报告1

主题：Bidirectional effects of early life adversity on stress system regulation - in search for a comprehensive theory

报告人：Jens C. Pruessner教授，德国康斯坦茨大学

时间：2017年9月12日， 10:00-12:00

地点：心理学部213教室

报告摘要：

Early life adversity (ELA), in the form of low parental care or overprotection, or physical, sexual, or emotional abuse, is consistently linked to poor mental health outcomes in adulthood, including psychosis, depression, and burnout. A generally agreed-upon mediator of these effects is a changed regulation of the stress /energy systems in the organism, namely the autonomic nervous system (ANS), and the hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis. Investigated in both human and animal studies, these systems are consistently found dysregulated in organisms exposed to ELA, however the directionality is unclear, with some studies demonstrating heightened activity, while others show blunting of the biomarkers of the system, after exposure to adversity early in life.

Several theories exist that try and explain these mixed effects, considering factors like age of exposure, trauma severity, duration, or type. Importantly, none of the theories can be used to explain all of the available data, suggesting that additional factors / mediators might be at play. The current talk will summarize the major theories in the field and point out some of the commonalities and differences among them. In addition, it will introduce potential mediators that are currently not incorporated in the theories but that might be important to consider to better understand the ELA / stress response system relationship.

报告2

主题： Familiarity and recollection in old age and their relationship with the integrity of the medial temporal lobe

报告人：Jens C. Pruessner教授，德国康斯坦茨大学

时间：2017年9月14日， 10:00-12:00

地点：心理学部213教室

报告摘要：

Dual-process theories of memory assume that two separate processes are involved in recognition: conscious recollection, and familiarity. Studies that examine the neuroanatomic substrates of these processes could show that conscious recollection is associated with the hippocampus, while familiarity is linked with the integrity of perirhinal and entorhinal cortices. The strength of the associated memory trace appears to be associated with the integrity of these structures. Interestingly, these regions appear variously affected by normal versus pathological aging processes. In several studies, we therefore investigated the effects of aging on these structures and the associated memory processes. We further aimed to investigate the relationship between these memory variables and the structural integrity of the hippocampus and the entorhinal and perirhinal cortices. Younger and older adults were at first tested for their performance in recollection and familiarity. In a separate session, individuals were assessed with a structural MRI of their head. Hippocampal, entorhinal, and perirhinal volumes were automatically segmented and then manually corrected to ensure the validity of the volumetric evaluation. The regional volumes were normalized to the total volume of the brain. While overall memory performance did not differ significantly, the results showed a decrease in recollection, along with an increase in familiarity within the group of older adults. The increasing familiarity rate was significantly and positively associated with the rate of "false hits". In the older adult sample, significant positive associations were further observed between memory estimates and normalized hippocampal volumes. The normalized hippocampal volume explained 25% of the variance of the recognition performance. No correlation was found between memory variables and perirhinal or entorhinal volumes in healthy individuals, however these became apparent in individuals with genetic risk of Alzheimer's dementia. Overall, these results suggest that in healthy persons the age-related impairment of memory is associated with a reduced hippocampal structural integrity, while entorhinal and perirhinal structures remain largely preserved.

Jens C. Pruessner，德国康斯坦茨大学（University of Constance）教授，曾供职于加拿大麦吉尔大学（教授，人口老龄化研究中心主任）、道格拉斯医院研究中心（阿尔茨海默病与老化研究中心主任），心理学、神经科学、精神神经内分泌学领域的国际著名专家，主要从事应激及其神经机制、老化、HPA轴神经内分泌机制、人格心理学、神经科学、脑成像等领域的研究。Pruessner教授自主开发的蒙特利尔成像应激任务（the Montreal Imaging Stress Task，the MIST）是一种被国际应激神经机制研究领域广泛使用的研究范式。相关研究成果发表于Nature、Lancet neurology 、Biological Psychiatry、Nature Neuroscience 、Brain、PNAS、Acta Neuropathologica、Archives of General Psychiatry、Molecular Psychiatry、Am J Psychiatry、Alzheimer’s & Dementia等国际顶尖期刊。