Sören Krach

The impact of dopamine on aggression: an [18F]-FDOPA PET Study in healthy males

Abstract Cerebral dopamine (DA) transmission is thought to be an important modulator for the development and occurrence of aggressive behavior. However, the link between aggression and DA transmission in humans has not been investigated using molecular imaging and standardized behavioral tasks. We investigated aggression as a function of DA transmission in a group of (N […]

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Elaborative encoding during REM dreaming as prospective emotion regulation

Abstract Rapid eye movement (REM) dreaming results in “emotionally intelligent encoding,” according to the target article. Building on this, we argue that elaborative encoding alters emotional processing of upcoming events and thereby functions as prospective emotion regulation. After elaborative encoding, future events are appraised differently and result in a redirected emotional response. Disturbed elaborative encoding

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Test-retest reliability of fMRI brain activity during memory encoding

Abstract The mechanisms underlying hemispheric specialization of memory are not completely understood. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can be used to develop and test models of hemispheric specialization. In particular for memory tasks however, the interpretation of fMRI results is often hampered by the low reliability of the data. In the present study we therefore

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Neural activation during anticipation of opposite-sex and same-sex faces in heterosexual men and women

Abstract Psychobiological accounts of face processing predict that greater salience is attributed to faces matching a viewer’s sexual preference than to faces that do not. However, behaviorally, this effect could only be demonstrated in tasks assessing reward ‘wanting’ (e.g. work-per-view-tasks) but not in tasks assessing ‘liking’ (e.g. facial attractiveness ratings), and has been found to

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Lack of association of a functional catechol-O-methyltransferase gene polymorphism with risk of tobacco smoking: results from a multicenter case-control study

Abstract Background: The catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) modulates dopaminergic neurotransmission in the prefrontal cortex as well as in the mesolimbic reward system. Since the reward system mediates addictive behavior, the COMT gene is a strong candidate gene regarding the pathophysiology of tobacco dependence and smoking behavior. Because of rather conflicting results in previous studies, the purpose of the

Lack of association of a functional catechol-O-methyltransferase gene polymorphism with risk of tobacco smoking: results from a multicenter case-control study Read More »

Oxytocin influences processing of socially relevant cues in the ventral tegmental area of the human brain

Abstract Background: Evidence accumulates that the neuropeptide oxytocin plays an important role in mediating social interaction among humans and that a dysfunction in oxytocin-modulated brain mechanisms might lie at the core of disturbed social behavior in neuropsychiatric disease. Explanatory models suggest that oxytocin guides social approach and avoidance by modulating the perceived salience of socially meaningful

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Concerns about cultural neurosciences: A critical analysis

Abstract Ten years ago, neuroscientists began to study cultural phenomena by using functional MRI. Since then the number of publications in this field, termed cultural neuroscience (CN), has tremendously increased. In these studies, particular concepts of culture are implied, but rarely explicitly discussed. We argue that it is necessary to make these concepts a topic

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Increased autonomic activation in vicarious embarrassment

Abstract We studied the somatovisceral response pattern of vicarious embarrassment for someone else’s inappropriate condition. Participants (N=54) were confronted with hand-drawn sketches depicting public situations and were instructed to rate the intensity of their vicarious embarrassment. The inappropriate condition varied according to the attribution of intentionality (absent/present) and awareness (absent/present). Irrespective of these attributions, participants

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Functional connectivity analyses in imaging genetics: considerations on methods and data interpretation

Abstract Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can be combined with genotype assessment to identify brain systems that mediate genetic vulnerability to mental disorders (“imaging genetics”). A data analysis approach that is widely applied is “functional connectivity”. In this approach, the temporal correlation between the fMRI signal from a pre-defined brain region (the so-called “seed point”)

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Your flaws are my pain: linking empathy to vicarious embarrassment

Abstract People vicariously experience embarrassment when observing others’ public pratfalls or etiquette violations. In two consecutive studies we investigated the subjective experience and the neural correlates of vicarious embarrassment for others in a broad range of situations. We demonstrated, first, that vicarious embarrassment was experienced regardless of whether the observed protagonist acted accidentally or intentionally

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