Title

Environmental Neuroscience: Testing the effects of environment on the human brain

Abstract

Within the scope of this presentation research will be presented that attempts to link features of the living environment to human brain structure and function. Although we know a lot about how lifestyle factors influence human brain plasticity, the impact of the external physical environment has seldomly been studied in humans. However, animal studies clearly suggest strong effects of so-called “enriched environments” on brain structure. Within the field of Environmental psychology it has been demonstrated that brief interactions with natural environments (such as a walk in a forest) can improve cognition as well as mental and physical health. The research that will be presented aims to unravel the brain-related mechanisms of these effects.

About Prof. dr. Simone Kühn

Simone Kühn is a cognitive neuroscientist. She is head of the Lise-Meitner Group for Environmental Neuroscience at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and a professor for neural plasticity at the Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the University Clinic Hamburg Eppendorf. Her primary research focuses on how the human brain is shaped by the physical environment in health and in psychiatric patients. Moreover, she has studied brain plasticity in response to lifestyle factors and habits with various brain imaging methods. She studied psychology at Columbia University in New York and Potsdam University, and received her doctorate in psychology from University of Leipzig. As a post-doc she worked at University of Gent in Belgium and at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London.

Programme