Bob Bramson received his MSc in Psychology from the University of Amsterdam in 2015 and then went on to pursue a PhD in cognitive neuroscience in the EPAN lab under supervision of Karin Roelofs and Ivan Toni. In his PhD thesis he studied the role of the anterior prefrontal cortex (aPFC) in emotional-action control by combining several neuroimaging (MEG, fMRI, MRS, DTI) and neuro-modulation techniques (tACS). These techniques were employed to study the way prefrontal cortex is able to bias emotional actions through its structural connections with areas related to emotional processing; aPFC’s influence on action selection through long-range synchronization with motor-related areas; and the role of neurotransmitters that might support communication within this neuronal circuit. Combined, these studies aimed to provide an account of the anatomical constraints of the emotional-action control circuit, its electrophysiological properties and neurochemical profile, and causally manipulated network-level characteristics.
As a postdoctoral researcher Bob continues to study electrophysiological mechanisms of affective behavior, focusing on the freeze response. In this project he will explore the role of threat-related freeze in action preparation and orienting using MEG, and study how freeze can be overridden in favor of action through frontoparietal interactions.
Contact: b.bramson@donders.ru.nl
Publications:
Bramson B, den Ouden H, Toni I, Roelofs K (2020) Improving emotional-action control by targeting long-range phase-amplitude neuronal coupling. Elife (in press).
Bramson, B., Folloni, D., Verhagen, L., Hartogsveld, B, Mars, R.B., Toni, I., & Roelofs, K. (2020). Human lateral Frontal Pole contributes to control over emotional approach-avoidance actions. Journal of Neuroscience
Bramson, B., Jensen, O., Toni, I., & Roelofs, K. (2018). Cortical oscillatory mechanisms supporting the control of human social-emotional actions. Journal of Neuroscience
Hartogsveld, B., Bramson, B., Vijayakumar, S., van Campen, A. D., Marques, J. P., Roelofs, K., … & Mars, R. B. (2017). Lateral frontal pole and relational processing: Activation patterns and connectivity profile. Behavioural brain research.