Research projects

A01: The neural code of stimulus-triggered territorial aggression

Marc Spehr Lena Terlau RWTH Aachen Negative valence system Molecular Biology and Physiology of Neurons and Glial Cells

A unique experimental model will be used to study the neurobiological basis of aggressive animal behavior and translate novel findings about its cellular and circuit underpinnings into human phenotypes of pathological aggression.

A02: Context effects on threat processing in dependence of testosterone levels

Katja Bertsch Sabine Herpertz Ute Habel Julius-Maximilians University Würzburg Heidelberg University RWTH Aachen Negative valence system Biological Psychiatry Clinical Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

The focus will be on the influences of a provocative context on social threat processing in AMD under different testosterone levels.

A03: Modulation of aggression by acute threat

Gabriele Ende Christian Schmahl Central Institute of Mental Health Negative valence system Clinical Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

The neural and neurochemical patterns of acute threat as modulators of aggression in BPD will be investigated in this project.

A04: Implicit chemosensory threat signals as stimulators of amygdala hyperresponsiveness in AMD

Ute Habel Natalia Chechko RWTH Aachen Negative valence system Biological Psychiatry Clinical Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

We make use of threat-related chemosensory stimuli, namely body odor, acquired during aggressive behavior (boxing) and unconsciously perceived, to investigate heightened amygdala responses to threat stimuli in aggressive patients.

A05: Peripersonal space violations and social threat: daily-life psychological and neural mechanisms of environmental risk for reactive aggression

Heike Tost Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg Central Institute of Mental Health Negative valence system Human Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience Biological Psychiatry

Peripersonal space, the representation of the space immediately surrounding the body, will be studied as an underlying factor for threat experience.

A06: Decoding dynamic reciprocal neural mechanism underlying reactive aggression: Insights from fMRI and fNIRS hyperscanning

Kerstin Konrad Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg Vanessa Reindl RWTH Aachen Central Institute of Mental Health Negative valence system Clinical Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

The project employs fMRI and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) hyperscanning techniques to explore how brain-to-brain synchrony and dynamic processes within peer dyads facilitate or inhibit aggressive behavior under diverse levels of provocation in adolescent patients and controls.

A07: The intestinal microbiota as a regulator of aggressive and impulsive behavior

David Slattery Andreas Reif Goethe University Frankfurt Negative valence system Biological Psychiatry

This translational project investigates sex-dependent behavioral effects of faecal microbiota transplantation to microbiome-depleted mice from AMD patients (selected based on their aggressive and impulsive traits from Q01), as well as healthy controls.

A08: The metabolic lung-brain axis in aggressive behavior in patients with AMD

Thomas Frodl David Slattery Gabriele Ende RWTH Aachen Goethe University Frankfurt Central Institute of Mental Health Negative valence system Biological Psychiatry Clinical Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Beta-hydroxy-butyrate (BHB), a ketone body, is negatively associated with aggressive behavior.

B01: Neurobehavioral effects of repetitive prefrontal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on pathological aggression

Carmen Weidler Andreas Reif RWTH Aachen Goethe University Frankfurt Cognitive system Biological Psychiatry Clinical Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

TDCS will be used as an interventional tool to decrease aggression.

B02: Young offenders’ self-regulation deficit as a common mechanism for aggressive behavior and psychopathology - neural mechanisms and role of adverse childhood experiences

Wolfgang Retz Oliver Tüscher Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz Cognitive system Cognitive, Systems and Behavioural Neurobiolog Biological Psychiatry Clinical Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

This project aims to identify cognitive and emotion control deficits in the context of negative valence and threat interference and their association with ACE in young offenders.

B03: A process-based brain-computer interface to modulate aggressive behavior – a real-time fMRI neurofeedback study

Klaus Mathiak Christian Paret Jana Zweerings RWTH Aachen Central Institute of Mental Health Cognitive system Biological Psychiatry

Probe the self-regulation of CS networks in adults and adolescents diagnosed with mental disorders related to frequent stress-associated affective outbursts and aggressive symptoms in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and BPD.

B04: Investigating psychological and neural correlates of intimate partner violence

Lisa Wagels Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg Katja Bertsch RWTH Aachen Central Institute of Mental Health Julius-Maximilians University Würzburg Cognitive system Biological Psychiatry Clinical Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Focus on the neural correlates of characterizing cognitive control deficits during conflict situations.

B05: Predictors and (neuro-)biological correlates of (cyber-)bullying and victimization in real-life contexts

Nathalie Holz Tobias Banaschewski Central Institute of Mental Health Cognitive system Clinical Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Focus on the investigation of a lack of cognitive control in bullies and victims that contributes to the risk of developing mental health problems.

C01: Gene-environment interactions and the role of impulsivity in responding to acute threats: early life stress and escalated aggression in recombinant inbred mouse strains

Aet O'Leary David Slattery Goethe University Frankfurt Interaction of negative valence system and cognitive system Biological Psychiatry

Sex-dependent effects and gene-environment interactions will be investigated by applying escalating aggression paradigms.

C02: Aggressive decisions in social conflicts: Neuro-cognitive models for healthy individuals and psychiatric patients with high scores of aggression

Christoph Korn Klaus Mathiak RWTH Aachen Heidelberg University Interaction of negative valence system and cognitive system Biological Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience Cognitive, Systems and Behavioural Neurobiolog Human Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience Biological Psychiatry

Develop virtual scenarios to assess decision strategies in cartoon-like and naturalistic contexts.

C03: Distributed network control and interventions to frustrative non-reward and threat triggered aggressions

Wolfgang Kelsch Wolfgang Weber-Fahr Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz Central Institute of Mental Health Interaction of negative valence system and cognitive system Biological Psychiatry Clinical Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Investigate context-dependent aggression triggered by frustrative non-reward or acute social threats.

C04: The sex-specific role of genes, early adversity, peers, community violence, and puberty related endocrinological changes in adolescent pathological aggression

Christine Margarete Freitag Andreas Chiocchetti Goethe University Frankfurt Interaction of negative valence system and cognitive system Biological Psychiatry Clinical Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Address sex-specific NVS (reactive aggression) and CS (different dimensions of psychopathy, proactive aggression) associated risk factors, and risk factor-based biosignatures.

C05: The neuroanatomical underpinnings of clinical aggression and their relationship with the negative valence and cognitive control systems

Christine Ecker Goethe University Frankfurt Interaction of negative valence system and cognitive system Biological Psychiatry

Link questionnaire measures of aggression to specific neural substrates using structural MRI.

C06: Brain mechanisms differentiating aggressive vs. non-aggressive psychopathology as sequelae of early life maltreatment

Sabine Herpertz Corinne Neukel Heidelberg University Interaction of negative valence system and cognitive system Clinical Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Identify specific neuronal mechanisms related to the NVS and CS in female and male clinical samples with a history of early-life maltreatment (ELM) who exhibit externalizing, aggressive psychopathologies as opposed to internalizing, non-aggressive psychopathologies.

C07: Identifying mediators of threat-aggression and experimental manipulation by tDCS

Michael Plichta Wolfgang Retz Goethe University Frankfurt Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz Interaction of negative valence system and cognitive system Biological Psychiatry

Test the interaction of the CS and frustrative non-reward as part of the NVS.

Q01: Recruitment and biotyping transdiagnostic risk mechanisms for aggressive behaviors in mental disorders across the life span

Tobias Banaschewski Thomas Frodl Sabine Herpertz Andreas Reif Christine Margarete Freitag Ute Habel Kerstin Konrad Service project RWTH Aachen Central Institute of Mental Health Heidelberg University Goethe University Frankfurt Biological Psychiatry Clinical Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

The central recruitment platform for collecting and curating a longitudinal dataset for studying individual aggression dynamics related to the neural, cognitive-emotional, neurobiological, psychopathological and environmental factors in patient groups.