Seminar with Sonia Bishop, Ph.D.
Neural mechanisms of attentional control over threat-related stimuli: the role of individual differences
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
11 am
McGovern Institute for Brain Research
Building 46-3189

Sonia Bishop
Research Associate
Medical Research Council, Cognition and Brain Science Unit (UK)

Neural mechanisms of attentional control over threat-related stimuli: the role of individual differences

In my research program, I use neuro-imaging and functional genomic techniques to investigate how different trait characteristics and differences in genetic make-up impact upon the neural mechanisms underlying our response to affective and socially-relevant stimuli. I am particularly interested in the factors determining how prefrontal “control” mechanisms and subcortical emotional saliency mechanisms interact to influence behavior. The work I am going to present focuses on the neural mechanisms underlying attentional control over threat-related stimuli. In particular, it explores the extent to which recruitment of these mechanisms is modulated by trait and state anxiety and by functional polymorphisms in genes influencing dopamine metabolism and serotonin reuptake.