NEW YORK, NY (June 12, 2013) – According to neuroscientist and neuroendocrinologist Bruce S. McEwen, the entire brain is a target of sex and stress hormones.
Sex hormones affect many brain regions and functions including memory, motor coordination, pain sensitivity, and mood, while also displaying neuroprotective effects. The suppression of their production or activity in the brain can even increase a person’s risk for stroke, says McEwen, who is professor and head of the Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology at Rockefeller University.
But estrogen and testosterone are not only hormones associated with well-being and reproduction. As active parts of the nervous system, they also influence how men and women use different strategies in dealing with social and physical environments. While stress in males causes dendrites to shrink, the opposite happens in the female brain, where dendrites expand as a result of increased neuronal communication with the amygdala.
Ute Habel, whose research focuses on neurobiological correlates of emotion and cognition as well as gender differences in healthy and psychiatric patients, will discuss the influence of sex hormones on human behavior. She will address gender-specific emotional experiences and perceptions and functional gender differences in the brain during mostly emotional tasks, such as empathy. She is professor of neuropsychological gender research at RWTH Aachen University, where she investigates the effects of psychotherapeutic interventions and hormonal influences on behavior and cerebral activation.
Anke A. Ehrhardt, an internationally renowned researcher and clinician in the field of sexual and gender development of children, adolescents, and adults, with more than 300 scientific publications, will moderate the discussion. She currently serves as vice chair for faculty affairs of medical psychology (in psychiatry) at Columbia University Medical Center.
Date: Monday, June 17, 2013, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Location: German Center for Research and Innovation, 871 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY (First Ave., btw. 48th & 49th Streets)
RSVP here.
Unable to attend? Follow @gcri_ny and the hashtag #neuroscience for live tweets. A video recording will be available on http://www.germaninnovation.org shortly after the event.
About the German Center for Research and Innovation
The German Center for Research and Innovation provides information and support for the realization of cooperative and collaborative projects between North America and Germany. With the goal of enhancing communication on the critical challenges of the 21st century, the GCRI hosts a wide range of events from lectures and exhibitions to workshops and science dinners. Opened in February 2010, the GCRI was created as a cornerstone of the German government’s initiative to internationalize science and research and is one of five German Houses of Research and Innovation worldwide. www.germaninnovation.org
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