Trajectories of behaviour and brain activity correlates of socio-affective cognition under genetic risk and psychosocial stress (B06)

• Subject Area: Clinical Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 521379614

Social distress and deficits in social cognition are thought to elicit symptoms and their fluctuations in affective disorders. In this project we aim to investigate the differential contributions of genetic risk and psychosocial stressors to short-term symptom changes and long-term behavioral trajectories in a rat model. Our experimental design incorporates continuous and intermittent behavioral observation, in vivo recording of brain activity with innovative neuro-prosthetic technology, and molecular techniques to reveal neurobiological correlates and predictive signatures of concurrent behavioral changes.

• DFG Programme: CRC/Transregios
• Subproject of: TRR 393: Trajectories of Affective Disorders: Cognitive-emotional Mechanisms of Symptom Change
• Applicant Institution: Philipps-Universität Marburg
• Project Heads: Privatdozentin Nadine Bernhardt, Ph.D.; Professor Dr. Markus Wöhr