Biological Psychology

Head:
Ass.-Prof. Dr. Olga Maria Klimecki-Lenz

Team:
Lisa Bechtum
François Bogacz, MSc.
Andrea Dalla Sega, MSc.
Monica Di Giuliano, MSc.
Julia Alexandra Krüger, MSc.
Maxie Luft (Liebscher), MSc.

Prevention and health considerations

The Department of Biological Psychology, headed by Assistant Professor Dr Olga Maria Klimecki-Lenz, is researching how well-being, health and social interactions can be promoted throughout the entire lifespan. To this end, the team is investigating interventions based on mindfulness, emotion regulation, social skills and dance. Current studies focus, amongst other things, on promoting resilience and well-being among young people and their teachers, as well as on promoting the well-being of students in the health sector and older people.

Current research questions in the Laboratory of Biological Psychology include, in particular:

  • Can socio-emotional learning in schools promote the holistic well-being of young people (Bio Happy Life study)?
  • Can mindfulness meditation or learning new languages promote the health and emotional wellbeing of older people (the Age-Well study of the Medit-Ageing project)?
  • Can risk factors for dementia in older people be reduced across several European countries (the SCD-Well study of the Medit-Ageing project)?
  • Can healthy ageing be promoted through interventions that combine dance, exercise, music and mindfulness (REMINDer study)?
  • What measures can help to promote conflict resolution?

Further information about the team and a detailed description of the Research Areas can be found at Website.

A life-course perspective

Assoc. Prof. Dr Klimecki’s research focuses on promoting mental and physical health across the entire lifespan. Together with her team, she uses randomised controlled trials to investigate the causal effects of behavioural, cognitive and emotional interventions.

The focus is on biopsychosocial mechanisms of action, with particular emphasis on brain functions and connectivity, emotions, and interpersonal and intergroup behaviour. The research specifically addresses the question of how health-promoting interventions can contribute to well-being at different stages of life.

The team is currently investigating, in particular, the effects of socio-emotional learning interventions on the well-being of young people and their teachers.

Key research findings

Key research findings include initial evidence of functional neural plasticity following emotional training in adults (e.g. *Cerebral Cortex*, 2013; *SCAN*, 2014; *Current Biology*, 2014).

As part of the clinical SCD-Well study of the Medit-Ageing project, which was conducted in four European countries, it was demonstrated that two months of meditation or health-related self-management in older adults with subjective cognitive decline leads to a long-term reduction in anxiety – a major risk factor for dementia (Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 2021).

In 2023, using an innovative task-rest paradigm, it was shown that functional connectivity between the default-mode network and the amygdala in older adults is associated with negative emotions, rumination and anxiety during rest periods following social and emotional stimuli (Nature Aging). The team is currently investigating the influence of emotion regulation and 18-month interventions on the activity and connectivity of this network.

Further research findings in the field of conflict resolution reveal causal effects of sleep deprivation on increased cortisol responses and reduced positive emotions in conflict situations among romantic couples (Affective Science, 2022). Furthermore, the findings demonstrate the positive effects of mediation on conflict resolution and associated brain functions (Cortex, 2020), as well as the impact of compassion meditation on improving difficult interpersonal relationships (Scientific Reports, 2023).

Cooperation partners

  • Medit-Ageing:Gaël Chételat (INSERM, Caen, France), Natalie Marchant (UCL, London, United Kingdom), Miranka Wirth (DZNE, Dresden, Germany), Antoine Lutz (INSERM, Lyon, France), Géraldine Poisnel (INSERM, Lyon, France), Julie Gonneaud (INSERM, Caen, France), Fabienne Collette (University of Liège, Liège, Belgium), Sebastian Baez Lugo (EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland), Patrik Vuilleumier (UNIGE, Geneva, Switzerland).
  • Bio Happy Life:Ulrike Rimmele (University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland), Karl Zarhuber (formerly: Austrian Red Cross, IFRC), Werner Kerschbaum (formerly: Austrian Red Cross), Katharina Eckstein (University of Jena, Jena, Germany).
  • Other collaborating partners: Philipp Kanske (TU Dresden, Germany), Karl-Jürgen Bär (University of Jena, Jena, Germany), Monika Daseking (HSU, Hamburg, Germany), Antje Rauers (University of Jena, Jena, Germany), Ivana Buric (University of Amsterdam, Netherlands), Miriam Flender (University of Jena, Jena, Germany).

Externally funded projects

  • Co-Principal Investigator of the Horizon 2020 Medit-Ageing project, which investigates how mindfulness- and compassion-based interventions can promote healthy ageing (2016–2022; total funding: EUR 7 million)
  • Marie Curie Fellowship investigating the neural basis of anger and aggression at the University of Geneva, Switzerland (2013–2015)
  • Co-Principal Investigator of the German Research Foundation (DFG) network ‘Understanding Others – Integration of Social Cognitive and Affective Processes’ (2017–2022)
  • Project partner in the Swiss National Science Foundation-funded project “Mindfulness-Based Intervention to Reduce Stress and Improve Prosocial Skills for Healthcare Students” (2021–2025)
  • Funding from the University of Geneva for the Research Area “The role of emotions in promoting conflict resolution” (2015–2020)
  • Funding from the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and the Botnar Foundation to investigate socio-emotional learning interventions in non-WEIRD countries (2017–2023)

Methods

The methods used include, amongst others, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which is used to investigate how the activity and connectivity of brain regions relate to biological markers, psychological states and social interactions, and how they can be altered by interventions, as well as psychophysiological measurements of heart rate and skin conductance. 

Selected publications

  • Baez-Lugo, S., Deza-Araujo, Y., Maradan, C., Collette, F., Lutz, A., Marchant, N., Chételat, G., Vuilleumier, P., Klimecki, O., & Medit-Ageing Research Group. (2023). Exposure to negative socio-emotional events induces sustained alteration of resting-state brain networks in older adults. Nature Aging, 3(1), 105–120. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43587-022-00341-6
  • Chételat, G., Lutz, A., Klimecki, O. M., Frison, E., Asselineau, J., Schlosser, M., Arenaza-Urquijo, E. M., Mézenge, F., Kuhn, E., Moulinet, I., Touron, E., Dautricourt, S., André, C., Palix, C., Ourry, V., Felisatti, F., Gonneaud, J., Landeau, B., Rauchs, G., … Marchant, N. L. (2022). Effect of an 18-month meditation training programme on regional brain volume and perfusion in older adults: The Age-Well randomised clinical trial. JAMA Neurology, 79(11), 1165–1174. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamaneurol.2022.3185
  • Deza-Araujo, Y. I., Baez-Lugo, S., Vuilleumier, P., Chocat, A., Chételat, G., Poisnel, G., & Klimecki, O. M. (2021). Whole blood serotonin levels in healthy elderly individuals are negatively associated with the functional activity of emotion-related brain regions. Biological Psychology, 160, 108051. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2021.108051
  • Klimecki, O. M., Leiberg, S., Lamm, C., & Singer, T. (2013). Functional neural plasticity and associated changes in positive affect following compassion training. Cerebral Cortex, 23(7), 1552–1561. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhs142
  • Klimecki, O. M., Leiberg, S., Ricard, M., & Singer, T. (2014). Differential pattern of functional brain plasticity after compassion and empathy training. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 9(6), 873–879. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nst060
  • Klimecki, O. M., Sander, D., & Vuilleumier, P. (2018). Brain areas involved in anger versus punishment during social interactions. Scientific Reports, 8, 10556. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-28863-3
  • Liebscher, M., White, S., Hass, S., Chocat, A., Mezenge, F., Landeau, B., Delarue, M., Hébert, O., Turpin, A.-L., Marchant, N. L., Chételat, G., Klimecki, O. M., Poisnel, G., Wirth, M., & the Medit-Ageing Group. (2025). Circulating stress hormones, brain health, and cognition in healthy older adults: Cross-sectional findings and sex differences in Age-Well. Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science, 5(2), 100431. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsgos.2024.100431
  • Marchant, N. L., Barnhofer, T., Coueron, R., Wirth, M., Lutz, A., Arenaza-Urquijo, E. M., Collette, F., Poisnel, G., Demnitz-King, H., Schild, A.-K., Coll-Padros, N., Delphin-Combe, F., Whitfield, T., Schlosser, M., Gonneaud, J., Asselineau, J., Walker, Z., Krolak-Salmon, P., Molinuevo, J. L., … Klimecki, O. M. (2021). Effects of a mindfulness-based intervention versus health self-management on subclinical anxiety in older adults with subjective cognitive decline: The SCD-Well randomised superiority trial. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 90(5), 341–350. https://doi.org/10.1159/000515669
  • Rafi, H., Bogacz, F., Sander, D., & Klimecki, O. M. (2020). Impact of couple conflict and mediation on how romantic partners are perceived: An fMRI study. Cortex, 130, 302–317. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2020.04.036
  • Singer, T., & Klimecki, O. M. (2014). Empathy and compassion. Current Biology, 24(18), R875–R878. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2014.06.054
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