Stress & Cognition Group

Inspiring days in Ratzeburg 🌿✨ at the 3rd Summer School of @rtg2753.bsky.social on Emotional Learning & Memory. Science, sports, spa – and great talks from our lab on past & future projects! 🧠💡

With @elbersgerd.bsky.social, Kai Schüren, Tim Dressler, @s-vandelangenberg.bsky.social & Antonia Lilja

GOAT times in the lab 🐐🍻
Excited to (re)welcome Tim Dreßler as a new PhD student, and belated cheers to @elbersgerd.bsky.social & Dr. Leon Lange, who joined our department earlier this summer 🌞

Grateful for some intense days at #ICON25 in Porto and energised from the people I (re)connected with — so much input, inspiring discussions, and the chance to share my work on hippocampal neurofeedback 🧠 Now moving from brainwaves to ocean waves: recharging with workouts & the sea 🏄🏼‍♀️🏋🏼‍♀️🏃🏼‍♀️

Prediction Error-Related Memory Enhancement Depends on the Neural State Surrounding the Prediction Error Event Prediction errors (PEs) can enhance memory for preceding events. While such PE-related memory enhancements are critical for understanding adaptive memory, their underlying mechanisms are not fully und...

New publication from our lab! 👀
We found that memory enhancement from PEs depends on the brain's neural state: theta/alpha activity & pre-error reactivation are key. TMS over the superior parietal cortex altered response bias but not PE-related memory effects 💡

👉 www.jneurosci.org/content/45/3...

One paper is out 👇🏼- the other is currently under review.

psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/202...

Hats off to Dr. Kaja Loock, who successfully defended her PhD on July 11th! 🎓👏🏼

Her thesis, "Learning from the Unexpected: How Prediction Errors Shape Episodic Memory Formation," sheds new light on how surprises shape what we remember. 🧠💡

Congrats on this outstanding achievement! 🌟

more info here:
hcns.eu/awards/

More photos & fun here:
www.instagram.com/stresscognit...

🔥 Biannual Team Fun Alert

We took a break from the brain stuff & soaked up some sunshine! ☀️ We got competitive over mini-golf ⛳ and kubb 🪵 (aka Viking Chess), relaxed with a cozy picnic in Planten un Blomen 🌸 and shared too much pizza & laughter 🍕😂

We’re now on Insta too, come follow along 👇🏼

📢 On July 1st, our new postdoc Dr. Leon Lange & our new PhD student Neele @elbersgerd.bsky.social (as part of the @rtg2753.bsky.social) joined the lab - a very warm welcome to both! 😍

Today, our postdoc Hendrik Heinbockel received the Best PhD Thesis Award at the Summer Event of the Hamburg Brain School /Center for NeuroScience.
Congratulations! ☀️💐👏🏼 #HamburgNeuro #HBS #HCNS

Read more here:
www.dgps.de/fachgruppen/...

Exciting news from the 14th Germany-wide PhD Thesis Award of @dgps.bsky.social (General Psychology) 🌟

Our postdoc Sarah Koch was awarded 3rd place for her outstanding dissertation, presented at the final symposium in Cologne 🎉👏

Huge congratulations to Sarah and all other finalists!

Our new paper is out! Valentina Krenz et al show that the amygdala response during the initial encounter of an emotional event boosts subsequent remembering through a more precise reinstatement of the event representation during subsequent encounters 💡

www.jneurosci.org/content/45/1...

Excited to have welcomed our new PhD student to the lab! 🧠 Good luck with your research journey, @ivanamarijanovic.bsky.social ! 🍀

www.psy.uni-hamburg.de/arbeitsberei...

🔥New paper by Kaja Loock!

In a series of experiments, Kaja, F. Kalbe & L. Schwabe investigated whether PE effects are specific to the predictive stimuli that precede PEs, or if PEs create a temporary period of enhanced, non-selective memory formation.

The results? 👇
psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/202...

Great talents looking for #NeuroJobs or #PsychJobs in your network? 🧠🌐
Please share our vacancies!

📝 Deadline March 5th

Ausschreibung

We're announcing new openings in our research team! Join us at @uni-hamburg.de and be a part of fascinating work on stress and cognition:

🔹 Post-doc: www.uni-hamburg.de/stellenangeb...

🔹 PhD student: www.uni-hamburg.de/stellenangeb...

We’re excited to welcome new talent 🌟 #NeuroJobs #PsychJobs

@rtg2753.bsky.social

🚀 Big milestone for Antonia Lilja! Her first first-author paper in her PhD is now online🔥 Findings show that #stress enhances #memory for preceding neutral events—but only if the stressor itself is well remembered. No cueing effects found. Check it out!

learnmem.cshlp.org/content/31/1...

Post-retrieval noradrenergic activation impairs subsequent memory depending on cortico-hippocampal reactivation Impairing effects of post-retrieval noradrenergic but not glucocorticoid activation on future recall are linked to hippocampal reactivation and category-level reinstatement in ventral temporal cortex ...

New @elife.bsky.social study published! 🚀 Yohimbine modulates memory reconsolidation via hippocampal-cortical reactivation.

fMRI & psychopharma findings on memory by Hendrik Heinbockel, Gregor Leicht, Anthony D. Wagner & Lars Schwabe. 🧠💡 #Neuroscience #Memory

elifesciences.org/articles/100...

come work with @stresscognition.bsky.social , @anjariesel.bsky.social , @nicoschuck.bsky.social @christianbuchel.bsky.social, @janhaaker.bsky.social as well as Tania Lincoln, Tobias Donner, Sarah Hohmann, Simone Kühn, Jürgen Gallinat and a bunch of brilliant students!

Critically Assessing the Unanswered Questions of How, Where, and When to Induce Plasticity in the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Network With Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Extinction of traumatic memory, a primary treatment approach (termed exposure therapy) in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), occurs through relearning and may be subserved at the molecular level by...

⚡ Novel Treatments for PTSD
@joshbrownneuro.bsky.social et al. (pages 392–404) systematically review repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) as a treatment for PTSD.

www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/article/S000...

✨ PTSD Treatment Approaches

Jessica L. Maples-Keller et al. (p382-391) translate fear extinction research into #PTSD therapies:

www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/article/S000...

Stress and Inflammation Target Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex Function: Neural Mechanisms Underlying Weakened Cognitive Control Most mental disorders involve dysfunction of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), a recently evolved brain region that subserves working memory, abstraction, and the thoughtful regulation of at...

💡 Stress Weakens Cognitive Control
Mary Kate Joyce et al. (p359-371) review how stress/inflammation impair the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex:
⚡ Reduced cognitive control
⚡ Increased disorder vulnerability

www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/article/S000...

How Can Early Stress Influence Later Alzheimer's Disease Risk? Possible Mediators and Underlying Mechanisms Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive, age-related neurodegenerative disorder to which genetic mutations and risk factors contribute. Evidence is increasing that environmental and lifestyle-relate...

🧠 Stress and Alzheimer’s Risk

Paul J. Lucassen et al. (p372-381) explore how early-life stress affects Alzheimer’s risk by altering:

▶️ Hormone regulation
▶️ Synaptic health
▶️ Neuroinflammation

www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/article/S000...

Building Resilience: The Stress Response as a Driving Force for Neuroplasticity and Adaptation People exhibit an extraordinary capacity to adjust to stressful situations. Here, we argue that the acute stress response is a major driving force behind this adaptive process. In addition to immediat...

🌟 Adapting to Stress
Hermans et al. (pages 330–338) discuss how #stress promotes #adaptation by:
✅ Mobilizing resources for immediate coping
✅ Enhancing neuroplasticity
✅ Creating memories of success, safety & controllability

www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/article/S000...

📢 The latest special issue of Biological Psychiatry, titled "Stress and Cognition: From Bench to Bedside", is live 🔗!

Co-edited by Lars & @nikosdaskalakis.bsky.social it explores how stress impacts the brain, cognition & mental health—bridging basic research and clinical applications.

Highlights ⬇️

Start the new year right! Prof. Lars Schwabe shares insights on creating lasting routines and handling setbacks in @spiegel.de podcast Smarter leben (in German). Listen here:

Ausschreibung

💡 📝Apply for the postdoc position at the Cognitive Psychology Lab at @uni-hamburg.de @stresscognition.bsky.social until the 10th of January! All details via www.uni-hamburg.de/stellenangeb...