Our mission is to understand how emotional memories (trans)form. Specifically, we investigate how emotional experiences are stored, how they manifest and drive behaviour, and how they evolve over time both spontaneously and as the result of therapeutic interventions.
Emotional memories can manifest as vivid images of specific events, but also as feelings and bodily responses. We study their role across disorders, including PTSD, anxiety, and depression.
To understand how emotional memories form and change, we need to create them under controlled conditions and measure them in all their richness.
Memory isn't fixed in storage, and the emotional load of a memory may change as a result of a number of processes. We study the mechanisms behind this plasticity, and how we can harness these insights to optimise treatment.