Aktivitet
2023
Lisa successfully defended her PhD thesis
February 16, 2023
Lisa Espinosa successfully defended her doctoral thesis “Social influences on affective responses to negative experiences” at Karolinska Institutet February 16, 2023, with Professor Brian Parkinson, Department of Experimental Psychology, Oxford University, as her opponent.
Examination board: Professor, docent Josefin Sveen, Center for Crisis Psychology, University of Bergen and Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Uppsala University; Professor Petter Gustavsson, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet; Docent Chris Askew, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Surrey.
2022
New paper on altruism during Covid
November 3, 2022
Acute anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with higher levels of everyday altruism.
Vieira JB, Pierzchajlo S, Jangard S, Marsh AA, Olsson A
Sci Rep 2022 Nov;12(1):18619
Paper accepted in eLife
Oct 25, 2022
Neural defensive circuits underlie helping under threat in humans.
Vieira JB, Olsson A
Elife 2022 Oct;11():
New paper in BRAT
December 14, 2022
Pavlovian threat conditioning can generate intrusive memories that persist over time.
Espinosa L, Bonsall MB, Becker N, Holmes EA, Olsson A
Behav Res Ther 2022 Oct;157():104161
Irem successfully defended her PhD thesis
December 9, 2022
Irem Ündeger successfully defended her doctoral thesis “It’s the intention that matters: Neural representations of learning from intentional harm in social interactions” at Karolinska Institutet December 9, 2022 with PhD Joseph Dunsmoor, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, University of Texas, as her opponent.
Examination board: Lecturer senior Erika Jonsson Laukka, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet; Docent Janina Seubert, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska Institutet; Docent Arvid Erlandsson, Department of Behavioural Sciences and Learning, Linköping University.
Simon received poster award
May 18, 2022
Simon received a poster award at the Clinical Neuroscience Department Day, May 16, at Karolinska Institutet, for his poster “Alcohol Use Disorder Displays Trait-Related Reductions on Prosocial Decision-Making”.
New paper in Biological Psychiatry
May 18, 2022
Alcohol Use Disorder Displays Trait-Related Reductions in Prosocial Decision Making.
Jangard S, Lindström B, Khemiri L, Pärnamets P, Jayaram-Lindström N, Olsson A
Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging 2022 Sep;7(9):925-934
New paper in Emotion
May 17, 2022
Psychological well-being is associated with prosociality during the COVID-19 pandemic: A comparison of Swedish and Chinese samples.
Pan Y, Vieira JB, Pärnamets P, Jangard S, Cheng X, Zhang Y, Olsson A
Emotion 2022 Aug;():
2021
Jonathan successfully defended his PhD
December 16, 2021
Jonathan successfully defended his doctoral thesis, The impact of social information on emotional learning, on Thursday 16 December, 2021, with Professor Disa Sauter, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, University of Amsterdam, as his opponent.
Examination board: Dr. India Morrison, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Linköping University; Dr. Francisco Esteves, Department of Psychology and Social Work, Mid Sweden University; Dr. Roland Van den Berg, Department of Psychology, Stockholm University.
Forthcoming paper in Nature Communications
November 9, 2021
National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic.
Van Bavel JJ,..., Olsson A,..., Jangard S,..., Pan Y, Papp Z, Pärnamets P,..., Vieira JB, von Sikorski C, Walker AC, Watermeyer J, Wetter E, Whillans A, Willardt R, Wohl MJA, Wójcik AD, Wu K, Yamada Y, Yilmaz O, Yogeeswaran K, Ziemer CT, Zwaan RA, Boggio PS
Nat Commun 2022 Jan;13(1):517
Forthcoming paper in Royal Society Open Science
November 9, 2021
Model-based representational similarity analysis of blood-oxygen-level-dependent fMRI captures threat learning in social interactions.
Undeger I, Visser RM, Becker N, de Boer L, Golkar A, Olsson A
R Soc Open Sci 2021 Nov;8(11):202116
New paper in PNAS
September 6, 2021
Observation of others' threat reactions recovers memories previously shaped by firsthand experiences.
Haaker J, Diaz-Mataix L, Guillazo-Blanch G, Stark SA, Kern L, LeDoux JE, Olsson A
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021 Jul;118(30):
2020
Simon awarded the Bertil Göransson Scholarship
November 27, 2020
Simon has been awarded this year’s Bertil Göransson Scholarship – a 30 000 kr award for alcohol researchers, financed by Systembolaget (Swedish press release).
Philip awarded Swedish Research Council grant
November 4, 2020
Philip has been awarded 3.2 MSEK to study how decisions and social learning shape intergroup trust.
Trust is fundamental to social behavior and to the functioning of society. Recent work has shown that increasing diversity in society might lead to lower levels of trust. However, how such changes in trust are acquired by individuals and shaped by their experiences is not known. Here we propose to investigate trust as a learning phenomenon, using methods and theories from experimental social psychology and computational reinforcement learning theory. By doing so we address a critical gap in the literature and contribute a behavior-based approach to studying a trust complementing existing survey-based methods. Over the course of three studies we will investigate how participants learn to trust and distrust social partners based on their own and their partners’ ethnic group membership. In the first, we will investigate how decisions about whom to interact with can bias what experiences are available to learn from. In the second, we will investigate the role of observational social learning shaping trust expectations. In the third, we will leverage insights from the first two studies to pilot interventions aimed at increasing trust. The studies will be the first of their kind taking a comprehensive learning approach to trust between members of different ethnic groups and provide critical information how individual experiences shape intergroup trust. These findings can, in turn, not only inform existing theoretical debates but further translational efforts targeting societal trust.
New paper in Behaviour Research and Therapy
November 1, 2020
Social safety learning: Shared safety abolishes the recovery of learned threat.
Pan Y, Olsson A, Golkar A
Behav Res Ther 2020 Dec;135():103733
New paper in Molecular Autism
September 24, 2020
Enhanced social learning of threat in adults with autism.
Espinosa L, Lundin Kleberg J, Hofvander B, Berggren S, Bölte S, Olsson A
Mol Autism 2020 Sep;11(1):71
New paper in PLOS Computational Biology
September 9, 2020
Integration of social cues and individual experiences during instrumental avoidance learning.
Pärnamets P, Olsson A
PLoS Comput Biol 2020 Sep;16(9):e1008163
New paper accepted in Proc. Royal Soc. B
August 24, 2020
Help or flight? Increased threat imminence promotes defensive helping in humans.
Vieira JB, Schellhaas S, Enström E, Olsson A
Proc Biol Sci 2020 Aug;287(1933):20201473
New paper accepted in Cerebral Cortex
April 27, 2020
Neural Pattern Similarity Unveils the Integration of Social Information and Aversive Learning.
Undeger I, Visser RM, Olsson A
Cereb Cortex 2020 Sep;30(10):5410-5419
New paper accepted in Proc. Royal Soc. B
April 27, 2020
Physiological synchrony predicts observational threat learning in humans.
Pärnamets P, Espinosa L, Olsson A
Proc Biol Sci 2020 May;287(1927):20192779
New paper in Nature Reviews Neuroscience
February 17, 2020
The neural and computational systems of social learning.
Olsson A, Knapska E, Lindström B
Nat Rev Neurosci 2020 Apr;21(4):197-212
New paper accepted in Emotion
January 17, 2020
Learning biases to angry and happy faces during Pavlovian aversive conditioning.
Stussi Y, Pourtois G, Olsson A, Sander D
Emotion 2021 Jun;21(4):742-756
2019
Andreas appointed full professor
September 2, 2019
Andreas Olsson has been appointed Professor of Psychology at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience at Karolinska Institutet, from 1 September 2019. Congratulations, Andreas!
New paper in Scientific Reports
June 24, 2019
Anxious behaviour in a demonstrator affects observational learning.
Selbing I, Olsson A
Sci Rep 2019 Jun;9(1):9181
Clinical Neuroscience Department Day
May 15, 2019
Following an afternoon of presentations, the day ended with a poster session. Irem won the best poster award for the Division of Psychology.
Irem receives CNS Graduate Student Award
March 24, 2019
Irem has won a Graduate Student Award (GSA) at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society 26th Annual Meeting. You can see her poster here.
New paper accepted in PNAS
January 18, 2019
Social threat learning transfers to decision making in humans.
Lindström B, Golkar A, Jangard S, Tobler PN, Olsson A
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2019 Mar;116(10):4732-4737
2018
Andreas awarded Consolidator Grant
December 7, 2018
Andreas has been awarded the Consolidator Grant (12 M SEK) from the Swedish Research Council for the project “Learning of social values in threatening and safe environments” (2019-2024). The grant will be used to continue our work on how people learn social values, and what cues and conditions leads to fearing or trusting others, both in the lab and in the field.
New virtual reality system
November 15, 2018
We’ve received delivery of our new virtual reality system. Irem and Jonathan will soon begin initial testing in this exciting environment.
New review on Social Learning
October 17, 2018
Social regulation of survival circuits through learning.
Olsson A., FeldmanHall O, Haaker J, Hensler T
Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences 2018 Dec; 24: 161–167
Andreas at Göteborg Book Fair
September 27, 2018
This week, Andreas is at the Göteborg Book Fair (Bokmässan) to present his recent book “Gruppens grepp” [Grip of the Group], co-authored with Mikael Klintman and Thomas Lunderquist. It is aimed at those interested in how predjudices are formed, why we have a need to divide the world into “us” and “them” and what throws a spanner in the works of tolerance.
Andreas and Mikael will discuss these topics on Friday 28 September, 12:00-12:20, on Psykologiscenen, C-hallen Monternummer C04:32.
CogSci 2018 Conference Paper
July 25, 2018
Building and Dismantling Trust: From Group Learning to Character Judgments.
Pärnamets P, Granwald T, Olsson A
Proceedings of the 40th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, Cognitive Science Society, Austin, TX, 2018
Armita to give Performance Lecture at Dramaten
June 21, 2018
Fear is a prerequisite for survival. Fear can also prevent us from living. Where does the fear come from? And how are we affected by it? These are some of the questions that psychology researcher Armita Golkar addresses in the third performance of The Royal Dramatic Theatre’s and Nobel Center’s series Performance Lecture. Under the direction of Alexander Mørk-Eidem. Premieres on Lilla scenen on September 11 2018 (the lecture will be given in Swedish).
Philip in magazine Medical Science
February 26, 2018
The magazine Medical Science reports on work by Philip and colleagues: Curious about trust: Who do you believe? (Also available in Swedish.)
Who do you trust? Rumours – even when we know they are untrue, affects how much we trust others. And unfortunately, it is easier to destroy trust than to build it. Our capability to trust in others also varies, the researchers are trying to find out more.
2017
Emotion Lab’s research on TV
December 12, 2017
Swedish public television visited Emotion Lab to report on how people learn from others. The story aired in SVT’s Nobelstudion.
New paper accepted in NeuroImage
November 21, 2017
A common neural network differentially mediates direct and social fear learning.
Lindström B, Haaker J, Olsson A
Neuroimage 2018 Feb;167():121-129
New paper accepted in Scientific Reports
November 20, 2017
Beliefs about Others' Abilities Alter Learning from Observation.
Selbing I, Olsson A
Sci Rep 2017 Nov;7(1):16173
Ida successfully defended her PhD
September 18, 2017
Ida successfully defended her doctoral thesis, Learning from the Behaviors and Experiences of Others, on Monday 18 September (2017) with Professor Christian Ruff (University of Zurich, Department of Economics) as her opponent.
Examination board: Professor Peter Juslin (Uppsala University), Professor Anna Dreber Almenberg (Stockholm School of Economics) and Dr Marc Guitart-Masip (Karolinska Institutet)
New paper accepted in JEP: General
August 1, 2017
The role of a "common is moral" heuristic in the stability and change of moral norms.
Lindström B, Jangard S, Selbing I, Olsson A
J Exp Psychol Gen 2018 Feb;147(2):228-242
New paper in Scientific Reports
July 20, 2017
The interplay of social group biases in social threat learning.
Golkar A, Olsson A
Sci Rep 2017 Aug;7(1):7685
New paper in Trends in Cognitive Sciences
June 7, 2017
Social Fear Learning: from Animal Models to Human Function.
Debiec J, Olsson A
Trends Cogn Sci 2017 Jul;21(7):546-555
New paper in Nature Communications
April 12, 2017
Endogenous opioids regulate social threat learning in humans.
Haaker J, Yi J, Petrovic P, Olsson A
Nat Commun 2017 May;8():15495
Philip wins SANS Poster Award
February 27, 2017
Philip is part of the 20 most highly rated abstracts that will be presented as posters at this year Social and Affective Neuroscience Society (SANS) conference at UCLA.
New paper accepted in Nature Protocols
January 17, 2017
Neural signals of vicarious extinction learning.
Golkar A, Haaker J, Selbing I, Olsson A
Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2016 Oct;11(10):1541-9
2016
Philip awarded SRC Grant
December 1, 2016
Philip has received an international postdoctoral grant from the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskaprsådet) for three years. He will join Jay Van Bavel’s Social Perception and Evaluation Lab at New York University for 2 years and spend his returning year with Emotion Lab.
Philip awarded dissertation prize
December 1, 2016
Vetenskapssocieteten i Lund (Learned Society of Lund) has awarded Philip with a prize from AWK Gleerups fund for his 2015 dissertation “Observing and manipulating preferences in real time”.
New paper in SCAN
October 11, 2016
Neural signals of vicarious extinction learning.
Golkar A, Haaker J, Selbing I, Olsson A
Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2016 Oct;11(10):1541-9
Tanaz successfully defended her PhD
October 21, 2016
Tanaz successfully defended her doctoral thesis, The role of aversive learning in social interactions, on Friday October 21st (2016 with Dr. Grit Hein (University of Bern) as her opponent.
Examination board: Prof. Håkan Fischer (Stockholm University), Dr. Fredrik Åhs (Uppsala University) and Dr. Lisa Thorell (Karolinska Institutet).
Symposium at the Royal Academy of Science
October 20, 2016
To fear or not to fear? Mechanisms of fear and safety learning.
Guest speakers: Armita Golkar, Emily Holmes (Karolinska Institutet), Merel Kindt (U. of Amsterdam), and Grit Hein (U. of Bern)
New paper accepted in SCAN
October 1, 2016
Conditioned social dominance threat: observation of others' social dominance biases threat learning.
Haaker J, Molapour T, Olsson A
Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2016 Oct;11(10):1627-37
New paper accepted in PLoS One
July 27, 2016
Co-Evolution of Social Learning and Evolutionary Preparedness in Dangerous Environments.
Lindström B, Selbing I, Olsson A
PLoS One 2016 ;11(8):e0160245
New paper in Frontiers
June 14, 2016
Aversive Learning and Trait Aggression Influence Retaliatory Behavior.
Molapour T, Lindström B, Olsson A
Front Psychol 2016 ;7():833
Philip receives Dissertation Prize
April 26, 2016
Philip receives the 2016 Robert J. Glushko Dissertation Prize awarded by the Cognitive Science Society and the Glushko-Samuelson Foundation.
Irem receives Poster award at the EMHFC
April 26, 2016
Irem receives the first price in the Poster competition at the Eighth European Meeting on Humain Fear Conditioning in Utrecht (2016).
Undeger, I. & Olsson, A. (2016). Effects of agency on learning fear from others. European Meeting of Humain Fear Conditioning, Utrecht, April 2016.
New paper accepted in JEP:G
March 22, 2016
Immunization against social fear learning.
Golkar A, Olsson A
J Exp Psychol Gen 2016 Jun;145(6):665-71
Björn discusses on BBC
January 11, 2016
Björn discusses our research on BBC Radio 4.
Listen to it here, or read the article linked below.
Mechanisms of social avoidance learning can explain the emergence of adaptive and arbitrary behavioral traditions in humans.
Lindström B, Olsson A
J Exp Psychol Gen 2015 Jun;144(3):688-703
2015
Armita receives psychology award
November 19, 2015
The Swedish National Committee for Psychological Sciences at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, granted Armita Golkar the award for outstanding young researcher in Psychology.
Paper accepted in Psychological Science
July 9, 2015
Vicarious Fear Learning Depends on Empathic Appraisals and Trait Empathy.
Olsson A, McMahon K, Papenberg G, Zaki J, Bolger N, Ochsner KN
Psychol Sci 2016 Jan;27(1):25-33
Paper accepted in NeuroImage
July 7, 2015
Neural correlates of biased social fear learning and interaction in an intergroup context.
Molapour T, Golkar A, Navarrete CD, Haaker J, Olsson A
Neuroimage 2015 Nov;121():171-83
Paper accepted in JEP:G
February 26, 2015
Mechanisms of social avoidance learning can explain the emergence of adaptive and arbitrary behavioral traditions in humans.
Lindström B, Olsson A
J Exp Psychol Gen 2015 Jun;144(3):688-703
Paper accepted in Emotion
February 9, 2015
Testosterone and estrogen impact social evaluations and vicarious emotions: A double-blind placebo-controlled study.
Olsson A, Kopsida E, Sorjonen K, Savic I
Emotion 2016 Jun;16(4):515-23
Jan Haaker receives grant from DFG
January 21, 2015
2014
Paper accepted in Biology Letters
December 11, 2014
Social learning of fear and safety is determined by the demonstrator's racial group.
Golkar A, Castro V, Olsson A
Biol Lett 2015 Jan;11(1):20140817
Paper accepted in JEP:General
December 10, 2014
A ten-year follow-up of a study of memory for the attack of September 11, 2001: Flashbulb memories and memories for flashbulb events.
Hirst W, Phelps EA, Meksin R, Vaidya CJ, Johnson MK, Mitchell KJ, Buckner RL, Budson AE, Gabrieli JD, Lustig C, Mather M, Ochsner KN, Schacter D, Simons JS, Lyle KB, Cuc AF, Olsson A
J Exp Psychol Gen 2015 Jun;144(3):604-23
Björn receives post-doc award from the Swedish Research Council
December 3, 2014
Björn Lindström received post-doc funding from the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet).