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| Home > Zentren > Zentrum für Experimentelle Medizin > Institut für Systemische Neurowissenschaften > Research group: Affective neuroscience

Research group: Affective neuroscience

Overview

Using neuroscientific methods such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) we study the neural mechanisms of emotional processing and how emotions affect other cognitive functions such as learning or decision making. In part, we employ very simple paradigms such as classical conditioning, because this enables a link of our research to existing animal work. Methodologically, we are also bridging the gap between human neuroscientific research and animal neurophysiology by using high resolution fMRI for instance to investigate emotional processing in different subnuclei of the amygdala and the striatum. The interaction between emotion and cognition is also exemplified by the modulation of pain processing by various cognitive factors. A prime example of this effect is placebo analgesia in which expectation and experience shape pain perception. Using fMRI (including novel MR protocols to investigate spinal cord responses), pharmacological interventions and computational models, we investigate the neuronal mechanisms underlying this effect.

Research topics

• The neuronal basis of placebo and nocebo effects
• The role of the amygdala in emotion processing
• The role of fronto-striatal loops in reward and decision making
• Mechanisms of classical conditioning

Key publications

• Reuter J, Raedler T, Rose M, Hand I, Gläscher J, Büchel C: Pathological gambling is linked to reduced activation of the mesolimbic reward system. Nature Neuroscience 2005; 8(2):147-8
• Heinz A, Braus DF, Smolka MN, Wrase J, Puls I, Hermann D, Klein S, Grusser SM, Flor H, Schumann G, Mann K, Büchel C: Amygdala-prefrontal coupling depends on a genetic variation of the serotonin transporter. Nature Neuroscience 2005; 8(1):20-1
• Bingel U, Rose M, Gläscher J, Büchel C: FMRI reveals how pain modulates visual object processing in the ventral visual stream. Neuron 2007; 55(1):157-67
• Yacubian J, Sommer T, Schroeder K, Gläscher J, Kalisch R, Leuenberger B, Braus DF, Büchel C: Gene-gene interaction associated with neural reward sensitivity. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2007; 104(19):8125-30
• Eippert F, Bingel U, Schoell ED, Yacubian J, Klinger R, Lorenz J, Büchel C: Activation of the opioidergicdescending pain control system underlies placebo analgesia. Neuron 2009; 63(4):533-43
• Eippert F, Finsterbusch J, Bingel U, Büchel C: Direct evidence for spinal cord involvement in placeboanalgesia. Science 2009; 326(5951):404
• Peters J, Büchel C: Episodic future thinking reduces reward delay discounting through an enhancement ofprefrontal-mediotemporal interactions. Neuron 2010; 66:138-148