Cns - Persuasion and Deception - International Graduate Program ...
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
June 2019
Volume 12 • Issue 2
Charité c n s
a newslette
r brought to yo u b y the Internati
Ne u r
onal Grad
o
u
S
a
c
te
i
P
e n
ro
c
g
e
ra m Medical N
eurosciences
Persuasion and Deception
GOJI-CHIA-QUINOA THE RISE OF POPULISM SING ME A SONG
Why people believe in The psychology of a Using music to improve
miracle foods political movement patients‘ decision-making
» p. 4 » p. 18 » p. 22
www.medical-neurosciences.de
Want to hear a secret? Come closer.
CONTENTS
Let’s talk about you for a minute. Your true value. What
you are really worth. Something tells me you deserve more.
How To Attract Your
FOCUS CAREER
Okay. Here is how you can learn to get everything you ever wanted: you need to read this
issue of CNS, cover to cover. Crush
Edi t orial
A classic study on the mis-
That’s right. You may benefit from learning, for example, how neuromarketing experts attribution of arousal..17
know how to design products that push your brain’s Buy button (p. 8), especially how smart A Glimpse Into The
COVER
phones are specifically designed to be an addictive slot machine for our brains (p. 6). Or A Sprinkle of Pollen Looking Glass
COVER
perhaps you know that you just need to learn about the psychology of leadership in order
to take your rightful place as king of the jungle (p. 10). On that note, you could brush up
in my Flat White, The annual meeting of
on the neuroscience of populism (p. 18), in case you need to go that route. And speaking of Please! The Rise of Populism the German Society for
populism: ever feel like there is a relationship between confidence and stupidity? It’s called Why do people believe in The psychology of a politi- Neurosurgery...28
the Dunning-Kruger Effect (p. 14). But as you may have noticed, even intelligent people are miracle foods?...4 cal movement...18
prone to believing in hyped-up trends like superfoods (p. 4) and magic (p. 27). After you have Column: Dr Brown
become a master of manipulation, you can learn how to attract your crush (p. 17)... but don’t Transferable academic
let your imagination run away with you (p. 24). Hacking Humans skills: Healthy cynicism
Our addiction to devices...6 “Trust Me, I’m A Sci- a.k.a. BS detector...29
In the aftermath of the EU and Australian elections, and in anticipation of a looming Brexit, entist!”
the U.S. presidential elections and others worldwide; in an era where news is fake and priva- Do you believe everything A Conversation
cy is a thing of the past; we bring you CNS: the Persuasion and Deception edition.
How To Push The that you read?...20 With Dr. Markus
This time around we also bring you an extra-special career section: exclusive interviews
Brain’s “Buy!“ Button Dettenhofer
with industry leaders from the EuroSTEMpeers conference (p. 29), a field report from the Spotlight on Succeeding in science
annual meeting of the German Society for Neurosurgery (p. 28) and a friendly reminder neuromarketing...8 in the light of science
from Dr. Brown to appreciate the BS-detection skills you picked up while getting your PhD policy...29
(p. 29). We also go in-depth on options for funding as a PhD student in Germany (p. 38).
Who’s the King Here, Funding For Gradu-
And be sure not to miss these other great articles: a journey through Ramadan (p. 42), dis- Anyway? ate Students...38
cussions of new findings from our very own Charité research groups (p. 15, p. 22), and a How to trick the forest into
closer look at a recent study that claims a Netflix series raised the suicide rate (p. 12). accepting you’re the lion
when you aren’t...10
As we said: just read it cover to cover. Prescription:
Bettina Schmerl Vivaldi’s “Winter“,
COVER
Like Alex Masurovsky Can A Series Really 3x Per Day After CAMPUS
what you see?
Ioana Weber Raise Suicide Meals
Interested in contributing? We are Rates?...12 Using music to improve the
always looking for new authors and submission on any- Co-editors in chief quality of decision-making News in Brief...40
thing related to the topic of neuroscience and beyond. “Trump is the best!“, by patients...22
Con t est
Send us an article, some beautiful shots from your micro- Trump Says Conference Report:
scope, poems, short stories, critiques, reviews, anything! Can the Dunning=Kruger EuroSTEMpeers
The best contribution will be rewarded with the book effect explain the poise of Berlin 2019...41
The Future of the Brain edited by Gary Marcus. incompetents?...14
Journey Through
Come on and write like there’s no tomorrow! Send your Ramadan...42
contribution to cns-newsletter@charite.de to win. Richard Lower’s
Thought-Provoking WhazzUp?
This issue’s winner
is Question Events in and around
Ewelyn Medawar, who The foundation of ex- Berlin..43
wrote an engaging and ploring cerebral collateral
fun article about food fads circulation...15
(page 4). You Are Imagining
Wrong...24
Congratulations, and thanks
to everybody for their
contributions! Selling A Miracle
When money trumps
health...27
June 2019 CNS newsletter 3
FOCUS FOCUS
A Sprinkle Of Pollen In My Flat White, Please!
Why Do People Believe in Miracle Foods?
Açaí – Chia – Moringa – we look at studies investigating cogni- edge on a well-controlled study testing Biases: Why Believing in Miracle powder every morning to our cereal like superfoods, we should totally go for
Matcha – Goji? tive performance, some studies show the claim? No, because evidence is rare. Foods is Intuitive seems to be a feasible solution; avoid- it and observe whether we see health
The hype surrounding superfoods is beneficial effects of the antioxidant Willingness to pay is mostly higher for In our fast-paced life, consumers are ing unhealthy meals overall does not. benefits. If we do not, we should leave
on – both in Germany and around the molecule resveratrol [4], others show functional foods due to the perceived susceptible to ready-n’-easy food solu- Driving an electric car seems a feasi- them on the shelves to be sent back to
world. Some consumers believe that no effect [5]. Overall, evidence from added value. A study suggests that this tions. Omnipresent food cues and food ble solution for being more sustainable; the greedy marketers. In any case, we
those ingredients provide a recipe for well-controlled human studies is very added value is not only due to health availability as well, as the problem of an
stopping the use of our car does not. should critically ask ourselves about our
well-being, improved health and men- scarce and not available for superfoods, benefits but also due to other factors, obesity epidemic in Western societies reasons for making purchase decisions.
tal calmness. However, there is a par- for which benefits are loudly trumpeted e.g. “naturalness” [7]. [10], might contribute to the seeking of Consumer research has shown intrigu-
adoxical imbalance of belief in benefits by marketing strategies. new solutions for more sustainable and ing results on how green consumerism
of superfoods and lack of high-qual- Superfoods Help to Idealize “The healthier food choices. So whenever (purchase of more sustainable products) Ewelyn Medawar
ity scientific information on them. So why is it that many consumers be- Self” marketers tap into those “weaknesses” impacts our behaviour: being exposed PhD candidate rer. medic
lieve in the efficacy of superfoods and Another reason for the ready accep- of the consumer, we most likely forget to greener products compared to con- Charité/Berlin School
The term “superfoods” or miracle foods end up spending large amounts of tance and purchase of superfoods might about our truth-seeking ideals to get ventional ones made people act more of Mind and Brain / MPI
as such is not clearly defined, but broad- money to get hold of them? be the expected benefits for the con- the best available knowledge, and are altruistically. However, after purchas-
ly refers to “food with high levels of sumer, promoting his/her idealism and more likely to fall for their promissory ing said green products, people were CBS Leipzig
either nutrient or bioactive phytochem- Trusting Marketing Claims a perceived superiority to non-func- statements. This paradox or “illusion of less altruistic and showed more anti- 1. Taulavuori et al., Nat Prod Commun, 2013
icals with human health benefits” [1]. As many health benefits as super- tional foods [8]. This concept has been validity” bias has been shown to work social behaviour [12]. This behaviour 2. Muñoz et al., Food Rev, 2013
For instance, açaí and chia seeds are foods or miracle foods purport to pro- shown to exist in a study investigating for superfoods: firstly, consumers be- is a well-known example for moral li- 3. de Lima Yamaguchi et al., Food Chem, 2015
proposed to provide cardioprotective vide, purchasing decisions are most the consumer’s response to food stimuli lieve in the benefits of superfoods with censing. For purchasing superfoods this 4. Köbe et al., Front Neurosci. Frontiers, 2017
5. Huhn et al., Neuroimage, 2018
qualities via anti-inflammatory proper- likely not based on profound knowl- presented in a digital surrounding [9]. all their presumed health claims and could be translated as follows: making a 6. Meyerding et al., Sustainability, 2018
ties and beneficial food matrix composi- edge. Rather, consumers seem to be The consumers’ liking of an image was secondly, consuming superfoods could purchase decision for a functional food 7. Pappalardo et al., Food Qual Prefer, 2016
tion [2,3]. In etymological terms “super” victims of marketing campaigns that highly driven by visual cues and the be used to externalise personal values that conveys health benefits boosts my 8. Sikka, Food, Cult Soc, 2019
(Greek: above) implies that those food successfully promote putative health background story, determining the pal- and neoliberal norms to our social sur- “healthy food choice record” and con- 9. Howatson, Victoria University of Wellington,
2017
items are above other food items – claims without backing them up with atability and “sexiness” of the present- rounding, i.e. the wish to embody heal- sequently, my health goals are already 10. Uzogara et al., Int J Public Heal Res, 2017
superior products, so to speak. This evidence-based research. For example, ed food item. In the decision to buy a thism [11]. achieved and I can relax! “Health li- 11. MacGregor et al., J Consum Cult, 2018
little marketing trick helps to promote one study showed that bread with a superfood, the study supported the censing” – analogous to moral licens- 12. Mazar et al., Psychol Sci,
an allegedly positive value to these food functional ingredient, such as linseed importance of the hedonistic expe- In general, the hype surrounding su- ing – should be further investigated and 2010
13. Blanken et al.,
items. or chia, was valued more compared to rience and symbolic value, and not perfoods is just one example of the validated as a concept. Personal Soc Psychol
a non-functional bread [6]. Common the food item (or nutritive value) psychology of reducing a complex life- Bull, 2015.
But do superfoods actually bring about knowledge makes us believe those per se. style/habit problem to a one-dimen- In short, we are very
health benefits? And if so, which mech- functional components are really func- sional solution. We want to be health- good at outsmarting
anisms could mediate those benefits? If tional, but did we ever base our knowl- Victims of our Cognitive ier, therefore adding a superfood ourselves – if we
Image: Delicious Fruit Portrait, Alonsa Guevara Aliaga on Wikimedia Commons
4 CNS newsletter June 2019 June 2019 CNS newsletter 5
FOCUS FOCUS
Hacking Humans
Our Addiction to Devices
The year 2017 marks a decade since the their business model evolved to become or send a “flowers” emoji. We show off as long as possible [11]. After hearing having a good time, traveling and doing is no longer known for hacking the
first iPhone was presented by Steve Jobs heavily focused on adds. our stories and successes and expect ap- this interview, Bill Maher from HBO all the cool stuff. Logically we know it world for the better, but for hacking our
in his famous keynote at the Macworld proval in the form of likes and shares, opened his show, Real Time, comparing cannot be true, but instinctively we be- minds and engineering our social lives
Conference and Expo in San Francisco The apps that you do not pay for most which causes our dopamine levels social media with how tobacco com- lieve what we see and suffer because of for profit.
[1]. For those of us who are older, life likely use you as a product. Roger (widely known as the “reward” neu- panies, in the early days, engineered it. Another new term, nomophobia – a
without a smartphone is a part of inno- McNamee, once Mark Zuckerberg’s rotransmitter) to spike every time we cigarettes to be more addictive [12]: fear of not being able to use your smart- It is time for developer and UX design-
cent childhood, but for younger gener- mentor and one of the earliest investors refresh our feeds [8]. “The tycoons of social media have to phone – is characterized by severe anx- ers to learn a bit more about morality
ations, it is not possible to imagine. A in Facebook, argues you are not even a stop pretending that they are friendly iety, avoidance of face-to-face interac- and ethics, and take into account the
person spends on average around 4h per product, the product is your attention; Technology not only is changing our nerd gods building a better world and tions and a high level of social anxiety, mental health of their users. Until now,
day on the phone, making it more than you are a fuel [5,6]. social interactions and exploiting our admit they are just tobacco farmers in ultimately leading to depression. it was left to the companies to solve
one whole day per week [2]. In addi- vulnerabilities, but making gamblers T-shirts selling an addictive product to these issues internally and start be-
tion, Americans check their phones on And here we come to the attention out of us. In his famous TED talk [9], children. Because, let’s face it, checking Time to take some lessons in having better. That did not bring much
average every 12 minutes [3]. This, the economy. The amount of time we Tristan Harris, former Google Design your “likes” is the new smoking.“ ethics improvement. Like we have laws to
decade of the smartphone, could also be spend on our phone and on a certain Ethicist, revealed how tech is turning After the Cambridge Analytica protect against chemical pollution, it is
called the decade of digital dependency. app equals profit made, and tech prod- smartphones into pocket slot machines Digital life and mental scandal [14] and its con- time for policymakers and legislators
uct designers are making sure our eyes and that the main reason why they are health firmed role in spreading to issue laws against mental pollution
The beginning of the smartphone era are on our phones as much as possible. addictive is because of what are called
was humble: even Steve Jobs imag- When an app is presented as an im- “intermittent variable rewards” [10].
While people report that
the main reason they are
“ the fake news and im-
Checking your likes pacting American presi-
and protect freedom and privacy of the
citizens while holding tech companies
ined an iPhone as a practical device mensely valuable and even necessary Whenever you pull out your smart- on social media is to keep is the new smoking. dential elections in 2016 responsible for their actions. Individu-
to bring together your phone and mode of communication, people fear phone, you are playing a game – What in touch with friends and [15], social media re- ally, it is our job to be more aware and
your music in one place, replacing the that they will miss out (you may have will I get? It could be 3 notifications family, they also report surfaced on our attention. better informed, and to know ourselves,
iPod. So what happened? How did heard of FOMO) on important oppor- from Facebook, 5 Instagram likes, 2 that time spent on social media Now, Facebook’s mode of operation without addiction..
we come to be so dependent on it? tunities if they are not part of it, or be emails, 1 match from Tinder. When- makes them stressed and frustrated, is being faced with antitrust and rising
Jelena Brasanac
considered the odd one out. Not having ever you open an app, you are playing and causes disruption to personal and critique. Politicians from both the Left
PhD Student, AG Gold
We bought a story: we can’t live
without a smartphone a social media account can make you the slot machine again – What are the family life [13]. People sign in to con- and Right are advocating for stronger
Today’s smartphone is much more than look suspicious or be perceived as ex- notifications about? What photo comes nect with friends from another part of regulation of Internet platforms. In the 1. https://tinyurl.com/mw6vpdr
2. https://tinyurl.com/ybssobps
your music playlist and text messages. treme and unsociable [7]. next? Who swiped right? You never the world but cannot maintain an un- end, this is not a question of Right and 3. https://tinyurl.com/yye3eols
It is your email, camera, TV, podcast, know in advance and it will be different interrupted conversation with a friend Left, but right and wrong. 4. https://tinyurl.com/y2s52ke2
fitness coach, assistant and exter- A Silicon Valley whistleblower every time. When the rate of reward is across the table. In 2012 the term “phub- 5. https://tinyurl.com/y52msmwz
nal memory. However, where people We are social beings. We want to keep the most variable, Harris says, addic- bing” was coined to describe the act of Most likely, neither Facebook, nor 6. https://tinyurl.com/yyloo93v
7. https://tinyurl.com/y2d5rxm4
spend the most time on their phones in touch with family and friends, check tiveness is the greatest [10]. In an inter- snubbing someone in a social setting by Google, nor anyone else knew or pre- 8. https://tinyurl.com/y7wff8m8
is on social media: Facebook, Insta- who was where on a vacation, who got view with Anderson Cooper on 60 min- looking at your phone instead of paying dicted how addictive and exploitative 9. https://tinyurl.com/y3h4za7e
gram, Twitter, Snapchat and YouTube a baby and who got a promotion. As utes, Harris argued that Silicon Valley attention. their products could become. That time 10. https://tinyurl.com/y9kehouh
[4]. While all of those except Snapchat the band Aerosmith famously noted, is not programming apps, it is program- of innocence is gone, however – just 11. https://tinyurl.com/y9qfz9pr
12. https://tinyurl.com/y234fggh
also exist on the computer, their usage we don’t want to miss a thing–other- ming people, and that technology is Social media gives us a platform to like our analog childhood. Whatev- 13. https://tinyurl.com/y8lrd6xo
skyrocketed with the appearance of wise FOMO strikes. Instead of calling a not neutral because it is programmed carefully curate a perfect digital perso- er tech companies are doing now is 14. https://tinyurl.com/y5eunt75
the smartphone and, more importantly, friend to congratulate her, we hit like to be used in a particular way and for na – one that is always smiling, always well-researched and orchestrated. Tech 15. https://tinyurl.com/yb6ystbl
Image: Gerd Altmann on Pixabay
6 CNS newsletter June 2019 June 2019 CNS newsletter 7
FOCUS FOCUS
$ $
$$
$
How To Push The Brain’s “Buy!” Button
Spotlight on Neuromarketing
$
e
Look around you. Wherever you are, However, when the blindfold came off, Mind Reading: Fear of Neuro- enc
you are probably surrounded by ads. Coca Cola became the definite favorite, marketing a udi
our
Like it or not, they are everywhere: on and the brain activity of the partici- It seems as if Neuromarketing is after n c ey
flue
public transport, your phone, laptop, pants changed. When people saw the our unconscious mind, and for some
t o in 1. Playing on
the road to university or work, on the brand “Coca-Cola”, activation in the people this rings alarm bells. Hearing How
back of this magazine and many other hippocampus (our memory center), the about sleep nudging (a type of stimu- preconceptions helps to
places. The number of ads that surround dorsal lateral PFC and the midbrain for lus-response conditioning during sleep sell
you has increased from about 500 per those people showed an increase in ac- – think Brave New World), in which re- As also becomes clear from the Pepsi-Coca
day in 1970, to almost 5000 per day [1]. tivation [2]. This increase in activation searchers can force us to link the smell experiment, it is not so much the taste, but
seems to indicate a change in our per- of cigarettes with rotten eggs [6], or rather their brand-recognition that interests
Behind the increasing number of ads ception of taste. knowing that researchers direct more consumers [2].
are the many companies trying to of their attention to the groups most
2. Pricing changes perception in taste
grab your undivided attention. With With studies similar to this Pepsi-Cola vulnerable to their advertisements [7]…
In a wine-tasting experiment, participants
the recent rise of a new field combin- experiment, companies using neuro- I can’t say it is strange that people fear
were asked to rate the wine they tasted. The
ing neuroscience, psychology, and marketing have claimed that actions that the information collected by big
most expensive wine was rated best. How-
marketing (termed “Neuromarket- speak louder than words. Interviews companies “harbors a hidden code to
ever, there were no differences between the
ing”), companies can now understand, and questionnaires do not reliably pre- tweak our perceptions below the level
wines; they were all the same [16]. With the
better than ever, what catches our at- dict what we will buy [3], but brain of our consciousness.”
increase in price, there was also an increase
tention and plays on our emotions. activity does (or so it is thought [4]). types
in medial orbital frontal cortex activation (the
Our subconscious mind knows what we However, in general there are a number of bread.
area for pleasantness [17]).
Our Brains Want Coca-Cola want, even if we don’t. As put by Daniel of reasons why we should not be scared. Although
One of the first studies, published in Kahneman [5], author of the book Firstly, reading the brain of a consumer the first day
3. Follow the gaze
2004, indicated that people who taste “Thinking Fast and Slow”: “although is not that simple. For example, an fMRI that you had
It is well known in advertising that babies,
cola while blindfolded generally like system 2 [our rational, slow and reflec- study in 2011 suggested that activation to buy your own
animals, and sex sell [18]. But apparently,
Pepsi-Cola as much as Coca Cola, and tive mind] believes itself to be where of the insula in subjects upon seeing bread, you might
the interaction between the consumer and
created activation in the ventral-me- the action is … most peoples’ choic- an iPhone must mean that they love con- have looked for what
the ad also matters. It has been shown that
dial Prefrontal Cortex es correspond to the predilection of their iPhone [12]. However, the insula sumer, rather than you would like, naturally
when a baby in the ad is looking back at us,
(vmPFC). system 1 [our fast and intuitive mind]”. is also the area of disgust, and as brain an individual response. And like most you will not take 20 min-
we pay most attention to the baby. But, when
areas are overall not dedicated to one studies in neuroscience, studies are utes to think about which one is the
the baby in the ad is looking at the
specific function, it is not that easy to “pretty abstract, focused and far from best now as it is too tiresome [based
text in the ad, we are more
simply “read” the mind of the consumer an everyday experience” [12]. on an example in 14].
likely to read the
Neuroethics and the directly.
text [19].
Facebook-Cambridge Analytica In the meantime, the fear of mind-read- You pick the one that you always take,
Data Scandal In addition to fMRI, neuromarketing re- ing has led to quite some commotion. or something you want to try out (pos-
An important aspect of Neuromarketing is Neuroethics. For example, search also uses EEG, biometric mark- To give a couple of examples: France sibly because of ads). Efficiency: you
there is currently no ethical board that oversees the behavioral ex- ers (the heart rate, respiration rate, skin banned use of the fMRI scanner for decide with your subconscious mind
periments conducted by companies like Facebook [8]. This has been conductance, and pupil dilation) and marketing purposes in 2011 [13]; many [15]. Although probably influenced by 1. https://cbsn.ws/2xhTDh5
2. McClure et al., Neuron, 2004
cited as contributing to scandals like the recent one with Facebook and measurement of facial expressions. A companies are forced to explain that an ad, it is only bread. We need to eat 3. Lindstrom Buyology: truth and lies about why we buy,
Cambridge Analytica. In 2015, the social network, together with aca- particular variable of interest is when neuromarketing does not directly read right? 2008
demic researchers, studied the influence of subtle changes to peoples’ people have more reaction to a product. peoples’ minds in interviews; and ac- 4. Ariely & Berns, Nature Reviews. Neuroscience, 2010
Facebook Timelines (a constantly updated homepage containing up- What that means in the end and wheth- ademics are currently researching the Overall, marketers do not have “more 5. Kahneman, Thinking Fast and Slow, 2011
6. Arzi et al., Journal of Neuroscience, 2014
dates from their Facebook friends). They observed how the behavior er this leads to more sales is a problem threat of neuromarketing [e.g. 4,6-7]. control” over what we buy. They can 7. Hensel, et al., Cogent Psychology 2016
of nearly 700,000 users changed when using Facebook (which they be- that comes later [8]. predict better what we are already plan- 8. Stanton et al., Journal of Business Ethics, 2017
lieved reflected changes to these users’ mindsets) as a result of these Another point to note is that marketing ning to do and make certain commer- 9. Kramer et al., PNAS, 2014
subtle manipulations to their timelines [9]. Later, Facebook offered A few more reasons not to worry (yet): is about recognizing what the consumer cials stand out more. 10. https://bit.ly/2pBaiv6
11. https://bit.ly/2LCJg2O
companies the opportunity to target their ads specifically at insecure Imaging is very expensive and is cur- wants, which in the end could also be 12. https://bit.ly/1SMZhzx
teenagers with low self-esteem [10]. Cambridge Analytica used Face- rently not available for all neuromar- good for them. 13. Oulier, Nature, 2012
book information to determine which American voters could possi- keting companies [8]. The only brain re- 14.
bly be influenced by showing fake news (possibly also British voters sponses that marketers possess are those Our Subconscious Mind Is an 15. https://bit.ly/2E60Ea3
16. https://bit.ly/2LCs9OU
during the EU Brexit referendum [11]). Neither, however, were data of people who consented – researchers Efficient Mind.
17. Plassmann et al., PNAS, 2008
breaches because people technically consented according to have no way of harvesting brain data But there is also another side to this story. 18. Stone, International Conferences Arts, Humanities &
the policy of Facebook. Some feel it is a case in from your smartphone, for example – Do you consciously think when you act Irina Scheer Social Sciences, 2014.
which marketing went too far. and brain data that is collected is often out one of your habits? Imagine you are MSc Student, 19. Singh R et al., ICCCA Conference Paper, 2016
averaged out to understand the average in a shop. You need to pick between 10 Medical Neurosciences
Image: YkleduY ABH on Pixabay
8 CNS newsletter June 2019 June 2019 CNS newsletter 9
FOCUS FOCUS
Who’s The King Here, Anyway?
How To Trick The Forest Into Accepting You’re The Lion When You Aren’t
We all invariably know one person in 12. M. Wolf et al., Trends Ecol. Evol., 2012
our circle who always seems to know 13. J. Krause, Oecologia, 1993
how to create, thrive in, and emerge 14. I. R. Fischhoff et al., Anim. Behav., 2007
unscathed from every possible situa- 15. D. Lusseau et al., Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol., 2009
tion. And they seem to do it effortless- 16. A. J. King et al., Curr. Biol., 2009
ly, much to the chagrin of onlookers
who begin to feel the sting of inade-
quacy themselves. These onlookers
then set out to watch each move of this
person carefully and find out the win-
ning formula, only to discover much
to their disappointment, that if there’s Seeking inspi-
one rule that this person ever follows, ration from the lion
it’s to never follow any rule. It appears herself (and her subjects)
like they’re spontaneously wielding
the situation to their advantage on the Personality differences are seen across
spot. So is the “winning code” for suc- the animal kingdom too [12], leading to
cess truly uncrackable? the emergence of leaders and followers in
non-human species. Some of the most com-
Concocting a Powerful Dose of
plex non-human mammalian social struc-
Charisma
tures are lead by their females (including
Who can resist a person who not only killer whales, lions, spotted hyenas, bono-
seems to know where they’re heading, bos, lemurs, and elephants). In certain spe-
but also appears to be kind enough to cies, leadership is ascribed (spotted hyena
show the way to anyone who desires daughters inherit their social rank from
to follow? People in power are known ically different from your peers, and leader and follower when the commu- acquired through constant exposure external environmental influences [11]. their mothers), while in others leadership is
to portray themselves as being empath- having a different neuroendocrine pro- nication is initiated by the leader, com- to situations that required them to achieved (bottlenose dolphins, apes).
ic, or indeed truly are. Leading their file. You can even sniff out the dom- pared to a communication initiated by call the shots, or are they genetically Every day presents new opportunities.
followers requires that the leader sym- inant people from the rest of the lot, the follower. predisposed to be a guiding light for Every interaction paves new paths. Leadership position occupancy is motivated
pathizes with their needs, understands since they appear to have a distinct others? Getting your own throne ap- Would you choose to walk first, braving by different factors in different animals:
their wants, and knows how to get it olfactory makeup due to the increased The Brain of a Leader pears to depend partially on whether the loneliness? Or would you choose
A strong motive: In some species, the indi-
for them. Two tools are thus quite im- levels of testosterone and its metabo- You can, in fact, predict who will take you managed to successfully sneak in a the comfort and familiarity of having
perative in a leader’s toolbox: empathy, lites [3]. the lead in a pair of people even before single nucleotide polymorphism called your brethren walk beside you? When vidual who has the most pressing need for
and the ability to attribute mental states they engage in a task by analysing rs4950 into your neuronal acetylcholine the moment comes, you’ll know what a resource such as food emerges to be the
to others (also known as Theory of The Secret is in the Sync! their brain waves with EEG. The leader receptor gene (CHRNB3) [8]. The do- to do. leader going out in search of it. Starved fish
Mind (ToM)). Functional neuroimaging Convincing leaders are apparently quite shows as a suppression in alpha oscil- pamine transporter gene DAT1 is also tend to occupy the lead positions in shoals
shows that empathy and ToM stimuli ‘engaging’ at the neural level too! In an lations over their motor and frontal thought to be involved, as one study Nandini Peripalayam Sekar while foraging for food [13], and lactating
activate overlapping neural networks interesting experiment, eleven groups cortex, compared to the follower [6]. found a positive relation between DAT1 (P.S. Nandini) zebras (who are in an energetically demand-
including the medial prefrontal cortex, of three people each were asked to Frontal alpha suppression is seen when and moderate rule breaking which was MSc Student, Medical ing phase of their reproductive cycle) tend
temporo-parietal junction and tempo- engage in a leaderless group discussion task complexity increases, when at- positively associated with leadership Neuroscience to lead the movement of their herds [14].
ral poles [1]. “Followers”, on the other and their brain activity was recorded tention increases and when the neural role occupancy [9]. But these studies
Knowledge: Bottlenose dolphins with great-
hand, when perceiving ‘charisma’ in a simultaneously with functional near in- system is engaged in planning [7]. This also reiterate that these findings don’t
leader, promptly respond by deactivat- frared spectroscopy (fNIRS)-based hy- frontal alpha suppression seen in lead- mean you can completely rule out en- 1. B. A. Völlm et al., NeuroImage, 2006
er knowledge (of the activities of other clus-
ing their frontal executive networks (as perscanning. The task was videotaped ers a second prior to initiating the task vironmental influences. Inheriting such 2. U. Schjoedt et al., Soc. Cogn.
ters, and food locations) perform side flips to
seen by a decrease in the BOLD signal and coded for leadership and commu- suggests that they are already investing genotypes might make it more probable Affect. Neurosci., 2011
redirect the whole group [15], while honey
in fMRI), indicating a temporary ‘hand- nication. Leader-follower pairs were more in preplanning and control com- and easier for the person to occupy a 3. A. Sorokowska, J. Nonverbal Behav., 2013
bee individuals who have scouted the area
ing over’ of their executive functions found to have a higher interpersonal pared to the other partner. This primes leadership role. We already notice that 4. R. Saxe et al., NeuroImage, 2003
and found a new nesting site perform a
to the one they perceive as running the neural synchronisation in the left tem- their mental system into a state of people with certain personality traits 5. J. Jiang et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A., 2015
‘waggle’ dance to induce the rest
show [2]. poro-parietal junction (a region known readiness, making it easier for them to (such as neuroticism, extroversion, 6. I. Konvalinka et al., NeuroImage, 2014
of the hive to follow them
to be involved in reasoning about the take the reins when the task eventually openness to experience, agreeableness 7. L. Verhagen et al., J. Neurosci., 2013
[16].
Tweak Your Hormones to Stay at contents of another person’s mind [4]) begins. and conscientiousness) find it easier to 8. J.-E. De Neve et al., Leadersh. Q., 2013
the Top compared to follower-follower pairs lead than the rest [10]. However, almost 9. W.-D. Li et al., Leadersh. Q., 2015
Being there right at the top of the social [5]. Also, a there’s a greater increase Born to Lead? everyone agrees that personality differ- 10. T. A. Judge et al., J. Appl. Psychol., 2002
hierarchy also means being physiolog- in neural synchronisation between the Are brain wave patterns of leaders ences are shaped by both genetics and 11. C. J. Hopwood et al., J. Pers. Soc. Psychol., 2011
Image: Ioana Weber, from Gerd Altmann, Gordon Johnson and OpenClipart-Vectors on Pixabay; dolphin: Clker on Pixabay
10 CNS newsletter June 2019 June 2019 CNS newsletter 11
FOCUS FOCUS
Berliner
Krisendienst
Hotline NIMH Suicide
Can A Series Really Raise Sucide Rates? Prevention Helpline
The Netflix series 13 Reasons Why approximately 195 additional suicide Young people are especially at risk, A closer look at the methods specifically affected suicide rates, but In Berlin, you can check out https://
seems to promote a head-on discussion deaths in 2017 for 10- to 17-year-olds.” particularly when they identify The primary methods used in this not violent crime in general. The au- www.berliner-krisendienst.de/en/ if
of suicide and stigma, but is it possible [2] with the characters or see explic- study were a quasi-Poisson regression thors also note that another study found you or someone close to you needs to
that it inadvertently encouraged some it depictions of suicide methods on- and Holt-Winters forecasting models. an increase in Internet searches about talk to someone with psychiatric train-
people to go through with the act? When I read the press release for this screen [7]. There are research-based Does that pretty much answer your suicide in that month [10], as well as an ing right away. The NIMH in the US
study on the NIMH’s website [3], my guidelines that exist for the media [e.g. questions? increase in suicide attempt admissions also offers a helpline and and infor-
The series, based on the 2007 novel by first thought was: is this clickbait? The 8] which the authors suggest went at a local hospital [2, 9]. mation sheet about suicide prevention
Jay Asher, follows the lives of several NIMH is a large and reputable scientif- largely unheeded by Netflix, with only Luke Tudge, a statistics lecturer at at https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/
American high school students imme- ic organization, not a tabloid news hub. one warning displayed before Humboldt-Universität to Why the effect was specific to boys be- topics/suicide-prevention/index.shtml.
diately after the suicide of a girl in their While all news implicitly cries out for the first episode of the whom those words tween the ages of 10-17 is ultimately
class. She has left behind cassette tapes, attention, I would expect this source to season. might actually unexplained. Dr. Tudge’s impression Another comment in the study’s dis-
recorded shortly before her suicide, as lean more towards cautious scientific mean was that there was “no obvious expla- cussion that brought my childhood to
a sort of suicide note detailing her psy- statements than cheap sensationalism. nation why this should be the case” [9]. mind: “Numerous media outlets failed
chological pain. The people from her life to adhere to guidelines for suicide re-
- former friends, sexual partners, “fren- My generation grew up with par- The study authors were also sur- porting after the death of the actor
emies,” admirers - are left to decipher ents who had lived much of their prised, having predicted an in- Robin Williams. This resulted in a
the tapes and deal with the aftermath. lives in a pre-internet world, a time crease in suicide rates for young roughly 10% increase in suicide deaths
when all TV deaths were bloodless women due to the plot centering in the subsequent five months, repre-
A recent study spanning various re- and elegant. Our parents had much around a high-school-aged girl senting an excess of 1,841 cases” [2, 10].
search groups, including the National fear of the corrupting influence who died by suicide. They cite
Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), an- that godless first-person shooter studies which “indicate that sui-
alyzed data on suicides in the US, freely video games and gory, violent films cide contagion disproportionately
available for download from the Cen- might have on our supple neocorti- affects those who strongly identify
ters for Disease Control and Prevention ces and ventral tagmentae. We, of with the person who died by sui- Alex Masurovsky
(CDC’s) website [1], in order to deter- course, assumed most of their fears cide (particularly celebrities)” [2]. MA Student,
mine if the release of 13 Reasons Why were akin to witch burning. However, they note that [SPOIL- Berlin School of Mind and
may have had an impact on the suicide ER ALERT] in the last episode of Brain
rate [2]. The study joins a continuing So I decided to look into this Season 1, a young male character
dialogue around suicide, the duties of further. makes a serious attempt at suicide
society towards preventative mental with a gun. They also note that “a
healthcare and the role of media in the Suicide contagion and the well-known gender paradox in sui-
responsible depiction of such issues. responsibilities of the media cide also exists, with male rates of sui-
The authors of the suicide risk study cite So, cide being higher than female rates and 1. CDC WONDER Online Database, released
They focused on a five year period en- previous research touting the power of there is evi- female rates of attempted suicide being December, 2018: https://tinyurl.com/yxnwe4wx
compassing the release of the series on media to raise awareness of suicide dence that media can something, took a higher than male rates across the lifes- 2. Bridge JA, Greenhouse JB, Ruch D, et al., J Am
Netflix on March 31, 2017. They found risk and encourage them to seek help have an effect on suicide risk. look at the study’s methods. pan” [2]. The study did not have data Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry, 2019
a significant increase in the suicide rate [4], as well as to increase the risk for As for whether this particular study about attempted suicides, only actual 3. https://tinyurl.com/y2yds57p
for boys ages 10-17 in April 2017, the suicide, known as “suicide contagion.” found evidence that this particular “As far as the methods of analysis are deaths by suicide. 4. Sisask M, Varnik A, Int J Environ Res Public
first month the series was available Suicide contagion, also known as the series increased the suicide rate — this concerned, I think they are reasonable,” Health, 2012
for streaming on Netflix. This “28.9% Werther Effect (named for a character is a more difficult question to assess. says Dr. Tudge. “I … redid the plot for a Towards understanding 5. Halgin RP & Whitbourne S. Abnormal Psy-
step increase” [2] was found after con- from a Goethe novel called The Sorrows slightly broader time period running up Though causally inconclusive, the chology, 2006
trolling for a general increase in suicide of Young Werther), is a well-established This study was a quasi-experimental to the release of [the series] and using study makes it clear that we need to 6. Meyers DG, Social Psychology, 2009
rates and seasonal fluctuations. They finding that a publicized suicide influ- design, aimed at finding evidence for a a quicker simpler model of the time be aware that media portrayals of sui- 7. Gould MS, Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci., 2001
used the homicide rate as a control, ence other at-risk people to kill them- correlation (which, as the authors admit trend. A good check is whether the con- cide may indeed pose a serious risk of 8. National Recommendations for Depicting Sui-
citing previous research suggesting that selves as well (sometimes referred to and any good scientist will tell you, is clusion holds if we change the methods increasing the likelihood that some at- cide. https://tinyurl.com/yxtmh2qh
it is influenced by similar environmen- as a “copy-cat suicide”) [5]. After the NOT EVIDENCE FOR CAUSATION). of analysis slightly. And it seems they risk people will kill themselves. At a 9. Tudge L, personal communication, 2019
tal factors to suicide. The suicide rate in release of Goethe’s novel, there were But this is tricky terrain because a do, more or less” [9]. minimum, even fictional portrayals of 10. Ayers JW, Althouse BM, Leas EC, Dredze M,
April was also the highest of any month reports of people dying by shooting correlation is evidence that it could be suicide should follow media guidelines Allem JP, JAMA Intern. Med., 2017
in the five-year study period that they themselves in the same manner as the worth looking closer for a causal link. Given the limitation that this is a cor- [8], including more of the frequent issu- 11. Cooper MT, Jr., Bard D, Wallace R, Gillaspy S,
looked at. character Werther is depicted as doing, And, given that suicidal ideation, not to relational study, then, the correlation ing of warnings. This association study Deleon S. J Adolesc. Health, 2018
resulting in the banning of the book in mention suicidal acts are very, very dif- seems to be solid. Using the homicide joins a continuing study of suicidology, 12. Stack S, J Epidemiol Community Health, 2003
Perhaps the most chilling line in the some places [6] and perhaps starting the ficult to study via controlled experimen- rate as a control helps to support the the factors that lead to suicide and the
study report: “We estimate that the discussion of the responsibilities of the tal methods, a correlational study might claim that something unusual had to ways we can support our fellow human
series’ release was associated with media and artists in depicting suicide. be the best way available. have happened around April 2017 that beings.
Image: Jan Vasek on Pixabay
12 CNS newsletter June 2019 June 2019 CNS newsletter 13
FOCUS FOCUS
“Trump Is The Best!”, Trump Says
Can The “Dunning-Kruger-Effect” Explain The Poise Of Incompetents?
In 1995, McArthur Wheeler robbed two America are — unfortunately — just ments they run themselves! How is it however, showed the opposite effect. Afterwards, everyone could reassess the Social feedback is needed here. And
banks in Pittsburgh in broad daylight a few extreme examples of the “Dun- possible that those people do not real- They were able to estimate the perfor- own performance. The main result was this might be the problem about Trump.
with nothing to cover his face. Nev- ning-Kruger-Effect”. In 1999, Kruger ize their lack of knowledge and instead mance of their peers and reassessed that people scoring in the bottom quar- There are persons telling him about his
ertheless, he was shocked that he got and Dunning published an article show an inflated confidence? their own performance to a more real- tile were again overestimating them- incompetence. However, lacking other
caught by the cops that same evening. named “Unskilled and Unaware of It” istic value, although they still underes- selves and after receiving the training (social) skills prevents him from listen-
Looking at the surveillance videotapes at Cornell University[1]. They observed “Ignorance more frequently timated themselves. “Thus, the miscali- they improved their ability in self-ap- ing or learning…But this might be the
he remarked, “But I put lemon juice that people who are incompetent tend begets confidence than does bration of the incompetent stems from praising a lot! People from the bottom content of another article.
on my face…”. Misunderstanding how to be the most confident. They argued knowledge” – Charles Darwin an error about the self, whereas the quartile, who did not receive training,
lemon juice can be used as an “invis- that people who are incompetent in a In their study, Dunning and Kruger miscalibration of the highly competent did not gain any improvements in their Felicitas Brüntgens
ible ink”, he truly thought that lemon specific task or strategy suffer from a wanted to prove if less competence stems from an error about others”, as self-estimations either. PhD student, AG Schmitz
juice would make his face invisible [1]. dual burden: not only is their incompe- makes people more confident. They Dunning and Kruger summarize it. [1]
tence preventing them from succeeding tested their subjects in different cate- So the only way to help people see their
Why can some seriously stupid people in this task, they are also not able to re- gories: humor, logical reasoning and In the last part of their study, Dunning incompetence is, to make them more
think they’re so insanely smart? Take alize their own incompetence. Dunning grammar. On the basis of the test re- and Kruger again asked subjects to take competent. Without this learning and 1. Kruger and Dunning, J Pers Soc Psychol., 1999
the president of the United States for and Kruger call this a missing metacog- sults, four groups were formed, from the part in a logical reasoning test and to es- insight, incompetents are not able to 2. https://bit.ly/2LEinM7
example. Donald Trump clearly did nition. For their work on these peculiar top to the bottom quartile. Each person timate their performance. Subsequent- see their incompetence for what it is. 3. https://bit.ly/2mtUmdg
something right to win the election, but cognitive bias, Dunning and Kruger was asked to rank itself in comparison ly, half of all participants conducted a Coming back to Trump: Is there any 4. Ross, Greene & House, J Exp Soc Psychol.,
critics have rightfully pointed just how won the satirical Ig-Nobel prize in 2000. to the performance of the other partici- training about logical reasoning, while way to make him more competent and 1977
“unpresidential” — not to say terribly The award honors science which makes pants. Strikingly, everyone thought that the other half was asked to do a fill task. with this able to see his incompetence? 5. https://bit.ly/2QRI4tQ
ignorant — his actions, speeches and people first laugh and then think. [2] they performed better than the average.
tweets really are. All groups, except for the top quartile,
The “above average effect” overestimated themselves. The bottom
The lemon juice bank robber and the Everyone might have his or her Dun- quartile hereby was the group, which Richard Lower’s Thought-Provoking Question
45th president of the United States of ning-Kruger moments. Do you think overestimated themselves the most in
you are a good comparison to their actual performance. The Foundation Of Exploring Cerebral Collateral Circulation
driver? Do you think Only the best quartile of participants
you can drive a car was underestimating the own perfor- In 1664, Thomas Willis published the Dr. Ivo Buschmann continued the pio- be changed towards the pressure gradi-
better than the av- mance. Dunning and Kruger explained article “Cerebri anatome”, an outstand- neer work of Lower and established the ents. From the ICA, blood flows through
erage person? Yes? this by the so-called false-consensus ing work where he described for the 3-vessel occlusion (3-VO) model in rat the paired PCAs into the contralateral
Well, most people effect [4]: participants from the top first time a ring-like arterial system lo- as described below. ischemic region. Hence, the posteri-
think so, but of quartile not necessarily underestimate cated on the ventral surface of the brain. or cerebral artery (PCA) is recruited
course, only 50% of themselves but overestimate their peers. Richard Lower, a gifted pupil of Willis, The 3-VO Model of Cerebral Ar- as collateral pathway to connect the
all car drivers can be designated the circulatory anastomo- teriogenesis left ICA to the middle cerebral artery
above the average. In one part of the study (grammar) ses “Circle of Willis” in honour to his Arteriogenesis is regarded as positive (MCA) in the hypoperfused right area.
However, thinking the participants from the top and the teacher. Subsequently, Lower became outward remodeling (lumen enlarge- Therefore, PCA is the target vessel for
one is a better driver bottom quartile were asked to estimate interested in the question how blood ment and wall thickening) of preexist- analyzing cerebral arteriogenesis [3].
compared to the rest the performance of others, after read- flow would be redistributed and carried ing collateral arteries – the most im-
of the population ing their responses. They were also to the brain, if some of the four arteries portant endogenous mechanism for the How Arteries Supply Blood to the
isn’t nearly as insane allowed to reassess their own perfor- supplying blood to the brain were to be compensation of vascular occlusion. In Brain
as a identifying as mance afterwards. With this, Dunning tied. particular, cerebral arteriogenesis can Ligation of three feeding brain arteries
a “Flat Earther”[3]. and Kruger wanted to test, if the par- be considered as the primary compen- is a challenging situation for the cere-
(For a fascinating ticipants would be able to recognize To answer his question, Lower bilat- satory mechanism for tissue perfusion bral circulation. There are only four
look into the minds other person’s competence and if they erally ligated (tied shut) both carotid in case of ischemic stroke. In order to feeding arteries in total – two ICAs and
of flat earthers, check would learn from that about their own arteries of a spaniel dog, and found investigate the mechanism of cerebral two vertebral arteries (VA). The feeding
out “Behind the competence. that after the surgery, the dog seemed arteriogenesis, Prof. Buschmann [2] de- arteries enter the brain all via the Circle
Curve” on Netflix.) as lively as before [1]. Lower’s exper- veloped a novel animal model in 2003: of Willis. The ICA runs along the ca-
Many educated and To make it short: The bottom quartile iment demonstrated that two vertebral 3-vessel occlusion (3-VO). The model is rotid canal and then bifurcate into the
intelligent people failed both challenges. Neither were arteries are sufficient to compensate the referred to as 3-VO because of the se- MCAs and anterior cerebral arteries
will sincerely say that they able to estimate their peer’s perfor- bilateral carotid artery ligation by the quential ligation of bilateral vertebral (ACA). The bilateral ACAs are con-
they think the earth mances, nor did they reassess their own redistribution of blood flow via collat- arteries and the unilateral common nected by the anterior communicating
is flat, even after they performance closer to the truth. Some eral anastomoses. This study paved the carotid artery ligation. After 3-VO, ce- artery in the midpoint of the anterior
face dis-confirming participants from the bottom quartile way for a better understanding of the rebral perfusion is supplied by a single portion of the Circle of Willis. On the
evidence in scientif- overestimated their own performance mechanism of cerebral arteriogenesis internal carotid artery (ICA) into the posterior portion of circle, each poste-
ically sound experi- even more than before! The top quartile, in neuroscience. 300 years later, Prof. Circle of Willis and flow direction will rior communicating artery connects to
Image: Tibur Janosi Mozes on Pixabay
14 CNS newsletter June 2019 June 2019 CNS newsletter 15
FOCUS FOCUS
How To Attract Your Crush
A classic study on the misattribution of arousal
Attraction can be a complicated thing. have been aware that their arousal was It doesn’t have to be a shaky bridge,
Imagine meeting an attractive per- fear, they found a different explanation but maybe you can go on a roller coast-
How does son in a cafe and wondering, should for it’s appearance. Consequently, this er ride together, go biking or watch a
I talk to them? Should I ask them phenomenon can always arise when scary movie –be creative. Or, if you’re
the brain’s out? Where should we go? Do they a person experiences arousal without like me and you always feel the effect of
blood supply
like me? But hold on, these questions being aware of the underlying cause. every sip of coffee, it might be enough
aren’t new. According to a classic already. If you see someone you want to
develop? social psychology study, the solu- However, the same effect was not ob- talk to in a café, go ask to buy them a
Image: Ioana Weber
tion might be easier than you think. served when a male researcher recruit- cup of coffee to try and spice things up.
ed female pedestrians for the study. This
The “shaky bridge experiment” could hint to subtle gender differences A word of caution
In 1974, Dutton and Aron performed in the effect. Furthermore, their ex- If you buy the theory, consider that any
a famous experiment [1] where an at- periment only tested for heterosexual plausible reason for an observed arous-
tractive female researcher asked men attraction, leaving open questions of al could be used to explain the arousal,
walking over a shaky bridge to partic- generalizability. and this could also negatively influence
ipate in a brief study. In the middle of you. Let’s say you’re about to present
the bridge, individual men were asked Room for interpretation a poster at a conference and you drink
to fill out short questionnaires and The theory on misattribution of arous- a lot of coffee in order to be awake. If
write short stories to describe a set al is based on the “Two-factor theory this coffee then makes you feel aroused
of pictures. In the end, the female re- of emotion” [2], which proposes that and conscious about your heartbeat,
searcher gave the men her telephone two factors are necessary to experi- you might misattribute the arousal to
number in case they had any questions ence an emotion physiological arousal nervousness about the presentation [4].
the ICA anteriorly and the PCA poste- system [5]. Kininogen is the substrate crine cytokines in order to regarding the study. The responses of and a label for it. Basically, this means Importantly, however, if you’re aware
riorly, thereby closing the circle. for kallikrein and kinin is liberated by govern collateral artery growth the men walking across the narrow, that there is room for interpretation in of this connection you can correct your
cleaving kininogen. Kinin modulates in the brain [7]. shaky bridge were compared to another giving such a label to a physiological misattribution.
Whereas ischemia is the initial stimulus its biological function by activating group of men who were asked to do the state. The same physiological state, for
for angiogenesis, fluid shear stress (FSS) two distinct G protein-coupled recep- Lower’s experiments on cerebral anat- same while walking across a wider and example, an increased heart rate, can
is regard as the driving force of arterio- tors subtypes: bradykinin receptor 1 omy laid the foundation for key models more stable bridge. Compared with men be interpreted completely different de-
Melina Engelhardt
genesis. FSS is defined as the frictional (B1R) and bradykinin receptor 2 (B2R). in modern neuroscience. More im- on the stable bridge, more men met on pending on the context. If you just saw
force which appear in parallel to the Bradykinin receptors regulate multi- portantly, by applying his knowledge the shaky bridge ended up calling the a grizzly bear next to you, you would PhD student, AG Picht
endothelial cells of the vessel lumen in ple physiological responses by internal about blood flow and the anatomy of researcher and their stories contained probably say your heart is pounding be-
the direction of blood flow. In case of an signal transduction. the Circle of Willis, our group signifi- more sexual content. cause of fear, whereas if there is an at-
arterial occlusion, a decrease of distal cantly contributed to cerebral arterio- tractive person sitting next to you, you
blood pressures causes a steep pressure Gene knockout and transgenic technol- genesis research and demonstrated that Misattribution of arousal might say you are nervous or falling in 1. Dutton and Aron, Journal of Personality and
gradient across collateral artery upon ogies have been applied widely to in- collateral growth is the most relevant Dutton and Aron concluded that those love. Social Psychology, 1974
the stenosis or occlusion. As a result, vestigate the specific role of biological compensatory mechanism for the pre- men walking across the shaky bridge 2. Schachter and Singer, Psychological Review,
1962
increased shear stress leads to arterial systems. In regards to the KKS, Prof. vention of ischemic stroke. misattributed their arousal—caused by Hot tip for a spicy date
3. https://curiosity.com/topics/how-the-misattri-
lumen enlargement and wall thickening Dr. Michael Bader at the Max-Del- walking over a fear-inducing bridge— How could such insights be helpful for bution-of-arousal-can-make-you-fall-in-love-cu-
[4]. Specifically, after 3-VO, redistribu- brück-Center in Berlin was the first to to the attractiveness of the female re- dating? A simple take away might be riosity/
tion of blood flow in the circle leads to develop a knockout mouse strain with a Kangbo Li searcher. Because the men might not to make your dates more exciting [3]. 4. http://psychology.iresearchnet.com/
social-psychology/self/misattribution-of-arousal/
an increased FSS in the PCA, which is disrupted B1R gene in 2000 [6]. Nowa- PhD Student
a bypass to connect the single ICA and days, B1R, B2R and B1R&B2R knockout
AG Bader, AG Buschmann
contralateral MCA. mouse strains are used by Prof. Bader to
understand the role of kinin receptors
Hormonal Regulation in Cerebral in many physiological processes. Using
Arteriogenesis these models, Dr. Philipp Hillmeister 1. Gibson, Med Hist, 1970
For decades, our group has been focus- demonstrated for the first time that ki- 2. Buschmann et al., J Cereb Blood Flow Metab,
ing on the hormonal regulation of the ninogen is a molecular marker for cere- 2003
kallikrein-kinin system (KKS) in ce- bral arteriogenesis and B1R was shown 3. Hillmeister et al., J Cereb Blood Flow Metab,
rebral arteriogenesis. KKS is regarded to be one of the most relevant modu- 2008
as one of the most pivotal hormonal lators in cerebral arteriogenesis signal- 4. Buschmann et al., Development, 2010
systems participating in a wide spec- ing. B1R stimulate monocyte transmi- 5. Bader, Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol, 2009
trum of physiological functions in the gration in the perivascular tissue, which 6. Pesquero et al., PNAS, 2000
cardiovascular as well as the nervous is relevant for the production of para- 7. Hillmeister et al., Circ Res, 2011
Illustration: Sandra Proelss
16 CNS newsletter June 2019 June 2019 CNS newsletter 17
You can also read
