Forschung

The working group "Experimental Psychiatry" focuses on the measurement of brain functions and peripheral-physiological variables in psychiatric patients (e.g. schizophrenia, affective diseases, anxiety disorders, ADHD, dementia) and healthy controls. To conduct these studies, the group uses a wide variety of techniques such as EMG, EEG, TMS and tDCS.

• factors contributing to mental resilience
• internalizing disorders (depression) and their therapy with brain stimulation methods
• reward system and its relation to ADHD

• Z03 project of the CRC 1193: Longitudinal determination of resilience in humans to identify mechanisms of resilience to modern- life stressors
• error-related brainactivity in depression before and after rTMS-therapy
• effects of the nitrergic system on behavorial phenotypes and neuronal activity
• tDCS of the frontopolar cortex for increasing cognitive functions

• Univ.-Prof. Michael Plichta (group leader)
• Rebecca Neumann (PhD student)
• Kira Ahrens (PhD student)
• Nadine Steinbach (student assistant)
• Nadine Riske (MD student)
• Kathrin Schunk (MD student)

CRC 1193: Neurobiology of resilience to stress-related mental dysfunction: from understanding mechanisms to promoting prevention

• Thais Cevada, (State University, Rio de Janeiro)
• Prof. Christine Freitag (Uniklinik Frankfurt, Germany)

• Suchan F, Kopf J, Althen H, Reif A, Plichta MM. Reliable and efficient recording of the error-related negativity with a speeded Eriksen Flanker Task. Acta neuropsychiatrica 2019:1–8.
• Plichta MM, Scheres A. Measuring the Neural Basis of Reward Anticipation and Reward Receipt in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: The Importance of Task Design. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 2015;54(8):685–6.
• Plichta MM, Scheres A. Ventral-striatal responsiveness during reward anticipation in ADHD and its relation to trait impulsivity in the healthy population: a meta-analytic review of the fMRI literature. Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews 2014;38:125–34.
• Plichta MM, Grimm O, Morgen K, Mier D, Sauer C, Haddad L, et al. Amygdala habituation: a reliable fMRI phenotype. NeuroImage 2014;103:383–90.
• Plichta MM, Wolf I, Hohmann S, Baumeister S, Boecker R, Schwarz AJ, et al. Simultaneous EEG and fMRI reveals a causally connected subcortical-cortical network during reward anticipation. The Journal of neuroscience 2013;33(36):14526–33.
• Plichta MM, Schwarz AJ, Grimm O, Morgen K, Mier D, Haddad L, et al. Test-retest reliability of evoked BOLD signals from a cognitive-emotive fMRI test battery. NeuroImage 2012;60(3):1746–58.