Topics

• modulation of memory encoding and consolidation by cognitive, affective and physiological factors

• effects of neurosteroids on brain function

• interaction of striatum and medial temporal lobe in episodic memory

• interaction of episodic memory and decision making

Methods

• fMFRI and VBM

• behavioural experiments

• eye tracking and peripheral physiology

• pharmacological and genetic approaches

Fujiwara E, Madan CR, Caplan JB, Sommer T. (2021) Emotional arousal impairs association memory: roles of prefrontal cortex regions. Learn Mem. 28(3):76-81.

Becker M, Kühn S, Sommer T (2020). Verbal insight revisited—dissociable neurocognitive processes underlying solutions accompanied by an AHA! experience with and without prior restructuring. Journal of Cognitive Psychology

Bayer J, Gläscher J, Finsterbusch J, Schulte LH, Sommer T. (2018). Linear and inverted U-shaped dose-response functions describe estrogen effects on hippocampal activity in young women. Nature communications; 9(1):1220.

Madan CR, Fujiwara E, Caplan JB, Sommer T. (2017). Emotional arousal impairs association-memory: Roles of amygdala and hippocampus. NeuroImage; 156:14-28.

Sommer T. (2017). The Emergence of Knowledge and How it Supports the Memory for Novel Related Information. Cerebral cortex; 27(3):1906-1921

Clos, M., Schwarze, U., Gluth, S., Bunzeck, N., & Sommer, T. (2015). Goal- and retrieval-dependent activity in the striatum during memory recognition. Neuropsychologia; 72:1-11.

Gluth, S., Sommer, T., Rieskamp, J., & Büchel, C. (2015). Effective Connectivity between Hippocampus and Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Controls Preferential Choices from Memory. Neuron, 86(4):1078-90.

Funding

2020 A computational psychiatric approach to understanding category representation in autism spectrum disorder (DFG, J. Bayer)

2017 Aufgabenspezifischer Stress und flexibles Lernen (Landesforschungsförderung Hanmburg; T. Sommer & J. Gläscher)

2015 Sex specific effects of estrogen on the neural substrates of episodic and fear memory (DFG, Sommer)

Past funding

2017 Dopaminerge Verstärkung von Gedächtnisleistung beim Erinnern – eine pharmakologische fMRT-Studie mit gesunden Probanden (UKE FFM; M. Clos)

2016 Entwicklung eines kognitiven Modells der Wirkung von Östrogen (DGPFG, Bayer)

2014 Auswirkung der Interaktion zwischen Östrogen und Dopamin auf die, den kognitiven Funktionen zugrundeliegenden, synaptische und Netzwerk-Aktivität bei Mäusen und Menschen (Landesforschungsförderung Hamburg; Büchel, Sommer, Bunzeck, Morrelini)

2014 The influence of estrogen on hippocampal and amygdala dependent emotional memory (DFG; T. Sommer & J. Gläscher)

2011 Functional significance of the ventral striatum during recognition memory (DFG; T. Sommer & N. Bunzeck)

2010 Visiting scholar at the Stanford Memory Lab, Stanford University, headed by Prof. Anthony Wagner (DAAD; T. Sommer)

2010 Emotional modulation of memory encoding and retrieval in the Concealed Information Test (DFG; M. Gamer, T. Sommer, C. Büchel, & G. Vossel)

2009 Neurodapt! Core Project (Excellence Intiviative Hamburg; T. Sommer, & K. Kutsche)

2009 Functional organization of the human medial temporal lobe (DFG; J. Peters, T. Sommer, & C. Büchel)

2009 Using Computational Models to Understand Mechanisms Underlying Complex Human Learning and its Genetic Basis Across the Life-Span (BMBF Bernstein; C. Büchel & T. Sommer)

2008 Localization and Functional Relevance of the Central Nervous Estrogen Synthesis (DFG; T. Sommer, C. Büchel, & G. Rune)

1999 Visiting scientist at the Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology, New York, (Volkswagen Foundation; T. Sommer)

Nikolai Axmacher
Ruhr-University Bochum

Sebastian Gluth
Universität Basel

Jeremy Caplan
University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

Christian Döller
Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University

Nijmegen Esther Fujiwara
University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

Penny Lewis
University of Manchester, England

Chris Madan
Boston College, Boston, USA

Deborah Talmi
University of Manchester, England

Anthony Wagner
Stanford University, USA

Thomas Wolbers
German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Magdeburg

Currently no open positions are available.