New Developments in Neuroscience and Psychoanalysis Series – Jaak Panksepp Memorial Webinar

 

Join us

In memory of Jaak Panksepp

Guest speakers

Jeffrey Burgdorf

Comments by Mark Solms

Poetry by Anesa Miller

Panel discussion:
Jules Panksepp
Casey Cromwell
Ken Davis
Daniela Flores Mosri
Brian Knutson
Joe Moskal
Oliver Turnbull
Doug Watt

Saturday, April 23
12 noon (Eastern Daylight Time)

The webinar will be 3 hours long, followed by an “afterparty” for additional personal reflections on Jaak and his work.

Please click here to view the video of this event.

Start time in selected time zones

New Developments in Neuroscience and Psychoanalysis Series
This exciting new online series hosted by the Neuropsychoanalysis Association throughout 2022 will showcase the cutting-edge knowledge that is currently emanating from neuroscientific disciplines and the field of psychoanalysis. The series includes presentations from leading authorities that will enhance neuropsychoanalytic understanding, while at the same time inspire our multidisciplinary community. The series will demonstrate the amazing variety of topics that are relevant to the fascinating field of neuropsychoanalysis.

Jeffrey Burgdorf, PhD

Abstract
The use of ultrasonic vocalizations as an experimental tool for studying emotional states in rodents has led to an increased understanding of the basic science of affect as well as the development of novel diagnostics and therapeutics for the treatment of affective disorders. At the behavioral level, the rules that govern the generation of affective ‘feeling’ states are similar to those of the psychophysics of sensory perception. Emotions are elicited primarily in response to active social stimuli. A linear increase in affective response requires a logarithmic increase in stimulation and habituation of a given affective response allows for transition across the cycle of emotional/affective states (approach → consummatory phase → avoidance). At the neuronal level, the coordinated expression of affective responses in the medial prefrontal cortex is orchestrated by rhythmic activity, which is initiated and maintained by a variety of short-term and long-term synaptic plasticity processes. An objective measure of affective states may emerge from these psychophysical and neuronal properties of emotion. Enhancing synaptic plasticity with pharmacological agents that modulate NMDA receptor activity as well as IGFI receptor activity may have therapeutic potential for the treatment of affective disorders.

Bio
Dr Jeffrey Burgdorf is a research associate professor at Northwestern University and the associate director of the Falk center for Molecular Therapeutics at Northwestern. He is interested in how the brain generates emotion and how this knowledge can be used to create better therapeutics for mood disorders. As a student of Jaak Panksepp, he was involved in the discovery of rat laughter, and using this model has discovered the novel biochemistry of positive affect which has led to the development of novel therapeutics for mood disorders. More recently, he has applied the science of emotion to the development of objective measures suitable for the diagnosis and treatment of mood disorders. He also believes that a scientist can learn just as much about how the brain generates emotion for a good opera or novel as from a scientific journal article.

CPD credits: 2
(Please click here for further information regarding CPD credits.)