Christian Keysers: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|French-German neuroscientist (born 1973)}}

He finished his school education at the [[European School, Munich]] and studied [[psychology]] and [[biology]] at the [[University of Konstanz]], the [[Ruhr University Bochum]], [[University of Massachusetts Boston]], the Shepens eye research Institute of the [[Harvard Medical School]] as well as with [[Marvin Minsky]] at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]. He then started his research career at the [[University of St Andrews]] by investigating cells in the [[temporal cortex]] with [[David Perrett]], and described cells that respond when the monkey views particular faces in a way that correlates with conscious perception.<ref name="Keysers2001">{{Cite journal|last1=Keysers|first1=Christian|last2=Xiao|first2=D.K.|last3=Foldiak|first3=P.|last4=Perrett|first4=D.I.|year=2001|title=The speed of sight|journal=J Cogn Neurosci| volume=13| issue=1| pages=90–101| pmid=11224911|doi=10.1162/089892901564199|s2cid=9433619}}</ref> After that, he moved to the [[University of Parma]] where he was part of the team that discovered auditory [[mirror neurons]]<ref name="Keysers2003">{{Cite journal|last1=Keysers|first1=Christian|last2=Kohler|first2=E.|last3=Umilta|first3=M.A.|last4=Nanetti|first4=L.|last5=Fogassi|first5=L.|last6=Gallese|first6=Vittorio|year=2003|title=Audiovisual mirror neurons and action recognition|journal=Exp Brain Res| volume=153| issue=4| pages=628–36| pmid=12937876 |doi=10.1007/s00221-003-1603-5|citeseerx=10.1.1.387.3307|s2cid=7704309}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Kohler|first1=E.|last2=Keysers|first2=Christian|last3=Umilta|first3=M.A.|last4=Fogassi|first4=L.|last5=Gallese|first5=Vittorio|last6=Rizzolatti|first6=G.|year=2002| title=Hearing sounds, understanding actions: action representation in mirror neurons |journal=Science| volume=297| issue=5582| pages=846–8| pmid=12161656| doi=10.1126/science.1070311 |bibcode=2002Sci...297..846K|citeseerx=10.1.1.177.3161|s2cid=16923101}}</ref> in the [[frontal cortex]] of the [[macaque monkey]]. He then expanded the notion of mirror neurons to emotions and sensations, by showing that your [[somatosensory cortex]] is active not only when you are being touched, but also if you see someone else being touched,<ref name="Keysers2004">{{Cite journal|last1=Keysers|first1=Christian|last2=Wicker|first2=Bruno|last3=Gazzola|first3=V.|last4=Anton|first4=J.L.|last5=Fogassi|first5=L.|last6=Gallese|first6=Vittorio |year=2004| title=A touching sight: SII/PV activation during the observation and experience of touch |journal=Neuron| volume=42| issue=2| pages=335–46| pmid=15091347| doi=10.1016/S0896-6273(04)00156-4|s2cid=1414735|doi-access=free}}</ref> and that the [[insular cortex]] is active not only if people feel disgusted, but also if they see someone else being disgusted.<ref name="wicker2003">{{Cite journal |last2=Keysers|first2=Christian|last1=Wicker|first1=Bruno|last3=Plailly|first3=J.|last4=Royet|first4=J.P.|last5=Gallese|first5=V.|last6=Rizzolatti|first6=G.|year=2003| title=Both of us disgusted in My insula: the common neural basis of seeing and feeling disgust |journal=Neuron| volume=40| issue=3| pages=655–64 | doi=10.1016/S0896-6273(03)00679-2| pmid=14642287|s2cid=766157|doi-access=free}}</ref> Together this indicated a general principle in which people process the actions, sensations and emotions of others by vicariously activating their own actions, sensations and emotions.<ref name="KeysersGazzola2006">{{cite book|last1=Keysers|first1=Christian|last2=Gazzola|first2=Valeria|title=Towards a unifying neural theory of social cognition|volume=156|year=2006|pages=379–401|issn=0079-6123|doi=10.1016/S0079-6123(06)56021-2|series=Progress in Brain Research|pmid=17015092|isbn=9780444521828|citeseerx=10.1.1.132.4591}}</ref> Jointly, this work laid the foundation of the neuroscientific investigation of [[empathy]].

In 2004, Keysers and collaborator Gazzola opened the [https://socialbrainlab.org Social Brain Lab] at the [[University of Groningen]] where they provided evidence for abnormal activity in somatosensory, motor and limbic brain structures in patients with abnormal empathy <ref name="EmpathicBrain" /><ref name="BastiaansenThioux2011">{{cite journal|last1=Bastiaansen|first1=Jojanneke A.|last2=Thioux|first2=Marc|last3=Nanetti|first3=Luca|last4=van der Gaag|first4=Christiaan|last5=Ketelaars|first5=Cees|last6=Minderaa|first6=Ruud|last7=Keysers|first7=Christian|title=Age-Related Increase in Inferior Frontal Gyrus Activity and Social Functioning in Autism Spectrum Disorder|journal=Biological Psychiatry|volume=69|issue=9|year=2011|pages=832–838|issn=0006-3223|doi=10.1016/j.biopsych.2010.11.007|pmid=21310395|s2cid=32646657}}</ref>

In 2010, Keysers moved to the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience (NIN) where he is currently a department head and leads the [https://www.socialbrainlab.org Social Brain Lab] together with [[neuroscientist]] Valeria Gazzola. He is also a full professor at the [[University of Amsterdam]]. His team uncovered a mechanism responsible for emotional contagion by showing that rats have neurons in the [[cingulate cortex]], a region involved in [[nociception]], that respond both when a rat experiences pain and when it witnesses another animal experience pain, providing the first systematic evidence for the presence of emotional [[mirror neuron]]s in the mammalian brain. Deactivating this brain region greatly reduced [[emotional contagion]].<ref name="pmid30982647">{{cite journal| author=Carrillo M, Han Y, Migliorati F, Liu M, Gazzola V, Keysers C| title=Emotional Mirror Neurons in the Rat's Anterior Cingulate Cortex. | journal=Curr Biol | year= 2019 | volume= 29 | issue= 8 | pages= 1301–1312.e6 | pmid=30982647 | doi=10.1016/j.cub.2019.03.024 | pmc=6488290 }} </ref> The team also showed that rats are averse to harming other rats, and that this also depends on the same region of the cingulate cortex.<ref name="pmid32142701">{{cite journal| author=Hernandez-Lallement J, Attah AT, Soyman E, Pinhal CM, Gazzola V, Keysers C| title=Harm to Others Acts as a Negative Reinforcer in Rats. | journal=Curr Biol | year= 2020 | volume= 30 | issue= 6 | pages= 949–961.e7 | pmid=32142701 | doi=10.1016/j.cub.2020.01.017 | doi-access=free }} </ref>

Christian Keysers has received the [[European Research Council]] consolidator grant, the [[Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions]] Excellence Grant of the [[European Commission]], and the VICI grant of the [[Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research]].

He is a recipient of the Marie Curie Excellence Award and is a member of the [[Academia Europaea]] and a fellow of the [[Association for Psychological Science]]

[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Parma]]

[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Amsterdam]]