Research

Affective mimicry, which refers to the imitation or matching of non-verbal behaviors that are emotionally meaningful during social interactions, has been shown to be a relevant altered biomarker in autism spectrum disorder. Given the importance of affective mimicry in the expression of the desire to affiliate with others as well as emotional understanding, its dysfunction affects how the self operates in social context.

Depression, the most common psychiatric disorder in ASD with a comorbidity rate as high as 40% in autistic adults, has also been linked with altered affective mimicry where depressed individuals showed lowered mimicry for either happy or both happy and sad faces. Although research in depression is equivocal, there is some evidence for dysfunctional mimicry in the disorder. 

The current project makes use of the large dataset from the FASTER/SCOTT study to isolate the role of depression (i.e. its mediating effect) on the known association between autism spectrum disorder and affective mimicry via a video based Simulated Interaction Task that captures affect specific mimicry in autistic and non-autistic participants. The outcomes of the study will contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms of behavioral markers in ASD as well as help improve diagnostic methods for comorbid disorders.

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People on the autism spectrum, with social anxiety or chronic depression face a number of similar challenges. They can find it very difficult to interact with other people, and as a result often experience high levels of social stress and anxiety, and eventually become socially withdrawn. Based on these similarities, TINGO was developed as a transdiagnostic approach for these patient groups, integrating behavioral and psychodynamically informed therapeutic strategies. The central elements of TINGO are the identification of individual relationship expectations as unconscious transference patterns, and the facilitation of corrective relationship experiences through role plays. A special emphasis is placed on verbal and non-verbal interpersonal behaviors as defined by the Kiesler circle (Kiesler, 1982, Guhn et al, 2019), and the concept of social competence according to Hinsch & Pfingsten (2015). The therapy concept also integrates components of the CBASP group program (Schramm et al., 2012). The overarching therapeutic goals are, on the one hand, the insight into one’s own typical reaction patterns and underlying dysfunctional relationship assumptions, and on the other hand, the acquisition of more flexible behavioral strategies that contribute to greater satisfaction in interacting with other people.

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Recent conceptualizations of mental disorders have shifted from separate categorical definitions to dimensional and shared pathophysiological mechanisms. In accordance, the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) framework has been proposed to advance the understanding of shared dimensions such as e.g. social processes, or arousal/regulatory systems at multiple levels of analyses accross mental health conditions with the promise of informing new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.
This project investigates the social processes domain transdiagnostically focusing on autism spectrum disorder and social anxiety disorder using a multi-level RDoC approach, mapping social interaction dysfunction at behavioral, neuronal circuits, and immunological levels.

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The joint project DIVAN Kids aims to develop a digital application for children between the ages of 6 and 13 with a suspected diagnosis of anxiety disorder (in particular social anxiety, separation anxiety, generalized anxiety). The application is meant to be used in preparation for/accompanying outpatient psychotherapy in order to prevent the anxiety symptoms from becoming chronic and to improve the patient’s quality of life. To this end, it provides digital, evidence-based therapy programs with child-friendly psychoeducational resources and exercises for independent use in everyday life. In addition to the transdiagnostic training of socio-emotional skills “Zirkus Empathico“, a virtual exposure training program is being developed that uses a gamification scenario to motivate patients to carry out exposure exercises in the virtual and real environment.

Real-time capable methods of sensor-based emotion recognition (affective computing) will be used to record patients’ emotional states. This enables biofeedback to be provided and patients to be monitored. The application also includes digitized progress measurement to inform psychotherapists. This includes a digital task for the detection of social anxiety (“Simulated Interaction Task for Children”, Kids-SIT, see SIT) using affective computing, which will be developed within DIVAN Kids. As part of a participatory research approach, the development is accompanied by focus groups, usability and feasibility studies.

In addition to the second scientific project partner, Prof Dr Sebastian Schnieder, Department of Psychology, Hochschule für Medien, Kommunikation und Wirtschaft (HMKW), the companies Intecsoft GmbH & Co. KG and Nurogames GmbH are involved into the project. Furthermore, the application is being realized in cooperation with Prof. Dr. Julia Asbrand, Clinical Psychology of Childhood and Adolescence, University of Jena and Prof. Dr. Hanna Drimalla, AG Multimodal Behavior Processing, University of Bielefeld.

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Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a common and chronic neurodevelopmental condition with a prevalence rate above 1% and a high comorbidity. However, therapy options for high-functioning adults with ASD are lacking, with presently no available evidence-based interventions in Germany. Recently, two methods to improve social responsiveness have been developed: the Freiburg Asperger Specific Therapy Manual for adult patients (FASTER) and the Social Cognition Training Tool (SCOTT). FASTER is a published manualized group psychotherapy program including modules on psychoeducation, affect regulation, and social competence training. SCOTT is a software-based manualized training program to foster the recognition and understanding of facial emotions, prosody, and social situations, and includes video material of demands of real life social context. Initial studies for both programs have shown good feasibility and efficacy. In this project, we aim to comparatively validate the efficacy of both therapies in collaboration with the University Clinic Freiburg (Prof. Dr. Ludger Tebartz van Elst). In a combined multicentre study, we will compare FASTER and SCOTT to treatment as usual (TAU) in six different centres (University of Tübingen, Prof. Dr. Dirk Wildgruber; Technische Universitaet Dresden, Prof. Dr. Veit Roeßner; University of Duesburg-Essen, Prof. Dr. Katja Koelkebeck; Central Institute for Mental Health Mannheim, Dr. Oliver Hennig) to proceed in the process of establishing an evidence-based psychotherapy tool for adults with high functioning autism spectrum disorder.

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This cooperation project with the University Clinic Freiburg (Prof. Dr. Ludger Tebartz van Elst) is an ancillary neurobiological study of a large multicenter randomized controlled trial for adults with autism (DRKSID: DRKS00017817), which investigates the effectiveness of an online intervention targeting social cognition (SCOTT & EVA) and a group psychotherapy (FASTER) compared to treatment as usual. We explore the longitudinal neurocognitive changes resulting from the interventions through the use of behavioral task and structural as well as functional MRI, the latter of which targets complex emotion recognition, social approach/avoidance tendencies, and social emotion regulation. Furthermore, moving towards individualized medicine, we investigate the genetic, immunological, and neural predictive markers for intervention outcome.

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Exhaling the past: a comprehensive neuropsychological test of breathwork as a tool for trauma processing

Funding: Tiny Blue Dot Foundation

2024 – current

Researchers: Nina Hartter, Borja Rodríguez de Santiago, Barbara Breitenstein

The goal of this research project is to assess the long-term effects of circular breathwork on well-being and socio-emotional functioning, as well as the acute neuronal and psychological mechanisms that mediate these effects in individuals with a history of trauma.

Altered states of consciousness (ASC) are increasingly highlighted as an effective method to increase peoples’ well-being. Circular breathwork – an umbrella term for a range of breathing techniques in which a deep and uninterrupted breathing rhythm is sustained over a long period of time – is one of the most accessible methods to induce ASCs.

In our study we are comparing the effects of breathwork sessions to those of Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) – an established therapeutic technique. We are testing people that have never done breathwork or PMR before, have a history of childhood trauma (assessed by established questionnaires), and show sub-clinical symptoms of depression. Both interventions are conducted in groups, guided by facilitators and accompanied by music.

After each session, participants will assess their subjective experience by means of questionnaires from psychedelic research as well as open-ended qualitative questions about the content of their experience.

At the beginning and at the end of the intervention, as well as 6 weeks post-intervention, we will assess measures of well-being and psychopathology, as well as participants’ socio-emotional functioning, including the parameters of social trust, avoidance and emotion regulation. Additionally, we are interested in physiological markers such as sleep pattern and heart rate variability.

With this study we hope to provide insights into the mechanisms underlying the effects of breathwork and to lay the groundwork for a safe and effective integration of breathwork as a therapeutic tool for individuals with a history of trauma.

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High-ventilation breathwork – a technique in which one controls the breath to be faster and/or deeper than usual – has recently gained scientific interest as a potential therapeutic tool. However, few empirical studies have focused on the safety of breathwork practices or systematically assessed possible adverse effects. In this project we investigate both the positive and the challenging experiences that people have with breathwork, during the practice itself and in the following weeks. Additionally, factors that may influence the quality of one’s experience are assessed, including demographics, personality traits, and aspects of the breathwork session itself. The study is a cross-sectional online survey that asks participants about their breathwork practice generally and in the context of their most recent session. The findings will help to make breathwork safer, more beneficial, and more accessible for a greater number of people.

Link to the Breathwork online survey

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Metacognition (‘’thinking about thinking’’) refers to the capacity to reflect on, monitor and control first-order cognitive processes. Research in metacognition has mainly focused in perceptual and memory processes, and is recently expanding to others, yet emotional ones remain poorly understood. The main aim of this project is to make a first attempt to quantify the “metacognition of emotion”, i.e. to what extent we are able to correctly recognize the affective states we experience at a given moment. For that purpose, we are developing an affective picture viewing task with EEG, EDA, and ECG recordings, through which self-reported emotional experiences and brain and body correlates of emotion will be compared. In addition, the study participants will complete a battery of questionnaires and behavioral tasks (interoceptive, emotion recognition task…) to be able to compare metacognitive abilities of emotion introspection with metacognitive abilities of other cognitive processes. This will give us insight into the extent to which metacognition is a general skill that can be applied to multiple cognitive domains, or whether it is domain-specific. Finally, survey data will give us insight into potential factors that may be related to the metacognition of emotion, such as certain personality traits (e.g. alexithymia, affective style), symptoms of psychopathology (e.g. depression, anxiety), neurological conditions (ASD), and potential mechanisms mediating therapeutic interventions (MBCT).

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Responsible research

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The goal of the BMBF-funded joint project “ERIK” is the development of a robotic platform, which allows new human-robot interaction strategies within therapy for children in the autism spectrum. The training targets strengthening emotion recognition, emotion expression and emotion regulation within a playful interaction concept. Emotion-sensitive measures (pulse, facial expression, voice quality) are integrated into the system in order to support mutual interaction between child and robot in real time. The open design of the interface of the robotic platform allows the adaption of the therapy concept to the needs of adults with intellectual disability. Continuous assessment of acceptance and usability will inform the conceptual and technical development of the robotic platform. In the 3rd year of the project, the feasibility will be tested by means of an early clinical examination with children in the autism spectrum, their parents and therapists.

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Mindreading, or reading others’ mental states, is highly relevant in a social world in which we have to interact with conspecifics that have emotions, thoughts, and intentions on a daily basis. It has been recently suggested that mindreading is not only important to infer others’ mental states but that it is also the capacity we use when we infer our own mental states. In the context of this research project we test the idea that self-knowledge of own mental states originates from drawing our mindreading abilities on ourselves rather than us having direct and infallible access to them. Using a new paradigm, we will investigate if individuals with ASD, a clinical population with reported alterations in mindreading others, also exhibit alterations during inference of own mental states. The investigation of autistic participants on mindreading in self and others thus serves to investigate if these mental capacities are two dissociable processes or one common process.

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The current research project attempt to understand the interaction between individual and social determinants in connection to mental health and resilience. More specifically, the project aims to disentangle the relationship between emotion regulation and empathy. Here emotion regulation is conceived as a crucial skill for metabolizing the consequences of social feelings and engagement (as empathic distress and helping behavior) underlying daily social interactions. Even more, here we focus on how people readily engage and act up on the emotional states of others (social emotion regulation), and how this process is moderated by social feelings (as compassion) and self-emotion regulation. Furthermore, the project intends to explore the  factors that play a role in driving social feelings such as empathy or compassion, and what its consequences might be on well-being and mental health. Other relevant questions relevant for clinical sciences are if self and other emotion regulation can be trained, for example through mindfulness training. We have recently conducted a large RCT investigating subjective, behavioral (experimental tasks) and neurobiological (structural and functional brain imaging) mechanisms of an 8-week mindfulness-based intervention (MBSR).

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Ethnic biases (or racial biases, in some cultures) are a widespread problem in most, if not all, societies. An ethnic bias, in simple terms, is the preference of one ethnicity over another. This can be measured in the lab in different ways, from the association of positive/(negative) concepts with an ethnic group, to the enhanced readiness to hurt members of one group but not another. My research focuses on the relationship of ethnic biases and trust learning. Trust learning is operationalized via an interactive trust game in which participants experience partners of two ethnicities, arab or white (central/north european) behaving with different degrees of fairness. Early evidence indicates that we learn to trust others as not only a function of their behavior, but the ethnic group that they belong to as well. The results relate to inter-ethnic group conflicts, as well as societal debates about quotas (affirmative action) and how ethnic minorities are perceived – and therefore treated. A project using learning models to examine how pre-existing ethnic biases influence trust learning is currently underway.

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People tend to unconsciously imitate the motor movements of others (e.g., facial expressions, hand gestures) during social interactions. This process of mimicry has been shown to facilitate the understanding of others’ actions and to reinforce social bonds. In this research project, we investigate different social and neurobiological factors that may influence mimicry. For example, in previous studies we used intranasal administration of oxytocin and psychophysiological measures to examine the role of oxytocin on facial mimicry, and how reward and group membership influences the extent to which we mimic others. In current experiments, we look at the influence of eye gaze on the automatic imitation of hand movements.

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In our everyday social interactions, we need to understand the emotions, knowledge and intentions of other people. Previous research has shown that our own emotional experiences and knowledge are an important source of information to predict how others are feeling or thinking. Using behavioral experiments, self-reports and neuromodulation, we investigate psychological and neural mechanisms underlying emotional egocentricity, that is, the tendency to attribute our own affect states to others.

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Of all the skills parents teach their children, social competences are among the most important ones as they predict later success in social and work life. Theory of mind, empathy and compassion are crucial to master social interactions. However, if parents have deficits in these areas and suffer from mental disorders, they might not be able to pass those skills on to their children. To investigate such an effect, sensitive and objective tasks are needed that measure cognitive and affective reactions to stimuli featuring either children or adults. My project aims to develop such tasks and evaluate them in healthy parents and non-parents. The tasks will then be used to investigate outcomes of mentalization-based interventions in parents and shed further light on the nature of social competences in the context of parenting and mental disorders.

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Researcher: Hanna Drimalla

Various studies have shown that we unconsciously mirror the facial expression of our counterpart in interactions. This so-called mimicry possibly serves to recognize the emotions of others more easily. In our research project we want to examine the influence of mimicry on emotion recognition. The project deals in particular with people from the autistic spectrum. This is because they often find it both more difficult to recognize emotions and to express them. By comparing this clinical group with a neurotypical group, the following questions will be answered: To what extent do people from the autistic spectrum have difficulty mirroring the mimic emotional expression of others? Can mimicry be trained? And does increased mimicry improve emotion recognition? To investigate these questions, we are currently developing a mobile app that trains physical and emotional resonance. Users of the app practice adopting a person’s emotional facial expression and mimicking the corresponding emotion. The subjects’ fascial expressions of emotion are to be recognized and reported back in a computer-based manner. Together with Prof. Timothy Brick from Pennsylvania State University, dynamic face and emotion recognition software (FaceReader) will be integrated into the app. Finally, a longitudinal intervention study with subjects from the autistic spectrum will test the effectiveness of the app. In addition to classical test procedures, we will also use physiological methods such as electromyography and measurements of autonomous body reactions. In this way, even subtle changes in emotional states can be recorded more objectively than by self-report. In summary, the study aims not only to shed light on the underlying mechanisms of mimicry, but also to explore the extent to which social cognition can be modified and trained.

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The doctoral project focuses on the question how socio-emotional competencies (focus on empathy) develop in children ages four to six years. Besides the development of these competencies, the doctoral project examines whether they can be trained from a young age. Developmental and training effects based on the computer-based training Zirkus Empathico (http://www.zirkus-empathico.de/) are assessed with behavioral measures and electrocortical activity employing the non-invasive method electroencephalography (EEG). The analyses focus on event-related potentials (ERPs) like the N170 and P300 as well as EEG oscillations like the alpha and mu rhythm.

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Children on the autism spectrum show deficits in cognitive empathy, emotional awareness and emotion regulation, which hampers their social functioning in everyday life. Based on the often great interest in and talent for the handling of technical systems, a tablet-based training system was developed in cooperation with the University of Potsdam (Prof. Dr. Ulrike Lucke) to foster these competencies using a game-like approach (www.zirkus-empathico.de). To facilitate generalization of learnt skills into everyday life, videos of dynamic emotional expressions and real-life scenarios as well as parents as tutors are essential parts of the training concept. Together with the Universities Augsburg and Vienna the effectiveness of the program was evaluated by us in a randomized-controlled multicenter trial with 82 autistic children aged 5-10, randomly assigned to an intervention or an active control group. Training effects were measured by parent/teacher questionnaires and behavioral tests after the 6-weeks intervention and in a 3-months follow-up assessment.

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PI: Prof. Dr. Isabel Dziobek

Researcher: Anne Weigand, Jan Schneider

Every dialogue between individuals demands the understanding of the emotions of the interaction partner. For the elderly and for individuals with impairments in socio-emotional functioning as those with autism spectrum conditions (ASC), a training system will be developed, which allows the understanding und sending of socio-emotional signals. The training system draws on the development of models of automated emotion recognition. During a computer-based training, automatically read emotions shall be used to provide a direct feedback to the trainee and to allow adaptivity of the training with respect to difficulty level and situational context. The study includes two subprojects:

E.V.A. (Emotionen Verstehen und Ausdrücken) – A New Social Cognition Training App
Anne Weigand

Impairments in social cognition, including understanding emotional facial expressions, speech prosody, body language and the mental state of others are characteristic for many individuals with mental health diagnoses such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) borderline personality disorder, or major depression. Within the BMBF-funded project EMOTISK , we recently developed the social cognition training app E.V.A. (Emotionen Verstehen und Ausdrücken) in collaboration with the University of Potsdam. E.V.A. is based on our previous game-like training software SCOTT (Social Cognition Training Tool). The tablet-based innovative design of E.V.A. and its divers training modules were especially developed to train the recognition and understanding of 40 different emotions. Tasks and their difficulty levels are constantly adjusted to individual performance. A new element of E.V.A. is its Emotion Library, which provides structured information about the trained emotions (e.g. synonyms, description of bodily processes). In a first study, we tested the acceptance and usability of E.V.A. in autistic and neurotypical adults and could show that E.V.A. was highly accepted and has the potential to be an effective and easy accessible tool to enhance social cognition in a new era of personalized, computer-based therapeutic interventions. Next steps include the assessing of social-cognitive gains after several weeks of training in larger samples of individuals with and without mental health problems in collaboration with the TU Dresden.

Novel methodological approaches for emotion research
Jan Schneider

What an emotion is and how it can be measured remains a heavily debated topic. Several frameworks for emotion research exist with opposing theoretical underpinnings and specific limitations. Within the BMBF-funded project EMOTISK  and in cooperation with PennState University we aimed to advance the methods used for emotion research. Modern techniques of data collection, such as face tracking, allow a detailed quantification of emotional expressions, but they yield high-dimensional data that cannot be analyzed with the conventional statistical methods of the field. We develop methods to utilize such data for research on emotions. These methods enable research largely independent from the prevailing emotion frameworks and offer highly interpretable and easy to visualize results. With our approach we investigate the link between facial expressions and their emotional perception within certain populations and how it differs between them. We also created an interactive visualization of one of these methods.

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2011 – 2016

Researcher: Thomas Bergmann

Although Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are often associated with intellectual disability, there is a lack of specific diagnostic instruments for people with low functional levels. In many cases, ASDs remain undetected until adulthood, which can lead to misinterpretation of symptoms and behavioral problems and thus prevent causal treatment. The newly developed Music Based Scale for Autism Diagnostics (MUSAD) is a structured observational procedure that uses the non-verbal-communicative quality of musical interaction to detect autistic symptoms in adults with limited ability to verbalize. A preliminary study (N=80) yielded promising indications of objectivity and reliability. A feasibility of 95% suggested the appropriateness of the music-based framework and a design that takes into account the high irritability of people with developmental disabilities. A factor analysis confirmed a 3-dimensional model, whereby, in addition to the ASD core areas defined in DSM-5 (social communication and interaction & restrictive-repetitive behavior and sensory characteristics), the limited motor coordination ability was identified as an additional ASD-marker. The following validation study (N=124) yielded excellent interrater reliability (ICC=0.92), substantial correlations with established ASD screening scales and a diagnostic algorithm that could adequately distinguish between people with and without ASD (sensitivity 79%, specificity 74%, AUC=0.81). In a further replication study, the criterion validity was confirmed on an independent sample (N=71). In the meantime, the MUSAD Manual has been published (Bergmann et. al, 2020), extends the diagnostic possibilities in people with intellectual disability suspected of having ASD and thus contributes to the improvement of psychiatric care, support and quality of life for this vulnerable group.

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Researcher: Jennifer Kirchner

People on the autism spectrum have peculiarities in thinking, perception and communication. These deviations often cause problems in social interaction with other people. In addition, individuals on the autism spectrum exhibit stereotyped and restricted behaviors, as well as special interests and abilities. While the focus of research is often on the difficulties and problems of people on the autism spectrum, we are interested in what strengths people on the autism spectrum have. Among other things, we study the potential of special interests for vocational activities, character strengths, and aspects of life satisfaction and inclusion in people on the autism spectrum. Studies have shown that people on the autism spectrum without intelligence impairment, in particular, are frequently affected by unemployment despite higher education. There is a need to develop special employment programs in which these individuals receive professional support to find appropriate employment (Vogeley, Kirchner, Gawronsky, Tebartz van Elst & Dziobek, 2013). However, little is yet known about the typical interests and strengths of individuals on the autism spectrum. Many people on the autism spectrum have distinctive special interests, in which they sometimes show amazing achievements. Therefore, we are interested in the areas in which these interests lie and what potential they have to be used professionally. In a research project, we are investigating these questions and also exploring which general intrapsychic and environmental factors contribute to or interfere with successful professional activity (Kirchner & Dziobek, 2014). For this research project, we are collaborating with auticon, a company that employs people on the autism spectrum as IT consultants. In addition, we collaborated with a focus group of people on the autism spectrum for this study in the spirit of participatory research. In another research project, we are investigating character strengths such as judgment, love of learning, and fairness of people on the autism spectrum in collaboration with Professor Willibald Ruch from the University of Zurich. In addition, we are interested in what factors predict life satisfaction in adults on the autism spectrum and how inclusion can be promoted. These questions are particularly relevant to the development of interventions for improving occupational inclusion and quality of life for people on the autism spectrum.

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Funding: Freie Universität Berlin

2010-2016

Researcher: Svenja Köhne

From personal experience we know the feeling that making music and dancing together can connect us and make us feel close to each other. Already Theodor Lipps, the “father of empathy research”, described empathy at the beginning of the 20th century as a physical (“embodied”) process in which we spontaneously simulate the physical state of another person with our own body and can thus feel and think ourselves into the other person. Today, the link between imitation/synchronization and social cognition is being investigated using psychological and neuroscientific methods (e.g., Chartrand & Lakin, 2013). To investigate the relationship between interpersonal imitation/synchronization and empathy, we compare, among other things, sports in which dyadic synchronization of movements is central (capoeira, tango argentino) with sports that require less interpersonal synchronization but are otherwise similar in movement qualities and setting (break dance, salsa). Here, we investigate both spontaneous simulation of physical states and cognitive and emotional empathy. The connection between physical and social processes is particularly relevant with regard to explanatory models and therapeutic approaches for mental disorders that are associated with an impairment of social interaction. Therefore, another project in cooperation with Dr. Merle Fairhurst investigates the spontaneous tendency to imitate and synchronize movements in people on the autism spectrum. In an interdisciplinary team (psychiatry, psychology, dance education, choreography), we developed a 10-week imitation- and synchronization-based dance/movement intervention to strengthen empathy functions for adults on the autism spectrum (Behrends, Müller, & Dziobek, 2012), and evaluated it using behavioral, quantitative, and qualitative methods. Findings from neuroscientific and behavioral research indicate that especially in situations where one’s own emotional, cognitive, or physical state differs from that of the other person, perspective-taking cannot occur through simulation processes alone, but must be accompanied by a clear mental differentiation between self and other. In collaboration with Prof. Tania Singer and Ferdinand Hoffmann from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, we are investigating whether people with autism increasingly assume their own state when sharing emotions, similar to the understanding of mental states (Theory of Mind), and which neuronal networks are involved in this (missing) differentiation.