Research Interests

My research focuses on the impact of stress on emotional and cognitive learning and memory processes and its underlying neuroendocrine, physiological, and neuronal mechanisms. Within this research field I am particularly interested in how stress and the associated release of different stress mediators modulates the acquisition and extinction of fears (Kinner et al. 2016, NeuroImage; Kinner et al. 2016, Horm Behav; Kinner et al. 2018, Psychoneuroendocrinology). Based on work from our lab and other research groups, we could for instance demonstrate that the well-established timing-dependency of stress effects on declarative memory (i.e., stress-induced impairment of memory retrieval, improvement of memory consolidation) also apply to the associative memory domain and in particular to extinction learning processes (Meir Drexler, Merz, Jentsch, Wolf, 2019, Neurosci Biobeh Rev).
Extinction learning is considered one of the key mechanisms for reducing anxiety during exposure therapy. However, the benefits of acute stress to improve extinction learning and thus exposure therapy stand in contrast to the typically negative effects of stress exposure. To bypass this problem, I am currently investigating whether and how acute exercise interventions may also improve extinction learning and extinction memory retrieval (Jentsch et al. 2020, Neurobiol Lern Mem; Jentsch et al. 2023, Psychophysiology).
My second major line of research focuses on the bidirectional effects of stress and cognitive emotion regulation processes. In laboratory stress as well as pharmacological fMRI studies I am investigating how stress influences our ability to cognitively regulate our emotions (Kinner et al. 2014, Front Behav Neurosci; Jentsch et al. 2019, Behav Brain Res; Langer et al. 2020, Sci Rep; Langer et al. 2021, Psychoneuroendocrinology; Langer et al. 2021, Eur J Neurosci; Langer et al. 2022, Biol Psychol; Langer et al. 2023, Psychoneuroendocrinology) but also how emotion regulatory processes may shape the way we subjectively experience a stressful situation and how it modulates our physiological response to it (Jentsch et al. 2020, Biol Psychol). Interestingly, our work shows a consistently beneficial effect of stress and in particular of the stress hormone cortisol on emotion regulation, suggesting a glucocorticoid-mediated improvement of emotion regulatory processes after stress exposure.
In my research, I primarily employ standardized stress induction methods and exercise interventions combined with psychoneuroendocrine (analyses of hormone concentrations or enzymatic processes from saliva), central (fMRI) and peripheral physiological (electrodermal activity, pupillometry, heart rate, heart rate variability), as well as behavioral and questionnaire measures (e.g., affective ratings, mood, cognitive tests, reaction times).