 BioMed MRC DTP PhD Studentship: Examining the link between multisensory and socio-emotional processing in anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder

This project is one of a number that are in competition for funding from the ‘GW4 BioMed MRC Doctoral Training Partnership’ which is offering up to 19 studentships for entry in September/October 2018.

Supervisory team for this project:
Dr Karin Petrini (Bath), Dr Anke Karl (Exeter), Prof Krasimira Tsaneva-Atanasova (Exeter) and Dr Chris Ashwin (Bath)

Project description:

Despite evidence of altered multisensory processes in individuals with socio-emotional deficits (e.g. autism spectrum disorders), no study has examined these processes in individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder. This project will fill this gap in research and clarify the role of multisensory processing in Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy.

Individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) show altered emotion regulation (either an inability to manage overwhelming emotions or emotional numbing) and interpersonal difficulties such as lack of trust and social isolation (Cloitre et al., 2005). It has been suggested that altered processing of facial (e.g. Shin et al., 2005) or verbal (prosody) socio-emotional cues (Nazarov, 2015) may contribute to an individual’s ability to effectively regulate affective states and interact with others. An analogue study in individuals with elevated dispositional anxiety levels (Koizumi et al., 2011) suggest that both anxiety and stress also impact multisensory integration in a way that amplifies processing of negative threat-related cues and attenuating positive emotional cues.

With few exceptions these studies have investigated emotion recognition in isolation on just one sensory modality (e.g. facial expression alone). This is surprising given the multisensory nature of Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy used with these populations (Gerardi et al., 2010), and the existing evidence of disrupted multisensory processing in disorders characterised by socio-emotional deficits such as autism spectrum disorders (e.g. Stevenson et al., 2014).

With this PhD project we aim to examine whether:
1) multisensory processing is modulated by levels of anxiety;
2) the effect of anxiety on multisensory processing is mediated by the degree of autistic traits as we know that these traits are often correlated;
3) Multisensory processing is affected in PTSD patients;
4) facilitating adaptive multisensory integration using virtual reality (VR) as a safe space for learning new information and behaviours has important therapeutic implications;
5) we can derive and select interpretable features in the data to design a classification algorithm that allows us to discriminate between patients and healthy individuals.

Study 1 will address aims 1 and 2 by testing the link between multisensory abilities, levels of anxiety and degrees of autistic traits in the general population. Multisensory abilities will be measured by using a set of standardised stimuli and techniques developed by Dr Petrini (e.g. Petrini et al., 2015; Piwek, Pollick and Petrini, 2015), the degrees of autistic traits will be measured by administering the autism-spectrum quotient previously used by Dr Ashwin (AQ; Baron-Cohen, et al., 2001) and the levels of anxiety will be measured by the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS, Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995) administered by Dr Karl.

Study 2 will address aim 3 by comparing a group of PTSD and matched controls by using the same tasks and measurements of Study 1.

Study 3 will examine aim 4 by testing the effect of different VR conditions (e.g. only visual, or visual and auditory) on a PTSD and matched control group.

Aim 5 will be addressed by applying mathematical modeling and analysis to the data collected in all three studies above. This analysis will include state-of-the-art statistical methods designed to determine the individual signatures of the varying processing and motoric deficits, which might underpin different degrees of anxiety and PTSD (Słowiński et al., 2016). Prof. Tsaneva-Atanasova has recently done this with high specificity and precision using the kinematic signatures of individuals who have been diagnosed with schizophrenia (Słowiński et al., 2017).


IMPORTANT: In order to apply for this project, you should apply using the DTP’s online application form. More information on the application process may be found here: http://www.gw4biomed.ac.uk/projects-2/for-students/

APPLICATIONS OPEN ON 25 SEPTEMBER AND CLOSE AT 17:00 ON 24 NOVEMBER 2017.

You do NOT need to apply to the University of Bath at this stage – only those applicants who are successful in obtaining an offer of funding from the DTP will be required to submit an application to study at Bath.