PhD Hadas Okon-Singer | Cognitive-Emotional Biases in Psychopathology: Searching for New Treatment Strategies

Guest Lecture

  • Date: Dec 13, 2019
  • Time: 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: PhD Hadas Okon-Singer
  • Department of Psychology, Head, Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of Haifa, Israel
  • Location: MPI for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences
  • Room: Wilhelm Wundt Room (A400)
  • Host: Department of Neurology
Various psychological disorders are characterized by pronounced cognitive biases, including biased orienting of attention to certain stimuli, distorted expectation of the likelihood to encounter specific objects, biased interpretation of ambiguous information and biased perception. Although these biases are common in psychopathology, most of the studies so far focused on one bias by employing traditional analysis methods. Therefore, little is known about the correlational and causal relations between different biases and about combined patterns that may characterize certain disorders. In this talk, I will discuss recent behavioral, fMRI and autonomic data showing links between biases, as well as modulation of biased emotional processing in different populations. Moreover, by employing machine-learning based analysis, we managed to specify specific behavioral patterns that characterize anxiety vs. depression, two disorders that share many characteristics and show high comorbidity. Finally, I will discuss recent evidence for abnormalities in the blood pressure reaction to aversive pictures among individuals with pre- hypertension, a population that is usually not studied in the context of psychological reactions. Taken together, these findings suggest new strategies to explore and treat maladaptive behaviors that have fundamental implications on the patients’ life.
Go to Editor View