Fellowships: Sensory and Motor Neurosciences, Cognition and Perception – F02B
The F02B study section reviews fellowship applications including those with an emphasis on understanding normal sensory (both auditory and visual), motor or sensorimotor function. The proposed science may involve either animal models or human subjects. F02B also reviews applications with projects examining visual, somatosensory and nociceptive information processing, integration of multisensory information, and neural correlates of attention and cognition. Cognitive neuroscience applications (except learning and memory) are also reviewed in this panel, as well as disorders of cognitive, sensory, perceptual and motor development. F02B reviews applications using a range of animal models and/or human subjects. Methods range from cellular/molecular neurobiology to neurophysiology to human psychophysical and imaging approaches.
The List of Reviewers lists all present, whether standing members or temporary, to provide the full scope of expertise present on that date. Lists are posted 30 days before the meeting and are tentative, pending any last minute changes.
Review Dates
Topics
- Studies of motor control focusing on cortical, subcortical, and spinal systems underlying locomotion and other motor behaviors
- Parkinson’s, Huntington’s and other motor diseases (e.g., ataxias and dystonia) when the focus is on motor control/circuitry primarily in animal models
- Sensorimotor integration, such as studies of the rodent whisker-barrel system, investigations of hand-eye coordination, and studies of proprioception
- Mechanisms of touch, mechanosensation, thermosensation, encoded by somatosensory cortex as well as subcortical, spinal, and peripheral systems
- Chemosensation including olfactory, gustatory and chemesthesis.
- Mechanisms of pain and analgesia, ranging from studies of primary afferents to spinal circuits to central processes involved in nociception
- Studies of anatomical and neurophysiological substrates of central visual processes, such as object and motion perception, binocular processes and studies of cortical plasticity at cellular and network levels.
- Visual information processing in the neuronal circuits from the retina to and including all visual areas of the brain.
- The normal and abnormal development of visual neural circuits. The sensory and perceptual consequences of strabismus and amblyopia.
- Topics in Cognitive Neuroscience (except learning and memory), such as studies of attention, face and object perception, motor learning.
- Circuit-level studies of reward mechanisms and other motivated behaviors
- Drug abuse: Circuit mechanisms of tolerance and dependence on opioids and other drugs with abuse potential, including opiates, non-opioids and other analgesics.
- Studies of interactions of sensory modalities, such as interactions of auditory and visual systems
- Perceptual mechanisms for all sensory modalities
- Cognitive, sensory, or perceptual mechanisms underlying behavioral, mental and aging disorders
- Disorders of cognitive, sensory, perceptual and motor development, including intellectual disabilities, autism, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in animal models.
Shared Interests and Overlaps
Fellowship panels are broad and cover inter-related areas. Assignments are made based on the primary emphasis of the proposed research. There are some overlaps between topics reviewed by fellowship study sections. For any application that may fall between primary areas of study, the CSR Division of Receipt and Referral, Review Branch chiefs, and SROs confer to place it properly and to ensure that all appropriate expertise is brought to bear.
F02B panel reviews applications for a broad spectrum of research related to all aspects of sensory, perceptual, motor and cognitive neuroscience. In F02B, topics involving neurological and mental disorders, including the underlying mechanisms or potential treatments of a disorder or a behavior are shared with Brain Disorders and Related Neurosciences [F01A] and Behavioral Neuroscience [F02A] fellowship study sections.
For example, applications related to neurodegenerative disorders (such as Parkinson’s and Huntington diseases) may be reviewed in F02B, when the focus is on motor control and/or circuitry, and Neurodegeneration and Aging [F03C] fellowship study section, when the focus is on molecular mechanisms of neurodegeneration or F01A when the focus is on clinical, behavioral and cognitive outcomes primarily in human subjects.
While circuit mechanisms of drugs of abuse are reviewed in F02B, human and clinical studies may be reviewed in F01A, behavioral studies – in F02A, and studies focused on neuropharmacology – in Biophysical, Physiological, Pharmacological and Bioengineering Neuroscience, and Vision [F03B] fellowship study sections.
Circuit-level studies of reward mechanisms and other motivated behaviors are reviewed in F02B, behavioral studies may be reviewed in F02A and neuropharmacology-related studies may be reviewed in F03B.
