Bonding Brains: Is wellbeing contagious?

We’re the Integrate and Fire seminar series, an initiative that promotes cutting edge discussions in neuroscience. We hope to delve into the biggest questions facing our field through open floor discussion between students and trainees on how their work brings a unique perspective to tackling the broad challenges in studying the mind and the brain. Read more about us on our website!

Bonding Brains: Is wellbeing contagious?

Studying brains in isolation enables control over their states. But for many organisms, interactions with others is central to their experience. Are we inherently connected in ways that profoundly shape our wellbeing? Can our wellbeing, in turn, shape the social ties we’re able to form? How should neuroscience reconcile a focused study of our state of mind with the evolving dynamics of our social groups? Join us in this seminar as we explore the intricate interplay between social interaction, health and wellbeing.

Featuring presentations from:

• Shuyi Zhang
• Dominique Louër
• Fernanda Pérez Gay Juárez

Shuyis thesis project aims to examine the behavioral and neural correlates of affective processing in people with depressive symptoms. Depression is an mental disorder that may cause processing bias and negative evaluation of sensory information. To investigate the contextual influence of faces on voice judgement of people with depressive symptoms, the project employed electroencephalography (EEG) and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to measure brain activity associated with emotion processing bias in depression.

Dominique's research examines the impact of bilingualism on cognitive reserve and brain anatomy/function in patients with neurodegenerative diseases. She explore whether speaking more than one language offers any cognitive and linguistic benefits, and how it influences brain structure and function using a combination of neuropsychological tests and neuroimaging.

Fernanda is a medical doctor, transdisciplinary researcher and science communicator. Her research interests are in the intersection of cognitive neuroscience, the humanities and social sciences. She did her PhD in the Integrated Program in Neuroscience at McGill University and is currently finishing her postdoctoral fellowship at the Neurophilosophy Lab at McGill university, where she investigates the way narratives can induce perspective-taking and improve empathy towards marginalized groups, funded by an SSHRC postdoctoral fellowship.

Host or Publisher Integrate and Fire Seminar Series