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Research Group:
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| [head of group:] | |
| Dr.rer.nat. Till R. Schneider | |
| [group members:] | |
| Dr.rer.nat. Nicole David Senior scientist, |
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| Dr.phil. Sina Alexa Trautmann-Lengsfeld Postdoc, |
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| Randolph Helfrich Ph.D. Student, |
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| Dipl.Psych. Marion Höfle Ph.D. Student, |
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| Dipl.Psych. Hanna Krause Ph.D. Student, |
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| Dipl.Psych. Kathrin Müsch Ph.D. Student, |
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| Dipl.Psych. Ina Peiker Ph.D. Student, |
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| MSc Inga Schepers Ph.D. Student, |
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| Karin Deazle Technical Assistent, |
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| [research topics:] | |
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| [Autism spectrum disorders (ASD):] | |
| ASD has been conceived as representing disorders of information integration or “binding” at the cognitive and neural level. In line with this hypothesis, at the perceptual level, individuals with ASD may show enhanced detail or feature perception while ignoring context or gestalt information and a superior performance for pattern parcellation or visual search. Our projects aim to investigate the relationship between potential neural and perceptual binding abnormalities in ASD. | |
| [Interaction of Emotion and Attention:] | |
| The processing of sensory stimuli can be modulated by a variety of top-down influences. Attention and emotion are among the two most important top-down factors that continuously shape activity in sensory systems and both contribute to enhancing the saliency of sensory signals. We address the interaction of emotional and attentional processing specifically with respect to the modulation of neural synchrony in various frequency bands. We investigate how attentional and emotional factors modulate the saliency of stimuli and whether neural synchrony serves as a common underlying mechanism for these modulatory effects. | |
| [Pain Processing:] | |
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The broad goal of our research is to better understand the CNS pathways and mechanisms mediating pain and pain modulation in normal and pathologic states. Current research is focused on imaging changes in oscillatory activity. The dynamics and plasticity of this brain network can be studied by systematically altering somatic stimulation parameters or by observing the effects of drugs or attentional manipulations. Spatial and temporal changes in the network pattern are correlated with human psychophysical behavior to determine their functional significance.
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| [Multisensory processing in Schizophrenia:] | |
| Schizophrenia with its numerous diagnostic subtypes is characterized by several behavioural deficits as well as a diverse range of cognitive, affective and perceptual symptoms, including sensory impairments. A growing body of research suggests a variety of unisensory impairments in schizophrenia at different levels of perceptual processing, from processing of stimuli of low complexity to Gestalt perception. Our research aims at investigating characteristics of neural oscillations during multisensory processing in schizophrenia. | |
| [Multisensory processing after sensory deprivation:] | |
| In the developing as well as the mature brain, structural and functional changes have been observed after sensory deprivation. At the behavioural level both superior and inferior performance has been described in the remaining senses. Most studies investigating the visually deprived were concerned with unimodal processing, i.e. auditory or somatosensory processing. However, it is also of great interest whether sensory deprivation influences interactions between the senses. We investigate the role of neural synchrony for multisensory object processing and the modulation of rhythmic activity in the congenitally blind. | |
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