Workshop: Cognitive affective biases – from mechanisms to disease symptoms (2022)

Workshops

Maj Institute of Pharmacology Polish Academy of Sciences in Kraków is convening a scientific workshop to explore key areas of affective-cognitive bias research in a unique forum that emphasizes discussion and collaboration between disciplines and career stages.

The meeting will bring together an interdisciplinary mix of people, from world-leading scientists to early career researchers. One of the key aims will be to highlight the latest advances in affective-cognitive bias research and identify key research questions that could bring a real impact to the field.

We welcome researchers from all backgrounds (psychologists, psychiatrists, behavioral neuroscientists, psychopharmacologists, etc.) to register for this meeting.

We strongly encourage early career researchers (PhD students) to take a part in the workshop, as we can offer them VERY ATTRACTIVE travel grants funded by NAWA (up to approx. 1860€/ 8000 PLN).

The workshop will be a great opportunity to:

Listen to some of the most inspiring international scientists in the field of affective-cognitive bias on a wide range of topics.
Showcase your work during the poster sessions and 'student talk sessions’.
Meet with your peers and more established academics.
Increase your national and international networks.

The meeting will consist of a series of high-level thematic talks with an interdisciplinary approach to affective-cognitive bias research that bridges clinical and non-clinical fields. There will be plenty of space for structured and free-flowing discussions, during the scientific sessions and social events.

VENUE: Hotel Dwór Tomaszowice (the Tomaszowice Manor) is surrounded by an idyllic park and neighbors a classical Polish court (https://www.dwor.pl/).

For participants

  • Registration
  • Program
  • Speakers

Those interested in cognitive-affective bias research using various approaches for animal and human experiments.

We also cordially invite all behavioral neuroscientists, investigators of animal welfare, psychopharmacologists, experimental psychologists, and psychiatrists…

Abstract

Participants are requested to submit an abstract (approx. 3000 characters/250 words).

Submission is possible during registration.

Registration

Registration Fee: 500 Euro

Deadline: 30.09.2022  Extended till 15.10.2022

How to register:

In order to register please fill out the registration form available under this link: https://forms.gle/BqTi7EvqRWiy31as5

How to pay your registration fee:

Please transfer the conference fee (500 Euro) to the following bank account:

Name of Account holder: Maj Institute of Pharmacology Polish Academy of Sciences

Bank Name: Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego

Bank full address:

Street: 2 Pilotow Street

Postal Code: 31-462

Town: Cracow

Country: Poland

Number of bank account: PL 35 1130 1150 0012 1149 2420 0057

BIC (* Bank Identifier Code): GOSKPLPW

Reference: Workshop: Cognitive affective biases and your FIRST NAME and SURNAME

Please inform us of your payment at workshopCAN@gmail.com

You can only be registered if you have paid your conference fee.

Payment of the registration fee is required for processing your registration. The registration fee includes admission to the scientific sessions, all conference materials, coffee and snacks during breaks, the opening ceremony, and a full-day retreat on the fourth day (Wieliczka Salt Mine sightseeing tour or Auschwitz Birkenau former nazi concentration camp).

Hotel accommodation and meals at the meeting hotel are NOT included in the registration fee.

When registering for our event, we strongly encourage you to reserve also the discounted room & full board package at the conference hotel (more info available here).

MONDAY 24.10.2022

16:00 – 17:00 Registration

17:15-18:00 Concert

18:00 – 22:00 Opening talk and welcome reception

The Opening talk entitled 'Turning the glass from half empty to half full: neuropsychological mechanisms which could explain rapid acting antidepressant efficacy’ will be given by Emma Robinson

 

TUESDAY 25.10.2022 Chaired by Justyna Hinchcliffe

07:00 – 09:00 Breakfast

09:00 – 10:00 Justyna Hinchcliffe 'Methods to assess the emotional states of laboratory rodents and to refine their lifetime experience’

10:00 – 10:45 Junior researcher talks:

· Molly Davidson „The effects of negative trait affect on decision-making under ambiguity”

· Louisa Bierbaum „How do you feel? Measuring emotional states in mice using two different cognitive judgement bias paradigms”

· Katie Kamenish “The effects of amitriptyline on affective biases in rats”

10:45 – 11:15 Coffee break

11:15 – 12:15 Neil Garrett 'Model-based habits’

12:15 – 13:00 Junior researcher talks:

· Daan W. Laméris „Affective responses and behavioural correlates in response to managed fission-fusion events in bonobos (Pan paniscus)”

· Zhen Zhang „Can memory bias be modified through attention and interpretation bias training? A proof-of-concept study”

· Laila Berroug “Neurobehavioral impairments across sexes following developmental exposure to an Organophosphate Pesticide: Malathion”

13:00 – 14:30 Lunch

14:30 – 15:30 Ciara Greene 'From fake news to false memories: Tracing the consequences of exposure to misinformation’

15:30 – 16:15 Junior researcher talks:

· Afroditi A. Asimakopoulou „The Role of Individual Differences in Susceptibility to Fake News: A Scoping Review”

· Maryanne Brassil „The mechanisms of misleading memories: Exploring the cognitive factors that influence eyewitness susceptibility to the misinformation effect.”

· PhD student

16:15 – 16:45 Coffee break

16:45 – 17:45 Oliver Robinson 'Translational cognitive and computational perspectives on affective bias in mood and anxiety disorders’

17:45 – 18:30 Junior researcher talk:

· Patrick Mulvaney „An Investigation of the Key Features of VR Social Anxiety Experiences”

· Assim Kalouaz „Awe in virtual reality storytelling: exploring the contribution of priming.

· PhD student

19:00 – open Dinner

 

WEDNESDAY 26.10.2022 Chaired by Karolina Noworyta

07:00 – 09:00 Breakfast

09:00 – 10:00 Rui F. Oliveira 'Optimism/pessimism effects on health and disease in zebrafish’

10:00 – 10:45 Junior researcher talks:

· Xianzong Meng „A seminatralistic enviorment model for testing animals’ foraging”

· Fitri Fareez Ramli „Mechanism of ebselen on emotional processing”

· Menghan Sun “Own Serotonin Transporter Genotype increases Anxiety- and Depression-Like Behavior and alters neuroplasticity markers independent of maternal genotype”

10:45 – 11:15 Coffee break

11:15 – 12:15 Johannes Algermissen 'Pavlovian biases in learning and decision-making and how to make adaptive use of them’

12:15 – 13:00 Junior researcher talks:

· Ping Chen „Effect of striatal dopamine on Pavlovian bias. A large [18F]-DOPA PET study”

· Dasha Anderson „Back to basics: the importance of dose in preclinical psychiatric research”

· Paula Andrés-Herrera “Altered motivated behaviour and neuroinflammation: role of inflammatory pain”

13:00 – 14:30 Lunch

14:30 – 15:30 Ewelina Knapska 'Social learning about threats and rewards’

15:30 – 16:00 Junior researcher talks:

· Sophia Marie Quante „How powerful is a touch? The influence of regular touchscreen training and its termination on hormones and behaviour in mice’

· Jesus D. Lorente „Uncovering a Dynorphinergic projection of Central Amygdala to Nuclues Accumbens: implications on negative affective states induced by inflammatory pain”

16:00 – 16:30 Coffee break

16:30 – 17:30 Jessie Adriaense 'Evolutionary origins of empathy: comparative research on emotions in birds and primates’

17:30 – 18:30 Lubor Kostal 'Cognition, affective states and chicken welfare’

19:00 – open Dinner

 

THURSDAY 27.10.2022

07:00 – 09:00 Breakfast

9:30 – 18:00 Full day of the trip to the Memorial and Museum of the Auschwitz-Birkenau former nazi concentration camp.

19:00 – open Dinner

 

FRIDAY 28.10.2022

07:00 – 09:00 Breakfast

09:00 – 12:00 Departure

Speaker

Jessie E.C. Adriaense

Evolutionary Cognition Group
Department of Anthropology
University of Zürich
Switzerland

Evolutionary origins of empathy: comparative research on emotions in birds and primates

Abstract: Our social lives and the success of our interactions often depend on sharing the same mindset with others, such as how sharing the other’s emotions and understanding them (i.e. empathy) may facilitate prosocial behavior. From an evolutionary perspective, it was long assumed that empathy was restricted to mammals, yet observations and recent empirical work in other animal taxa, such as birds, puts this notion into question. Moreover, measuring psychological mechanisms, such as shared emotions, is notoriously difficult in a range of species, which is partially driven by conceptual and empirical ambiguities. For that reason, my research focuses theoretically on disentangling these ambiguities and empirically on non-invasive behavioral and cognitive methods to measure emotion states, to further understand the evolution of empathy, and its potential convergence in distantly related species.

Speaker

Johannes Algermissen

Department of Psychiatry
University of Oxford, UK

and

Donders Institute, Radboud University
The Netherlands.

Pavlovian biases in learning and decision-making and how to make adaptive use of them

Abstract: Rewards and punishments do not only influence behavior once they are obtained, but already when they are expected: Reward prospect invigorates action, while punishment prospect suppresses it. This coupling between valence and action, called Pavlovian biases, constitutes a very fast decision-making strategy that could be adaptive in some environments, but maladaptive in others. In fact, it has been evoked to explain why humans are tempted by reward-related cues signaling the chance to gain food, drugs, or money, and conversely why aversive cues can lead to paralysis, which is at the core of mental health problems such as phobias and mood disorders. I will present four studies disentangling different aspects of these biases. First, I will show how to distinguish Pavlovian response biases from Pavlovian learning biases, and how both are evoked by interactions between cortical influences on subcortical action selection circuits. Second, I will present results from a large-scale online study finding associations between depression and an increased suppression of these biases. Third, I will present results from eye-tracking and MEG studies showing that humans might sometimes deliberately expose themselves to information that triggers these biases, suggesting an adaptive role of Pavlovian biases in action control and adaptive goal pursuit.

Speaker

Neil Garrett

Sir Henry Wellcome Research Fellow
School of Psychology
University of East Anglia, UK

Model-based habits

Abstract: A core aspect of planning involves maintaining an accurate model of an environment's dynamics: what are the consequences of the different actions I can take? In this talk, I will present a new model of planning which provides an account of how individuals cluster information about the consequences of different actions. I will show that this model can generate choices that are insensitive to reward devaluation, behaviour previously thought to be a signature of habits. These “ersatz habits” (just like laboratory ones) emerge after overtraining, interact with contextual cues and show preserved sensitivity to reinforcer devaluation in a consumption test (a standard control). Whilst these results do not rule out a contribution of habits per se, they highlight the need for caution in using devaluation procedures to rule them in (or out) and offer a new perspective on the neurocomputational substrates of repetitive harmful behaviours prevalent in clinical pathologies such as OCD and addiction.

Speaker

Ciara Greene

Associate Professor
School of Psychology
University College Dublin
Ireland

From fake news to false memories: Tracing the consequences of exposure to misinformation

Abstract: Research suggests that exposure to "fake news" can lead to false memories of the events described in the news stories, especially if they align with our existing personal or political beliefs. In this talk, I will outline the effects of misinformation on memory, and describe recent evidence regarding potential consequences for behaviour. I will also consider the ethical implications of this kind of research: how can we evaluate the effects of real-world misinformation without exposing participants to potential harm?

Speaker

Justyna Hinchcliffe

School of Physiology, Pharmacology & Neuroscience
Faculty of Life Sciences
University of Bristol, UK

Methods to assess the emotional states of laboratory rodents and to refine their lifetime experience

Abstract: A better understanding of animal emotions and refinement of their husbandry, handling, housing, and methods for drug administration are important goals in providing good animal welfare in a laboratory setting and underpin rigorous research quality. Handling, housing, and daily procedures contribute to the lifetime experience of the animal and also provide a potential opportunity for improvement. The methods presented (rat tickling as a positive handling technique, an increase of the environmental complexity with ball pits and playpens, non-restraint dosing techniques) are all supported by empirical data using objective assessments of stress responses and/or affective states such as the affective bias test, the reward learning assay and recording of rats’ ultrasonic vocalisations. Together, these findings suggest that simple and effective methods can be easily implemented to improve the welfare of laboratory rats and reduce the cumulative suffering they experience. Animals living in an enriched environment with lower stress levels and improved well-being should provide a better model for research and are potentially more likely to generate more reliable and reproducible data with less variability.

Speaker

Ewelina Knapska

Head of Neurobiology of Emotions Lab.
Vice-President of Centre of Excellence for Neural Plasticity and Brain
Disorders (BRAINCITY)
Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology

Social learning about threats and rewards

Abstract: In social species, emotions displayed by others influence cognition and behavior of the interacting individuals. The capacity to be affected by or share emotional states is observed both in humans and rodents. It is believed that this capacity helps to build relationships because it fosters emotional synchrony between individuals. However, the utility of sharing emotion surpasses purely social function. Since to survive an animal must continuously learn about challenges and opportunities in its environment, emotions of other individuals can also be a source of valuable information. Thus, our rodent studies focus on the neuronal circuits underlying socially perceived emotions and their role in adaptation to the environment. In particular, we show that social cues convey information about the imminence of threat and that socially triggered responses recruit different neuronal circuits in the central amygdala. Further, we show that rodents socially transfer information about a distant food source through direct interaction with or a scent of an individual who encountered the food reward. We also show that socially acquired knowledge changes the patterns of exploration of familiar and novel environments. Thus, perceiving affective states of others evoked by a threat or a reward helps the individual to adapt its behavior and thus to avoid harm and maximize rewards. Therefore, perceiving others' emotions carries informational value, which offers a new perspective on the evolutionary origins of socially shared emotions.

Speaker

Lubor Kostal

Vice Director
Centre of Biosciences
Institute of Animal Biochemistry and Genetics
Slovak Academy of Sciences
Bratislava, Slovakia

Cognition, affective states, and chicken welfare

Abstract: Progress in the field of avian neuroscience goes hand in hand with documenting the surprising cognitive abilities of birds. Modern studies show that the basal ganglia occupy only a small part of the avian telencephalon, while the remainder is occupied by a large pallium homologous to the cerebral cortex of mammals. Recently, cortex-like canonical circuits have been identified in the avian forebrain. Bird brains have more neurons than mammalian brains and have very high neuronal densities. Although the cognitive performance of landfowl (including domestic chicken) does not reach the level of corvids, there is growing evidence of complex behaviour and cognitive skills in chickens. Chickens are smarter than the general public or even some experts thought. Improving the welfare of chickens would affect a large number of individuals since chickens represent the large majority of animals being raised for food (with ca 50 billion of them slaughtered each year). Affective states (emotions) are a key component of animal welfare. Therefore the use of the cognitive bias paradigm as a way to measure affective states in chickens sounds like a good idea. In our laboratory, we are designing and optimizing methods of judgment bias testing in chickens. Nevertheless, this process is not without problems.

Speaker

Rui F. Oliveira

Professor of Behavioural Biology
Institute of Applied Psychology
Lisbon, Portugal

Principal Investigator
Integrative Behavioural Biology Lab
Champalimaud Neuroscience Program
Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC)

Optimism/pessimism effects on health and disease in zebrafish

Abstract: Biases have been hypothesized to evolve because the existence of biological limitations to decision making under ambiguity (e.g. information, processing, efficiency). The existence of evolutionary mechanisms explaining between-subjects variability in judgment biases opens the possibility for individuals exhibiting related phenotypes (e.g., optimists/pessimists) that may be relatively stable through time. Judgment bias can therefore be conceptualized as a stable feature of the individual and the occurrence of subjective perceptions that are consistent over time may be expected to explain inter-individual variations in the response to stressors and in the susceptibility to stress-related diseases. Judgment bias can therefore be hypothesized to drive differences in stress vulnerability. In our lab we have been using a behavioural ecological approach focused on zebrafish that is based on tools that strengthen methodology in the field of animal personality research. Considering this framework our results suggest that judgment bias may reflect not only a transient state but also a trait and be considered as a relatively stable feature of the individual. In this regard, judgment bias is a repeatable behaviour that is ecologically relevant and form part of a behavioural syndrome. Furthermore, we measured several physiological features of stress vulnerability, including cortisol levels, mr/gr ratio, and neurogenomic state, to address a potential association between judgment bias and stress vulnerability. Our data suggests that judgment bias drive divergences in vulnerable brain states that are mediated by chronic stress, which are associated to a different reactivity of the HPI axis.

Speaker

Emma Robinson

Professor of Psychopharmacology
School of Physiology, Pharmacology & Neuroscience
Faculty of Life Sciences
University of Bristol, UK

Turning the glass from half empty to half full: neuropsychological mechanisms which could explain rapid acting antidepressant efficacy

Abstract: The emergence of ketamine as a rapid-acting antidepressant has provided a new and exciting avenue for exploring both the mechanisms underlying antidepressant efficacy and the development of novel treatments. In this talk, I will describe our studies using the affective bias test to investigate the neuropsychological effects of both conventional and rapid-acting antidepressants. In this test of affective state-induced biases in reward learning and memory, rats learn two independent substrate-reward associations of equal value but which we show can be biased by affective state at the time of learning. Using this method, we show that conventional versus rapid-acting antidepressants exhibit dissociable effects when modulating new learning versus previously biased reward memories which may explain the temporal differences in their efficacy. We link these effects to specific brain regions and provide evidence of selective modulation of an 'affective bias circuit' by rapid-acting antidepressants. We also build from these data to propose a novel neuropsychological mechanism which could explain the both rapid and sustained antidepressant effects seen with drugs such as ketamine.

Speaker

Oliver Robinson

Professor of Neuroscience and Mental Health
Neuroscience and Mental Health Group Leader
Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK

Translational cognitive and computational perspectives on affective bias in mood and anxiety disorders

Abstract: Prof Robinson will discuss work from his lab developing trying to better understand the neurocognitive and computational processes underpinning affective bias in mood and anxiety disorders with a particular focus on human translational measures.

Additional information

  • Accomodation
  • How to get
  • Sponsorship

Hotel Dwór Tomaszowice (the Tomaszowice Manor) is surrounded by an idyllic park and neighbours a classical Polish court. The hotel offers 40 comfortable and elegantly designed rooms. Each room offers a private bathroom, telephone service and satellite television. Thanks to the hotel’s location, guests are treated to the exceptional views of the nineteenth century park gardens.

Dwór Tomaszowice (the workshop hotel) offers special, discounted room and food rates (full board packages) for workshop participants.
Rates:

  • Single room: 520 Euro/4 nights (130 Euro per night with all meals included)

Rates include VAT and full board, i.e. buffet breakfast, lunch and dinner (with non alcoholic drinks included).

For making the reservation please go to the section: Registration, and tick your chosen option on the reservation sheet.

In order to secure your booking, transfer the money for your chosen package (250, 300 or 350 Euro for triple, double or single room respectively) to the conference account:

Name of Account holder: Institute of Pharmacology Polish Academy of Sciences
Bank name: Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego
Bank Full address:
Street: 2 Pilotow Street
Postal Code: 31- 462
Town: Cracow
Country: Poland
Number of bank account: PL 37 1130 1150 0012 1149 2420 0021
BIC (* Bank Identifier Code ): GOSKPLPW
Reference: Accommodation package and your FIRST NAME and SURNAME

Please inform us of your payment at workshopCAB@gmail.com

The Tomaszowice Manor Estate – Krakow Conference Center (http://www.dwor.pl/) is located at the gates of Krakow and is the only one of its kind historic nineteenth century manor park complex. It is outside the main urban area but within 20 min TAXI ride distance from the Krakow Historic Centre. It is also easily reachable by public transportation.

Krakow is served by the John Paul II Krakow Airport (http://www.krakowairport.pl/en/), which is fairly close to our venue (12 km, about 15 min by taxi). After leaving the arrivals you can either take the official airport taxi: http://www.krakowairport.pl/pl/pasazer,c70/dojazd,c313/krakow-airport-taxi,a2435.html (relatively expensive but you cannot go wrong with it) or call one of the radio TAXI companies (e.g. WAWEL TAXI (http://waweltaxi.pl/kontakt) or BARBAKAN TAXI (http://barbakan.krakow.pl/) you can also use your UBER or TAXIFY app.

IMPORTANT: It makes no sense to go first to Krakow city centre in order to get to the workshop venue which is close to the airport.

You may also reach Krakow by train. Please buy your tickets to Krakow Main Station and from there take a taxi to the Tomaszowice Manor Estate – Krakow Conference Center (ask the driver to take you to: Krakowskie Centrum Konferencyjne Dwór Tomaszowice). The best is to call one of the radio TAXI companies, e.g. WAWEL TAXI (http://waweltaxi.pl/kontakt) or BARBAKAN TAXI (http://barbakan.krakow.pl/) or use your UBER or TAXIFY app.

When taking taxi on the street – confirm the price first (85 PLN- 20 euro seems fair fare).

PUBLIC TRANSPORT: Our meeting venue is served by city bus number 230, which departs from one of the big city transportation hubs in Krakow – BRONOWICE MAŁE (easily reachable from the main train station by many trams and buses).

You can also chose to fly to Katowice Airport (about 80 km from Krakow) but getting to our venue from there could be time consuming and expensive.

We DO NOT recommend flying to Warsaw with an intention to continue your travel by train. Although this might seem like a good opportunity to see more of Poland – on your way back it may get disastrous as the trains are far from being reliable. The delays of 30-60 min are not uncommon and traveling on such a delayed train back to Warsaw while having a plane to catch might cost you a lot of nerves.

Driving to Krakow from the main Polish cities (Warsaw, Poznań, Wroclaw or Gdańsk) can be a long trip. It can be a chance to tour Poland, but it needs careful planning. Distances (driving the highway network) are:

Wroclaw – Krakow: 270km

Warsaw – Krakow: 290km

Poznan – Krakow: 460km

Gdansk – Krakow: 580km

We look forward to seeing you in Krakow!

Rafal Rygula and Karolina Noworyta Sokolowska

Workshop Organizers

We invite organizations, institutions, government agencies, and private companies to consider sponsoring the Workshop: Cognitive affective biases – from mechanisms to disease symptoms.

The meeting will be a great opportunity to gain visibility in the fields of basic and clinical neuroscience, psychiatry, psychology, or psychopharmacology and to showcase your products, services, or activities to a diverse international audience of professionals.

As a standard, we can offer exhibition space (empty or equipped with a table and chairs).
The size of the stand space is about 4 sqm (2m in length and 2m in depth). The price for a booth is 1000 €  (4300 PLN).
we can supply:
table
2 chairs
power outlet
listing in the program booklet
free access for 1 person to all scientific events, to the coffee breaks lunches, and dinners.
You can bring your own stand elements, of course. Stand space will be allocated on a “first come first served basis”.

We welcome any type of financial support your organization would like to offer.

We are also happy to work with you to customize a sponsorship opportunity that best suits your goals and budget. We may additionally consider industry-supported talks, slots, and branding opportunities.

For more information of the support and exhibition opportunities and bookings, please contact:

Karolina Noworyta
tel: 0048(12)6623373
fax:0048(12)6374500
email: k.a.noworyta@gmail.com

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