Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, and Faculty of Medicine, Ruprecht-Karls University Heidelberg
Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg is a distinguished psychiatrist and neuroscientist based in Germany, renowned for his groundbreaking research on the neurobiological underpinnings of psychiatric disorders. He serves as the Director of the Central Institute of Mental Health (ZI) in Mannheim and is a professor at the University of Heidelberg. Meyer-Lindenberg’s work focuses on understanding how genetic and environmental factors influence brain function and contribute to mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and depression. His contributions have significantly advanced the field of psychiatric neuroscience, providing deeper insights into the mechanisms of mental health disorders and informing the development of more effective treatments.
Projects
Peripersonal space, the representation of the space immediately surrounding the body, will be studied as an underlying factor
for threat experience. Early-life stressors and daily-life stressors will be tested as factors influencing PPS processing
and associated specific brain activation patterns. Location tracking and geoinformatics mapping, virtual reality (VR)
experiments, physiological stress markers, and brain function during the processing of PPS violations in healthy at-
risk individuals will be used to identify predictive biomarkers related to psychiatric risk, enhanced neural behavioral
sensitivity to PPS interference and reactive aggression in daily life.
The project employs fMRI and functional near-infrared
spectroscopy (fNIRS) hyperscanning techniques to explore how brain-to-brain synchrony and dynamic processes within
peer dyads facilitate or inhibit aggressive behavior under diverse levels of provocation in adolescent patients and controls.
In two fully interactive tasks, we will probe aggressive behavior towards a task partner, and quantify the building of
interpersonal trust/distrust applying a social interaction and economic exchange paradigm. These paradigms will be
employed within dyads in fMRI hyperscanning settings and extended by group-based fNIRS methods in triads to study
effects of peers, social exclusion, and coalitions on aggressive behavior in semi-naturalistic interactions. Between-brain
neural synchrony will be computed and related to everyday social experiences and individual predispositions to identify
markers for the prediction of aggressive behavior.
Focus on the neural correlates of characterizing cognitive control deficits during conflict situations.
The project will investigate patients with varying levels of cognitive control along with their close partners (sibling or intimate partner) to identify the dynamics of self-regulation and co-regulation in provoked conflict situations in patients with control deficits. To identify the precursors and dynamics of conflict escalation, the project will apply measures of behavioral reactions, skin conductance, simulated or real conflict, fMRI and fMRI-hyperscanning techniques and physiological measures.
Neuroimaging data will also be combined with information on stress, control and conflicts in real-life via EMA.
Sites
Heidelberg University is Germany’s oldest university, founded in 1386.
Renowned for its research excellence and strong emphasis on the humanities,
natural sciences, and medicine, it consistently ranks among Europe’s top
universities. The university fosters a rich academic tradition and an
international outlook, attracting students and scholars from around the world.
The Central Institute of Mental Health (Zentralinstitut für Seelische
Gesundheit) in Mannheim, Germany, is a leading psychiatric research institution
affiliated with Heidelberg University. It specializes in research, treatment,
and education related to mental health disorders, neuroscience, and
psychosocial factors influencing mental well-being. The institute plays a
crucial role in advancing psychiatric knowledge and developing innovative
therapies through interdisciplinary collaboration and state-of-the-art
facilities.
