Christian Keysers

Christian Keysers
Born	Christian Keysers June 27, 1973 (1973-06-27) (age 38)
Nationality	German and French
Occupation	Scientist
Employer	University of Groningen

Belgium Professor Christian Keysers is a French and German neuroscientist.^[1]

Education and Career

He finished his school education at the European School, Munich and studied psychology and biology at the University of Konstanz, the Ruhr University Bochum, University of Massachusetts at Boston, the Shepens eye research Institute of the Harvard Medical School as well as with Marvin Minsky at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He then started his research career at the University of St Andrews by investigating cells in the Temporal cortex with David Perrett, and described cells that respond when the monkey views particular faces in a way that correlates with conscious perception ^[2]. After that, he moved to the University of Parma where he was part of the team that discovered auditory mirror neurons^[3][4] in the frontal of the macaque monkey. He then expanded the notion of mirror neurons to emotions and sensations, by showing that your somatosensory cortex is active not only when you are being touched, but also if you see someone else being touched ^[5] , and that your insular cortex is active not only if you feel disgusted, but also if you see someone else being disgusted ^[6]. Most recently, he has looked at the neural basis of abnormal empathy in schizophrenia, autism and psychopathy^[1]. Currently, Keysers is a full Professor for the Social Brain at the medical faculty of the University of Groningen and University Medical Center Groningen and the Head of the Social Brain Lab of the prestigious Netherlands Institute for Neurosciences of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences leads the Social brain lab.
He has recently published a book called 'The Empathic Brain'^[1] which explains his research to a wider public.
He is married to Neuroscientist Valeria Gazzola and a long standing friend of the German writer Bas Kast.

Current Research Focus

While we watch a movie, we share the experiences of the actors we observe: our heart for instance starts beating faster while we see an actor slip from the roof of a tall building. Why? Specific brain areas are involved when we perform certain actions or have certain emotions or sensations. Interestingly, some of these areas are also recruited when we simply observe someone else performing similar actions, having similar sensations or having similar emotions. These areas called 'shared circuits' transform what we see into what we would have done or felt in the same situation. With such brain areas, understanding other people is not an effort of explicit thought but becomes an intuitive sharing of their emotions, sensations and actions. Through the investigation of shared circuits, he attempts to understand the neural basis of empathy and its dysfunctions in autism, schizophrenia and sociopathy^[1].

Awards and Grants

Christian Keysers has received the prestigious Marie Curie Excellence Grant [1] of the European Commission and a VIDI Grant of the Dutch National Science Foundation[2]. He also received the highly competitive Marie Curie Excellence Award and the Research Prize of the University Medical Center Groningen. As a student he was a member of the Studienstiftung, Germany's most prestigious foundation for the promotion of excellence in study.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Keysers, Christian (2011-06-23). The Empathic Brain. Kindle. http://www.facebook.com/theempathicbrain. 
2. ^ Keysers, Christian; Xiao, D.K.; Foldiak, P.; Perrett, D.I. (2001). "The speed of sight". J Cogn Neurosci 13 (1): 90–101. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=11224911. 
3. ^ Keysers, Christian; Kohler, E.; Umilta, M.A.; Nanetti, L.; Fogassi, L.; Gallese, Vittorio (2003). "Audiovisual mirror neurons and action recognition". Exp Brain Res 153 (4): 628–36. doi:10.1007/s00221-003-1603-5. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=12937876. 
4. ^ Kohler, E.; Keysers, Christian; Umilta, M.A.; Fogassi, L.; Gallese, Vittorio; G. (2002). "Hearing sounds, understanding actions: action representation in mirror neurons". Science 297 (5582): 846–8. doi:10.1126/science.1070311297/5582/846[pii]. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=12161656. 
5. ^ Keysers, Christian; Wicker, Bruno; Gazzola, V.; Anton, J.L.; Fogassi, L.; Gallese, Vittorio (2004). "A touching sight: SII/PV activation during the observation and experience of touch". Neuron 42 (2): 335–46. doi:S0896627304001564 [pii]. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=15091347. 
6. ^ Wicker, Bruno; Keysers, Christian; Plailly, J.; Royet, J.P.; Gallese, V.; Rizzolatti, G. (2003). doi=S0896627303006792 [pii "Both of us disgusted in My insula: the common neural basis of seeing and feeling disgust"]. Neuron 40 (3): 655–64. doi:10.1016/S0896-6273(03)00679-2. PMID 14642287. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=14642287 doi=S0896627303006792 [pii]. 

External links

• Website of the social brain lab at the NIN [3]
• Website of the social brain lab at the UMCG [4]

Persondata
Name	Keysers, Christian
Alternative names
Short description	Neuroscientist working to understand the neural basis of empathy
Date of birth	1973-06-27
Place of birth	Belgium
Date of death
Place of death