Dr. Phil. Chantal Martin Sölch

 

Main Goals, Keywords

Understanding the neural and behavioural bases of abnormal behavior, including addiction and depression. Investigate the links between behavioural neurosciences, affective and experimental psychology and psychiatric diseases.
Affective and cognitive neurosciences, neuroimaging, motivation, emotion, reward, dopamine, striatum, cerebral reward system, addiction, depression, PTSD

Group Members

1 group leader, 2 senior research fellows, 2 PhD students, 3 (medical) students

Previous and current research

The main field of our research is the investigation of the neural mechanisms of reward processing and emotional regulation. A special emphasis is given to the role of dopamine and of the mesolimbic dopamine system in these processes. We are particularly interested in the understanding of the neural circuitry involved in reward in healthy subjects and in the examination of the function of the cerebral reward system in different psychiatric conditions, including drug dependence and depression. More recently, we began to investigate the function of the reward system in resilience after stress exposure as well as the relationship between reward and pain. We use methods of the cognitive and behavioural neurosciences including measures of the activity of the autonomous (psychophysiology) and of the central nervous system, such as positron emission tomography (PET) and functional Magnetic Resonance (fMRI).

Future projects

Affective learning mechanisms in PTSD, dopamine and pain, reward and resilience, psychiophysiological reactions to stress

Techniques and Equipment

Techniques: behavioral experiments associated with neuroimaging techniques, including PET (positron emission tomography) and fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imagery).
Equipment: experimental labor for behavioural experiments and for the recording of the autonomous nervous system activity (respiration, heart rate, electrodermal activity, electromyogramm), psychological and neuropsychological tests. Access to neuroimaging facilities through various collaborations

Selected Publications

• Mueller-Pfeiffer, C., Schumacher, S., Martin-Soelch, C., Pazhenkottil, A.P., Wirtz, G., Fuhrhans, C., Hindermann, E., Assaloni, H., Briner, D.P., Rufer, M. The validity and reliability of the German version of the Somatoform Dissociation Questionnaire (SDQ-20). J Trauma Dissociation. Jul; 11(3): 337-57 (2010).
• Martin-Soelch, C., Kobel, M., Stoecklin, M., Michael, T., Weber, S., Krebs, B., Opwis, K. Reduced response to reward in smokers and cannabis users. Neuropsychobiology. 60(2): 94-103 (2009). Epub 2009 Sep 21.
• Martin-Soelch, C. Is depression associated with dysfunction of the central reward system? Biochem Soc Trans. Feb; 37(Pt 1): 313-7 (2009).

Selected Lectures, Seminars, Colloquia

Forschungskolloquium der Psychiatrischen Poliklinik, neurophysiologische und bildgebende Methoden in der Psychiatrie.

Funding

Swiss National Science Foundation, National Alliance for Research in Depression and Schizophrenia (NARSAD), Freiwillige Akademische Gesellschaft Basel

URL

http://www.psychiatrie.usz.ch/Seiten/default.aspx

http://www.zkf.uzh.ch/ResearchGroups/AlphabeticOrder/MartinSoelch.html