Neuroendocrine Control Mechanisms in Social Emotional Action
The ability to regulate our emotions largely depends on our capacities to control emotional actions. I will present a series of studies suggesting that down-regulation of amygdala activity by the anterior PFC is involved when people need to override their automatic action tendencies. I will show that the functioning of this neural circuitry is sensitive to individual differences in emotional states (anxiety and aggression) and associated steroid hormones (cortisol and testosterone, respectively). In addition, I will discuss recent direct manipulations of this neural circuitry by steroid hormone administration and brain stimulation (TMS). Our results suggest that the ability to control automatic emotional actions by this circuitry is central in explaining human emotional responses and may constitute an important factor in explaining anxious and aggressive symptomatology.
Date: 7 April 2016, 13:00 (Thursday, -2nd week, Trinity 2016)
Venue: Tinbergen Building, South Parks Road OX1 3PS
Venue Details: C113 Weiskrantz
Speaker: Professor Karin Roelofs (Donders Institute for Brain Cognition & Behaviour, Radboud University)
Organising department: Department of Experimental Psychology
Host: Simona Haller (University of Oxford, Department of Experimental Psychology)
Booking required?: Not required
Booking email: simone.haller@magd.ox.ac.uk
Audience: Members of the University only
Editor: Janice Young