CAN lab Donders

Stress-related mental disorders are among the most urgent problems facing modern societies. The Cognitive Affective Neuroscience lab headed by Erno Hermans conducts mechanistic research at the interface of basic neuroscience and psychiatry into the human brain’s capacity to adapt to stressors, ranging from exposure to prolonged stress during development to acute effects of stressors on cognition, memory, and plasticity. We aim to elucidate how maladaptation culminates in psychopathology, how healthy adaptation fosters resilience, and how these insights can be translated into novel approaches toward personalized treatment and prevention of stress-related psychopathology.