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Prof. Dr. Rudolf Stark

Research interests

The main research focus of my group is on the investigation of emotional learning. How do formerly neutral stimuli get emotional salience? How can emotional salience be altered? How can emotions be regulated? These questions are very relevant for clinical psychology because nearly all psychological disorders are characterized by dysfunctional emotion processing. In basic science experiments we investigate the neural correlates of emotional learning using fMRI under the consideration of genetic influences and stress hormones. Our clinical focus is primarily on therapeutic interventions in anxiety disorders and addictions, e.g. sexual addiction.