It is not novel to study decision making under threat. But most research has overlooked a key factor: the balance between two major systems in our body that control stress—our sympathetic system in which the substance noradrenaline enables fast “fight-or-flight” reactions and our parasympathetic system in which the substance acetycholine enables “freeze-and-sample” reactions. Although balance between these systems may be essential for how our brains compute the optimal decisions to cope with the threat, these systems have been largely ignored in our decision models.
Roelofs: “At the Behavioural Science Institute and Donders Institute of the Radboud University, we are in the ideal position to study the complex interactions between the central nervous system and the autonomic nervous system. Our team will develop a new computational model on how autonomic balance influences our decisions under threat. We will monitor body and brain activity in real time, such as heart and posture tracking and advanced brain imaging. Importantly, we will test causal effects by means of pharmacological interventions and by using transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS) to target deep neural regions that we could not target before in a non-invasive and specific manner.”
More information
The project will start in January 2026, read the full press release.
