BERLIN SCHOOL OF MIND AND BRAIN iii january 2011 Newsletter BERLIN SCHOOL OF MIND AND BRAIN contents 1 Editorial by Hauke Heeke ren 2 Einstein Visiting Fellow Questions & Answers 3 Professor Raymond J Dolan 4 Christoph Korn 6 Vera Ludwig 8 Roland Nigbur 10 Holger Gerhardt 12 Soyoung Park 14 Nikos Green 16 Contact and Imprint iii january 2011 Newsletter Decision-making There is a long history of decision-making research in Editorial philosophy, economics, and psychology and only recently by Hauke cognitive neuroscience has joined these disciplines in Heeke ren, the quest to better understand how we make decisions. faculty member Decision-making research in Berlin covers a broad of the Berlin range of diff erent aspects : from mechanisms of per- School of Mind ceptual, value-based, and economic decision-making to and Brain social, legal, and moral decision-making. Decision-making is not only a fascinating topic for basic research but may have important practical implica- tions, for example, in designing better decision architec- tures to enable people to make better decisions. What is more, alterations in decision-making are a central feature of neuropsychiatric disorders. A more comprehensive understanding of how we make deci- sions will also contribute to a better understanding of disorders of this kind in clinical populations such as patients with brain lesions, drug and alcohol addiction, depression, and impulsive aggressive behavior. The interdisciplinary environment at the Berlin School of Mind and Brain provides a unique opportunity to tackle problems related to decision-making by taking into account knowledge from philosophy, economics, psychology, and cognitive and aff ective neuroscience. Einstein Visiting Fellow : Raymond J Dolan ( London ) The Berlin School of Mind and Brain is happy to an- nounce that Professor Raymond J Dolan ( Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London ) will be the School’s “Einstein Visiting Fellow” beginning in 2011. The Fellow will receive funding from the Einstein Stiftung ( www.einsteinfoundation.de ) to set up a research group in Berlin and collaborate with the Berlin School of Mind and Brain, its faculty and doctoral students over the coming years. Professor Dolan’s research focuses on the neuro- biological characterization of human emotion and its interaction with other components of cognition, such as attention, memory, and decision-making. Ray Dolan has received numerous prestigious awards, including the Humboldt Research Award for Outstanding Schol- ars, the Minerva Foundation Golden Brain Award, and the International Max Planck Research Award. In the fi eld of Neuroscience and Behaviour, he is one of the most cited scientists in the world. Professor Dolan is a member of the Berlin School of Mind and Brain’s International Advisory Board. He has kindly agreed to participate in this edition’s “Ques- tions and Answers” to introduce his studies and aims for his project in Berlin. 2 Professor Raymond J Q & A Dolan Q What motivated you to take up Q What do your parents think you the Einstein Visiting Fellowship and are doing ? set up a research group at the Berlin A I am not sure as they are both School of Mind and Brain ? dead – but I don’t for a moment A I have longstanding collabora- imagine they would have envisioned tions with colleagues in Germany, me working either in neuroscience and especially in Berlin. Many of or indeed having a base in Berlin ! these have in fact led to scientifi c publications. So, it seemed logical Q What do you like best about living to put things on a more formal basis. in Berlin ? A I think the city is fascinating, Q What is your research topic ? with an extraordinary history. I am A I work on emotion and decision- deeply impressed with a commit- making, in health and disease. This ment to deal with this history, rather is a wide brief but is one that is in- than bury it. The commitment to the tellectually rich. Arguably, many of architectural and cultural life of the the mental pathologies that affl ict city especially through visible invest- humans are directly related to this ment is also impressive. The city topic and this is of interest to me as also feels very open in all senses of a practising psychiatrist. the word, and that includes the most important element – the people. Q Which do you see as the challenges of an interdisciplinary study of the mind Q What do you fi nd most interest- and brain ? ing about your research ? A It is one of translation. How do A The fact one is continuously you map one level of description on confronted by new problems and to that of another. challenges that are never boring. Q What classes from undergradu- Q How would you explain what ate study do you wish you could still you do to a non-expert ? remember or wish you had taken ? A I say that I am trying to under- A Mathematics to a high level, and stand how one bit of the mind physics too. works. 3 Christoph Q & A Korn Q What motivated you to apply Q What is your research topic ? for the program at the Berlin School A In our everyday lives we make of Mind and Brain ? many decisions in a social context. A The title of my Master’s degree I am interested in how this social was “Brain and Mind Sciences.” context infl uences and shapes our When I started my Master’s course, behavior. Specifi cally, my current I was mainly interested in the brain research focuses on how we process on a cellular level. However, gradu- self-related social feedback. This so- ally my interests shifted to topics cial feedback can be positive, such as related to human behavior. I was somebody telling us that we are nice really glad that the interdisciplinary and friendly, or it can be negative, structure of my Master’s course such as somebody telling us that we aroused my fascination for both are arrogant and hypocritical. From brain and mind sciences. There- our own experience, we know that fore, I wanted to pursue my PhD our reactions to positive and negative thesis in a similar, interdisciplinary feedback diff er substantially. environment. Furthermore, I was looking for the possibility to do my PhD in a framework that off ers a lot of face-to-face interaction with other students and researchers. In addition to doing research, I also wanted to get additional teaching during my PhD. The Berlin School of Mind and Brain off ered precisely what I was looking for. Christoph Korn 4 By using functional magnetic reso- another discipline often use a diff er- nance imaging I want to investigate ent methodology precisely because the brain mechanisms involved in they are asking a diff erent question. diff erentiating positive and negative social feedback. Importantly, in Q What do you fi nd most interesting order to get a more mechanistic about your research ? understanding of the computations A What I like about my research performed by certain brain regions topic is that a lot of people can im- during social feedback processing, mediately understand and relate to I am applying insights and theories what I am interested in from their from recent studies on non-social everyday experiences. Furthermore, decision-making. I like the fact that I am working on an interdisciplinary topic, which is Q Which do you see as the challenges infl uenced by studies in neuroeco- of an interdisciplinary study of the mind nomics, cognitive neuroscience, and and brain ? social psychology. I also like the fact A In my opinion, the challenge is that my research topic may be rele- not so much about explaining what vant for clinical research and practice. you are investigating, but about con- Patients suff ering from psychiatric veying why you are interested in disorders such as major depression answering a certain research ques- show altered social feedback process- tion. In interdisciplinary debates, ing. Therefore, I hope that in the scientists often have diffi culties com- future, my studies can contribute municating the motivation for their to better understanding the defi cits specifi c research questions. Further- of these patients. more, scientists trained in diff erent fi elds sometimes have a hard time understanding each other due to the use of diff erent research meth- odologies. I think that we should be aware of the shortcomings of our respective approaches and ac- knowledge that scientists trained in 5 Vera Q & A Ludwig Q What motivated you to apply Q What is your research topic ? for the program at the Berlin School A When we decide between several of Mind and Brain ? options, we have to assign values to A How can the brain give rise each of them in order to choose the to subjective experience ? Why do option with the highest value. I study I experience myself as a person the neural mechanisms underlying in space and time ? Such questions this assignment process by func- have fascinated me since early ado- tional magnetic resonance imaging lescence. I applied to the Berlin ( f MRI ). In my experiment, partici- School of Mind and Brain because pants decide how much money they I am convinced that interdiscipli- are willing to pay for diff erent food nary discussion is crucial if we want items ( e. g., chocolate, potato crisps ). to have even the slightest chance This is one measure for the value of understanding these topics better. participants place on items. To study At the School of Mind and Brain how value signals are computed or you can interact with and learn from retrieved in the brain, we use hypno- students and researchers from sis to systematically infl uence factors diverse backgrounds who share the relevant for the assignment of values same passion for mind and brain and observe how this changes brain topics.