Department of Cognitive Psychology
Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience
Faculty of Psychology
Ruhr University Bochum
Universitätsstr. 150
44801 Bochum
Room:
IB 6/75
Phone:
+49 (0)234 32-24498
Email:
christian.j.merz@ruhr-uni-bochum.de
My research interests concern the investigation of experimental questions regarding learning and memory processes, cognitive neuroscience, psychoneuroendocrinology, their clinical applications and neuronal correlates. In particular, I am interested in the influence of stress hormones on fear learning and fear memory. For example, a direct, context-dependent stress effect on the extinction network was found. These observations led to the deduction of a model predicting when which stress hormones enhance extinction learning, exposure therapy or reconsolidation-based interventions. This model is currently further developed with particular attention regarding the translation to new, unknown contexts in order to better understand generalization processes.
Moreover, I address sex-specific effects of stress hormones on fear or extinction learning. Particularly, varying sex hormone concentrations over the course of the female menstrual cycle and the intake of hormonal contraceptives seem to play a crucial role. This aspect is also seen in episodic memory, where I could show that hormonal contraceptives reduce or even completely reverse different stress-associated learning and memory processes.
Additionally, I investigate the influence of important factors on aversive and appetitive conditioning processes related to the pathogenesis of mental disorders. Amongst others, the main goal consists of the identification of factors explaining why some individuals develop a mental disorder and which therapeutic interventions might be reasonably optimized. For example, I could further characterize the contribution of contextual information, genetic polymorphisms, contingency awareness, cerebellum, brain structural correlates and counter-conditioning processes. Based on these insights, several meta-scientific and review articles were published.
Jentsch, V. L., Pötzl, L., Wolf, O. T., & Merz, C. J. (2022). Hormonal contraceptive usage influences stress hormone effects on cognition and emotion. Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology, 67, 101012. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yfrne.2022.101012
Merz, C. J., & Wolf, O. T. (2022). How stress hormones shape memories of fear and anxiety in humans. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 142, 104901. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104901
Hagedorn, B., Wolf, O. T., & Merz, C. J. (2021). Stimulus-Based Extinction Generalization: Neural Correlates and Modulation by Cortisol. The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology, 24(4), 354–365. https://doi.org/10.1093/ijnp/pyaa085
Lonsdorf, T. B., Merz, C. J., & Fullana, M. A. (2019). Fear Extinction Retention: Is It What We Think It Is? Biological Psychiatry, 85(12), 1074–1082. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2019.02.011
Lonsdorf, T. B., Klingelhöfer-Jens, M., Andreatta, M., Beckers, T., Chalkia, A., Gerlicher, A., Jentsch, V. L., Meir Drexler, S., Mertens, G., Richter, J., Sjouwerman, R., Wendt, J., & Merz, C. J. (2019). Navigating the garden of forking paths for data exclusions in fear conditioning research. ELife, 8. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.52465
Meir Drexler, S., Merz, C. J., Jentsch, V. L., & Wolf, O. T. (2019). How stress and glucocorticoids timing-dependently affect extinction and relapse. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 98, 145–153. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2018.12.029
Merz, C. J., Hamacher-Dang, T. C., Stark, R., Wolf, O. T., & Hermann, A. (2018). Neural Underpinnings of Cortisol Effects on Fear Extinction. Neuropsychopharmacology : Official Publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, 43(2), 384–392. https://doi.org/10.1038/npp.2017.227
Lonsdorf, T. B., Menz, M. M., Andreatta, M., Fullana, M. A., Golkar, A., Haaker, J., Heitland, I., Hermann, A., Kuhn, M., Kruse, O., Meir Drexler, S., Meulders, A., Nees, F., Pittig, A., Richter, J., Römer, S., Shiban, Y., Schmitz, A., Straube, B., . . . Merz, C. J. (2017). Don't fear 'fear conditioning': Methodological considerations for the design and analysis of studies on human fear acquisition, extinction, and return of fear. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 77, 247–285. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2017.02.026
Lonsdorf, T. B., & Merz, C. J. (2017). More than just noise: Inter-individual differences in fear acquisition, extinction and return of fear in humans - Biological, experiential, temperamental factors, and methodological pitfalls. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 80, 703–728. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2017.07.007
Drexler, S. M., Merz, C. J., Hamacher-Dang, T. C., Tegenthoff, M., & Wolf, O. T. (2015). Effects of Cortisol on Reconsolidation of Reactivated Fear Memories. Neuropsychopharmacology : Official Publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, 40(13), 3036–3043. https://doi.org/10.1038/npp.2015.160
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Last update: Feb 07, 2024
