EPP symposium 135 Brain-Heart-Gut axis Feb. 11th & 12th 2021
EPP Symposium 135

Date
Feb, 11-12, 2021

Location
Hosted online by Maastricht University, The Netherlands
www.um.nl

Organization

Marie-Anne Vanderhasselt (UGent), Marc Molendijk (Leiden University)

The gut-brain axis is a bidirectional communication network that links the enteric and central nervous systems. Interestingly, also other systems are linked to the gut and to the brain, such as the autonomic nervous system. As such, there are different pathways of communication between gut microbiota, brain and the heart, all providing or suggesting evidence for psychobiological mechanisms underlying cognitive-affective processes.

In this EPP symposium experts from interdisciplinary field will discuss these different pathways, focusing on the role of the enteric system in cognitive processes and emotional processes (depression, anxiety, fear conditioning). Moreover, the role of the autonomic system in this brain-gut axis will be discussed, as well as the influence of the causal stimulation of the vagus nerve. Finally, we will also discuss the methodological issues that should be considered when conducting this kind of research.

Program:

Thursday Feb 11th

Day1:

10.30 – 11.00 Walk-in with Coffee/Tea
11.00 – 12.00 Sahar El Aidy – The depressed gut
12.00 – 13.00 Lunch
13.00 – 14.00 PhD Talks
1. Nina Vollbehr: Mindful yoga intervention for young women with major depressive disorder: a randomized controlled trial
2. Paula von Spreckselen: Despicable me: Self-disgust, Body Image Concerns, and Dysfunc-tional Eating

14.00 – 15.00 Lucas Van Oudenhove – The microbiota-gut-brain axis in anxiety and depression, of mice and men
15.00 – 15.15 Coffee
15.15 – 16.15  Laura Steenbergen – The microbiome and cognitive functioning

 

Friday Feb 12th

Day 2:
09.00 – 10.00 Bart Verkuil – Perseverative cognition the vagus nerve and heart rate variability
10.00 – 10.15 Coffee

10.15 – 10:45  Maud Grol: Cognitive flexibility and heart rate variability
10:45 – 11:15   Marc Molendijk – The final talk is on where it all started

11.15 – 11:30   Coffee
11:30 – 12:30 PHD Talks
3. Myrthe Jansen: ‘Mistakes that matter: Social performance monitoring and obsessive-compulsive symptoms’. Alternatieve, uitgebreide titel: ‘Mistakes that matter: An event-related potential study on obsessive-compulsive symptoms and social performance monitoring in different responsibility contexts’.
4. Wouter Cox: Episodic memory enhancement versus impairment is determined by contextual similarity across events

Registration CLOSED