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Heidelberg University

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.

Contributors

Gabriele Ende

A03: Modulation of aggression by acute threat A08: The metabolic lung-brain axis in aggressive behavior in patients with AMD Q02: Data management for computational modelling Principal investigator Research data committee member Quality control group member Heidelberg University Central Institute of Mental Health

Gabriele Ende is a researcher associated with the Central Institute of Mental Health (ZI) in Mannheim, Germany. Her work primarily focuses on neuroimaging and the application of magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) in psychiatric and neurological disorders. Ende’s research aims to deepen the understanding of brain chemistry and its alterations in various mental health conditions.

Sabine Herpertz

A02: Context effects on threat processing in dependence of testosterone levels C06: Brain mechanisms differentiating aggressive vs. non-aggressive psychopathology as sequelae of early life maltreatment Q01: Recruitment and biotyping transdiagnostic risk mechanisms for aggressive behaviors in mental disorders across the life span Principal investigator Deputy Spokesperson Steering committee member Management board member Equal opportunity committee member Heidelberg University

Prof Dr Sabine C Herpertz studied human medicine in Bonn, obtained her doctorate in Frankfurt aM and habilitated in psychiatry and psychotherapy at RWTH Aachen University. Between 2002 and 2003, she held a professorship for Experimental Psychopathology at RWTH Aachen University before taking over the Chair of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the University of Rostock between 2003 and 2009. Since 2009, she has been Chair of General Psychiatry at Heidelberg University Hospital, Medical Director of the clinic of the same name and spokesperson for the Centre for Psychosocial Medicine. Her research focuses on the investigation of emotions and social functions in patients with personality disorders and trauma-associated disorders using experimental psychopathology and neuroscientific methods, in particular functional imaging. Reactive aggression is another focus of her research in personality disorders. She is Past President of the International Society for the Study of Personality Disorders (ISSPD) and has published many book chapters and journal articles on personality disorders. A second focus of her research is the development and evaluation of psychotherapeutic interventions.

Christoph Korn

C02: Aggressive decisions in social conflicts: Neuro-cognitive models for healthy individuals and psychiatric patients with high scores of aggression Principal investigator Quality control group member Heidelberg University

Prof Christoph Korn heads the Decision Neuroscience of Human Interactions laboratory (http://www.dnhi-lab.org/) at Heidelberg University in the Department of General Adult Psychiatry. He is particularly interested in decision-making behaviour, especially in social situations, and its neuronal basis. To this end, he uses computational models and also focuses on psychiatric disorders. Junior Professor Christoph Korn’s research group is funded as part of the Emmy Noethe Programme of the German Research Foundation (DFG).

Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg

A05: Peripersonal space violations and social threat: daily-life psychological and neural mechanisms of environmental risk for reactive aggression A06: Decoding dynamic reciprocal neural mechanism underlying reactive aggression: Insights from fMRI and fNIRS hyperscanning B04: Investigating psychological and neural correlates of intimate partner violence Principal investigator Central Institute of Mental Health Heidelberg University

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

A02: Context effects on threat processing in dependence of testosterone levels

Katja Bertsch Sabine Herpertz Ute Habel Isabel Neumann Nick Worm Julius-Maximilians University Würzburg Heidelberg University RWTH Aachen Negative valence system Biological Psychiatry Clinical Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
The focus will be on the influences of a provocative context on social threat processing in AMD under different testosterone levels. Specifically, the project aims to analyze the modulating function of context under testosterone application versus suppression on threat sensitivity in healthy controls as well as patient groups. Additionally, we will determine the influence of endogenous hormone variations (testosterone, oxytocin, estrogen and cortisol) on NVS in high versus low aggressive patients in a large group of patients recruited in Q01. With this sample, we will try to identify multidimensional biosignatures based on hormonal levels in combination with fMRI measures of amygdala and amygdala-prefrontal connectivity, NVS measures by questionnaires, aggression measures and psychopathological data.

C02: Aggressive decisions in social conflicts: Neuro-cognitive models for healthy individuals and psychiatric patients with high scores of aggression

Christoph Korn Klaus Mathiak RWTH Aachen Heidelberg University Interaction of negative valence system and cognitive system Biological Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience Cognitive, Systems and Behavioural Neurobiology Human Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience Biological Psychiatry
Develop virtual scenarios to assess decision strategies in cartoon-like and naturalistic contexts. The core question is how healthy individuals and patients make (mal-)adaptive aggressive decisions in social conflicts given their threat sensitivity, cognitive functions, and learning experience. We plan to present mathematically well-defined aggressive decision scenarios to healthy participants as well as patients across diagnostic categories with high scores of aggressive behavior, threat sensitivity, and inference of hostile intent in others. Computational models that accurately explain behavioral choices and neural responses (tested using fMRI and pupillometry) will be developed to identify the aggressive decision strategies humans employ in approach-avoidance conflicts of increasing complexity and ecological realism. The purpose will be to determine if patients use overly aggressive strategies that are not warranted by the necessary defense of self-threats and underlying neural circuits.

C06: Brain mechanisms differentiating aggressive vs. non-aggressive psychopathology as sequelae of early life maltreatment

Sabine Herpertz Corinne Neukel Heidelberg University Interaction of negative valence system and cognitive system Clinical Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Identify specific neuronal mechanisms related to the NVS and CS in female and male clinical samples with a history of early-life maltreatment (ELM) who exhibit externalizing, aggressive psychopathologies as opposed to internalizing, non-aggressive psychopathologies. We will therefore explore the interaction of the NVS and CS as well as the modulating effects of theory-of-mind (ToM) on the NVS and CS using a series of fMRI and behavioral tasks. Furthermore, we will investigate the role of hormonal stress responses and will use EMA to assess anger and aggression in everyday life. Thus, we will be able to combine behavioral phenotyping in natural conditions of everyday life and neurobiological correlates of psychopathology in order to detect clinically relevant biosignatures for AMD.