15 Oct
2013
15 Oct
'13
8:49 a.m.
*Keywords: *fMRI, eye-tracking, neuroimaging, emotion, emotion
perception, emotion regulation, empathy, autism, autism spectrum
disorder, antisocial personality disorder, conduct disorder
*Location:*KJPK Basel and University of Basel, Switzerland
*Date:*as soon as possible (duration of 3 years)
*Description: *Empathy is the ability to identify, comprehend and share
the emotional state of others. /Cognitive Empathy/ is hereby defined as
the ability to understand and predict behaviour of others and includes
the attribution of mental states (including beliefs, knowledge,
pretending and guessing). In contrary, /Emotional Empathy/ is
characterized as an emotional response resulting from and mirroring the
emotional state of an opposing individual. Empathy deficits are core
characteristics of some psychiatric disorders, but foremost it has been
associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and conduct disease (CD)
or antisocial personality disorder (APD). The empathy imbalance theory
suggests that individuals with ASD and APD/CD constitute opposing
empathy imbalance disorder, with ASD characterized by disrupted
cognitive empathy and intact emotional empathy and CD/APD characterized
by intact cognitive empathy, but disturbed emotional empathy. *However,
the neuronal underpinnings that constitute these empathy deficits in ASD
or APD are still subject to investigations, and rarely, projects have
directly compared individuals of both disorders within the same study.
*In this project, we will employ functional and structural magnetic
resonance imaging (f/MRI) techniques as well as eye tracking to study
the neuronal basis of emotion perception and emotion regulation in
children/adolescents and young adults with and without a diagnosis of
ASD or CD/APD. **
*Education / Requirements*
We are looking for a highly motivated PhD student, interested in
pursuing a career in cognitive neuroscience with keen interest in
translational research. Students with a master degree and background in
biology, psychology, neuroscience or equal disciplines are encouraged to
apply. Experience with basic statistical software packages is
requirement, and prior experience in experimental psychology and/or
computer or programming skills (e.g. linux systems, matlab, fMRI
analysis packages) are considered an advantage. We provide a unique
learning opportunity within a multidisciplinary team of clinicians and
researchers. PhD students will further be part of a European wide FP7
project on female conduct disorder.
The project is funded through a Swiss National Grant, payment are in
accordance to SNF guidelines.
*Please Contact*
For further inquiries or to apply, please send a CV, short letter of
intent including statement of research interest and contact details of
two references to Nora Maria Raschle, PhD: nora.raschle(a)upkbs.ch
<mailto:nora.raschle@upkbs.ch>– English or German. Reviewing of
application will start immediately, and applications will be considered
until the position has been filled.