Institute of Neuropsychology and Clinical Psychology

Focal point of the psychobiological research at the department of Cognitive and Clinical neuroscience is the exploration of the interaction between the brain and behavior, i.e. how behavior and experience affect neuronal processes and how, in turn, neuronal changes affect behavior and experience. This question is studied both in healthy humans as well as in persons with mental, psychophysiological, and mainly organic disorders, where learning and memory processes and their neural substrates are thought to be affected. In addition, we also take a life-span perspective on neural alterations related to learning and memory by investigating healthy older age individuals and persons prone to develop dementia. A further objective of research at the department is the development of adequate assessment procedures and novel behavioural therapy approaches.
In extension to the broad use of neuropsychological, clinical psychological and experimental psychological methods multiple psychophysiological and neuroimaging methods are used and genetic alterations related to dysfunctions of learning and memory are investigated. For the treatment of mental disorders, several behavioral intervention strategies, some combined with pharmacological treatments (e.g., d-cycloserine, hydrocortisone, cannabis, and dextromethorphan), are tested. Finally, the department focuses on virtual and augmented reality applications and brain computer interfaces for the treatment of maladaptive brain plasticity.

Schematic overview of the research areas at the Department
Neural Correlates of Learning and Memory

Disorders	Psychological processes that are the focus of the experiments	Methods
Amputation	Classical (Pavlovian) conditioning	Psychophysical examinations
Tinnitus	Operant conditioning	Magnetic source imaging
Psychopathy	Autobiographic memory	Electric source imaging
Social phobia	Sensory memory	Analysis of evoked potentials, slow cortical potentials and oscillatory acitvity
Depression		Funktional and structural magnetic resonance imaging
Posttraumatic stress disorder		Transcranial magnetic stimulation
Chronic pain		Behavioral training
Addictions		Behavioral analysis
		Analysis of peripheral physiological indicators such as startle reflex, skin conductance