Project Details
Projekt
GRK 1328: Brain-behaviour Relationship of Normal and Disturbed Emotions in Schizophrenia and Autism
Subject Area
Neurosciences
Term
from 2006 to 2015
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 13820592
Current developments of neuropsychological research induce a change of paradigm focussing on the biological basis of behaviour. Especially the progress in brain imaging, combined with psychological methods, will change diagnostics and treatment in neurology, psychiatry and psychotherapy within the next years. Of major importance herein are emotional disorders, being some of the most important symptoms of both schizophrenia and autism.
Within the International Research Training Group emotional processes are therefore a helpful approach to study basic mechanisms. Dysfunctional emotional processes are being investigated in patients as well as in health controls, making use both of behavioural psychological measures and brain imaging. Therapy-based changes of these functions are investigated via behavioural and pharmacological interventions. The gained information is of major importance for understanding
(1) brain mechanisms of emotions and their interactions with thinking, memory and language, and
(2) the role of disturbed neurobiological systems in schizophrenia and autism, including developmental aspects.
The members of the International Research Training Group - psychiatrists, neurologists, child psychiatrists, psychologists and neuroanatomists - use imaging techniques including structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI and fMRI), positron emission tomography (PET), magnetencephalography (MEG), receptor distribution and micro-structural brain mapping to analyse emotional networks of the brain. In cooperation with physicists, computer scientists and linguists of the RWTH Aachen university and of the Research Center Jülich, new techniques are being developed and applied to assess the brain activity of emotional processing.
Scientists of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, one of the five most renowned American universities, will be included in all fields of research and teachings. Graduates of the International Research Training Group are supported by both American and German professors during their stay in Germany or the United States, who will supervise their PhD theses. A rich exchange and rotation programme for students, scientists and teachers will be the basis of the International Research Training Group.
Within the International Research Training Group emotional processes are therefore a helpful approach to study basic mechanisms. Dysfunctional emotional processes are being investigated in patients as well as in health controls, making use both of behavioural psychological measures and brain imaging. Therapy-based changes of these functions are investigated via behavioural and pharmacological interventions. The gained information is of major importance for understanding
(1) brain mechanisms of emotions and their interactions with thinking, memory and language, and
(2) the role of disturbed neurobiological systems in schizophrenia and autism, including developmental aspects.
The members of the International Research Training Group - psychiatrists, neurologists, child psychiatrists, psychologists and neuroanatomists - use imaging techniques including structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI and fMRI), positron emission tomography (PET), magnetencephalography (MEG), receptor distribution and micro-structural brain mapping to analyse emotional networks of the brain. In cooperation with physicists, computer scientists and linguists of the RWTH Aachen university and of the Research Center Jülich, new techniques are being developed and applied to assess the brain activity of emotional processing.
Scientists of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, one of the five most renowned American universities, will be included in all fields of research and teachings. Graduates of the International Research Training Group are supported by both American and German professors during their stay in Germany or the United States, who will supervise their PhD theses. A rich exchange and rotation programme for students, scientists and teachers will be the basis of the International Research Training Group.
DFG Programme
International Research Training Groups
International Connection
USA
Applicant Institution
Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen
Participating Institution
Forschungszentrum Jülich
IRTG-Partner Institution
University of Pennsylvania
Spokesperson
Professor Dr. Frank Schneider
Participating Researchers
Professorin Dr. Katrin Amunts; Professor Dr. Simon Eickhoff; Professor Dr. Dirk Feldmeyer; Professor Dr. Gerhard Gründer; Professorin Dr. Ute Habel; Professorin Dr. Beate Herpertz-Dahlmann; Professor Dr. Leif Kobbelt; Professorin Dr. Kerstin Konrad; Professor Dr. Joachim Lübke; Professor Dr. Klaus Mathiak; Professor Dr. Nadim Jon Shah, Ph.D.; Professor Dr. Klaus Willmes-von Hinckeldey
Cooperation Partners
Professor Ted Abel, Ph.D.; Professor Steven Arnold; Professor Norman Badler, Ph.D.; Professor Warren Bilker, Ph.D.; Professorin Monica Calkins, Ph.D.; Professor Dr. Anjan Chatterjee; Professor Christos Davatzikos, Ph.D.; Professor Mark Elliot, Ph.D.; Professorin Raquel E. Gur, Ph.D.; Professor Dr. Christian Kohler; Professor James Loughead, Ph.D.; Professor Paul Moberg, Ph.D.; Professor Dr. Timothy P.L. Roberts; Professor Robert T. Schultz, Ph.D.; Professor Steven J. Siegel, Ph.D.; Professor Bruce I. Turetsky; Professorin Ragini Verma, Ph.D.; Professor Daniel Wolf, Ph.D.
IRTG-Partner: Spokesperson
Professor Ruben C. Gur, Ph.D.
