How can Psychology, Neuroscience, and Economics contribute to our understanding of human behaviour and cognition?

One of the biggest questions of modern neuroscience is: how does our brain store pieces of information and recall them when needed? Neuroplasticity has been proposed as the underlying molecular mechanism of learning and memory. One of the factors that determines the extent to which neurons are “plastic” is the way that specific genes in their genome can be switched “on” and “off”. During this talk, we will explore how the organization of the genome and its interactions with the nuclear periphery influence the way that neurons adapt and react to what we experience in our everyday lives.

Mental stress is known to be immunomodulatory which is one of the basic concepts of psychoneuroimmunology. Acute and chronic mental stress conditions are linked to somatic and psychiatric morbidity, however, the neurobiological processes of these associations are still not fully elucidated.
In several studies we investigated the relationship between metabolic pathways of neurotransmitter precursor amino acids and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Current and ongoing research projects are also including the effect of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on mental health.

In Economics we used to think of humans as rational agents and their choices as precise and calculated.
The truth is that we are a mess! We are not always rational, we make plenty of mistakes, and we make them in very predictable ways. And still, it seems we are doing fine.
During the talk, we will try to ask ourselves: what can we learn about our choices from Behavioural Economics?