Am 13. Mai 2026 fand das Eröffnungssymposium des Zentrums für Medizinische Psychologie und Translationale Neurowissenschaften in Bochum statt. 

Movement is good for us, as we all know. But many people do not engage in enough physical activity in their daily lives. Because knowledge of the positive effects of movement is clearly not sufficient to induce changes in behavior, science is increasingly focusing on mood and emotional factors. 

The stress hormone cortisol disrupts the brain’s navigational system. It impairs the function of the grid cells that play a crucial role in orientation. This has been verified by researchers from Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, in an imaging study with 40 individuals. The participants completed a virtual navigation experiment while their brain activity was recorded in an MRI scanner. 

Neurotechnologien wie Gehirn-Computer-Schnittstellen und neuromodulatorische Implantate haben sich rasant entwickelt. Was lange als Science-Fiction galt, findet heute Anwendung in der medizinischen Therapie – von der Wiederherstellung motorischer Funktionen bis hin zur Behandlung neurologischer Erkrankungen. Damit wächst jedoch auch eine bislang unterschätzte Herausforderung: die Cybersicherheit neurotechnologischer Systeme.

Psychedelic substances are increasingly being used under medical supervision to treat anxiety disorders and depression. However, the mechanisms by which these substances influence our perception and consciousness are unknown. A team from Hong Kong, Singapore, and the RUB, Germany, has now shown in an animal model that visual processes increasingly access brain regions that retrieve memory contents and associations.