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EXCEPTIONAL EXPERIENCES, SALIENCE AND DOPAMINERGIC NEUROTRANSMISSION

Workshop from April 25th to 26th 2012

Collegium Helveticum, Schmelzbergstr. 25, 8006 Zürich

EXCEPTIONAL EXPERIENCES, SALIENCE AND DOPAMINERGIC NEUROTRANSMISSION

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25th 2012

12:30–14:00 Semperlunch

14:00–15:30 SESSION I (10' talks by project-affiliated experts and discussion)

Wulf Rössler Introduction and Overview

Helene Haker Attribution

Peter Brugger Creativity

Lui Unterrassner Magical Ideation (MI) Questionnaire

15:30–16:00 Pause

16:00–17:30 Wolfgang Fach EE and PAGE-R results

Thomas Wyss Results of Online Survey using MI and PAGE

Wolfram Kawohl Somatosensory Evoked Potentials (SEP)

Milan Scheidegger MRI Paradigms

August Schubiger Positron Emission Tomography (PET)

18:00 Transfer and dinner (for guests and collaborators)

EXCEPTIONAL EXPERIENCES, SALIENCE AND DOPAMINERGIC NEUROTRANSMISSION

THURSDAY, APRIL 26th 2012

09:00–10:30 SESSION II (10'-15' comments by guests out of their area of expertise and discussion)

Robin Murray Dopamine and psychosis Armin Geertz Neuroscientific basics of religion

Andreas Heinz Salience 10:30–11:00 Coffeebreak

11:00–12:30 Philippa Garety Delusions and hallucinations in the general population

Lewis Wolpert Errors in causal thinking and the mystic component of the brain

Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg Imaging and genetics

12:30–14:00 Semper Lunch

14:00–15:30 Hosted discussion (Host: Wulf Rössler)

15:30–16:00 Pause

16:00–17:30 Hosted discussion (Host: Wulf Rössler)

17:30–18:00 High tea

18:00 Transfer and dinner (for guests and collaborators)

EXCEPTIONAL EXPERIENCES, SALIENCE AND DOPAMINERGIC NEUROTRANSMISSION

GUESTS (in alphabetical order)

Prof. Dr. Philippa GaretyInstitute of Psychiatry, Kings College, London

Prof. Dr. Armin GeertzDepartment of Culture and Society, Aarhus University, Aarhus

Prof. Dr. Andreas Heinz Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité, Berlin

Prof. Dr. Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg Central Institute of Mental Health, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim

Prof. Dr. Sir Robin MurrayInstitute of Psychiatry, Kings College, London

Dr. Milan ScheideggerInstiute of Biomedical Engineering, ETH Zurich and University of Zurich

Prof. em. Lewis WolpertDepartment of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College, London

EXCEPTIONAL EXPERIENCES, SALIENCE AND DOPAMINERGIC NEUROTRANSMISSION

COLLABORATORS

Prof. Dr. Wulf Rössler (Principal Investigator)Department of General and Social Psychiatry, University of ZurichFellow of the Collegium Helveticum

(in alphabetical order)

Dr. Harald AtmanspacherDepartment of Theory and Data Analysis, Institute for Frontier Areas in Psychology, Freiburg i. Br. Affiliated fellow of the Collegium Helveticum

Prof. Dr. Peter BruggerDepartment of Neuropsychology, University Hospital, Zurich

Prof. Dr. Alfred BuckClinic of Nuclearmedicine, University Hospital, Zurich

Dipl.-Psych. Wolfgang FachInstitute for Frontier Areas in Psychology, Freiburg i. Br.

Prof. Dr. Gerd FolkersDirector of the Collegium Helveticum

Dr. Helene HakerDepartment of General and Social Psychiatry, University of ZurichScientific researcher at the Collegium Helveticum

PD Dr. Wolfram KawohlDepartment of General and Social Psychiatry, University of Zurich

Dr. Peter KrummenacherDepartment of Psychology, University of Basel

Prof. Dr. August SchubigerClinic of Nuclearmedicine, University Hospital, ZurichFellow at the Collegium Helveticum

MSc. Lui UnterrassnerScientific researcher at the Collegium Helveticum

Dr. Amrei WittwerScientific researcher at the Collegium Helveticum

MSc. Thomas WyssScientific researcher at the Collegium Helveticum

EXCEPTIONAL EXPERIENCES, SALIENCE AND DOPAMINERGIC NEUROTRANSMISSION

Exceptional experiences (EE) are widely reported within otherwise healthy popula-tions. Their phenomenology is broad and very heterogeneous ranging from mean-ingful coincidences and precognitive dreams over haunting to out-of-body experi-ences and visual as well as auditive hallucinations.

Although there is undoubtedly an implication of creative aspects in EE, a con-ceptual similarity in both form and content to positive symptoms in schizophrenia (e.g., delusion, disordered thought, and hallucinations) or schizotypy (e.g., magical thinking, unusual perceptual experiences, ideas of reference or paranoid ideation) cannot be disregarded. However, the borderline between normal and pathological experiences and behaviour is unclear.

The so called “continuum approach” assumes that schizophrenia or schizotypy are not discrete or categorical illness entities. It implies a gradient in the severity of the symptoms, ranging from healthy population to full blown schizophrenia. As such psychotic signs are no longer restricted to formal diagnoses according to DSM or ICD, but would, instead, complete the spectrum of psychological and biological features that characterize individual variations among human beings.

Can EE be integrated in this continuum? Do individuals indicating EE lack some social-cognitive abilities and are they particularly vulnerable to false inferences in their social world? When exmining sensory, cognitive and attentional tasks, do in-dividuals displying EE, even if completely healthy, perform simliarly to patients with schizophrenia? How are EE related to increased neural activity or an abnormal dopaminergic neurotransmission?

These and other questions will be discussed in our workshop. We will present an outline of the current research project at the Collegium Helveticum. Comments from experts of various scientific backgrounds will allow us to gain new insights into the topic as well as to elucidate philosophical questions that accompany these rarely discussed and poorly understood phenomena.

Der Workshop findet im Rahmen des Schwerpunktthemas «Reproduzierbarkeit, Vorhersage, Relevanz» der Fellow-Periode 2009–2014 am Collegium Helveticum statt.

Location: Collegium Helveticum, Semper-Sternwarte, Schmelzbergstr. 25, 8006 ZürichEine Wegbeschreibung finden Sie unter: http://www.collegium.ethz.ch/de/kontakt.html

STW: Collegium Helveticum, Schmelzbergstr. 25, 8006 Zürich

Contact:MSc. Thomas Wyss, thomas.wyss@collegium.ethz.ch

C O L L E G I U M H E L V E T I C U M

L A B O R A T O R I U M F Ü R T R A N S D I S Z I P L I N A R I T Ä T

I N G E M E I N S A M E R T R Ä G E R S C H A F T

V O N U N I V E R S I T Ä T Z Ü R I C H U N D E T H Z Ü R I C H

Schmelzbergstrasse 25 8092 Zürich www.collegium.ethz.ch