Prof. Dr. Mulert

Neurochemical and neurophysiological mechanisms in the interaction of reward processing with bottom-up and top down networks: The role of dopamine and E/I balance

Project B7 investigates the interaction of bottom-up and top-down visual attention with reward processes in healthy subjects and patients with schizophrenia. The main focus of project B7 lies on the neurophysiological and neurochemical mechanisms of this interaction. We will use neuropharmacological modulation at the dopamine receptor together with trial-by-trial coupling of simultaneous EEG-fMRI, multichannel-tACS and advanced electrical field modeling to probe the causal role of neural oscillations in this process and MR-Spectroscopy to characterize the relationship of glutamate concentrations in the visual cortex and the ACC with visual selection.

new project-related publications

Curic, S., Haaf, M., Zokai, D., Korkutan, T., Steinmann, S., Rauh, J., Mulert, C., Leicht, G. (2025). Effects of Glycine on Mismatch Negativity and Underlying Theta-Band Signature in the Keta-mine Model of Schizophrenia in Healthy Men. Schizophrenia Bulletin (in press)

Debnath, R., Elyamany, O., Iffland, J. R., Rauh, J., Siebert, M., Andraes, E., ... & Mulert, C. (2025). Theta transcranial alternating current stimulation over the prefrontal cortex enhances theta power and working memory performance. Frontiers in psychiatry, 15, 1493675. find paper

Elyamany, O., Iffland, J., Bak, J., Classen, C., Nolte, G., Schneider, T. R., ... & Mulert, C (2025). Predictive role of endogenous phase lags between target brain regions in dual-site transcranial alternating current stimulation. Brain Stimulation, 18(3), 780-793. find paper

Elyamany, O., Iffland, J., Lockhofen, D., Steinmann, S., Leicht, G., & Mulert, C. (2024). Top-down modulation of dichotic listening affects interhemispheric connectivity: an electroencephalography study. Frontiers in neuroscience, 18,1424746. find paper

Haaf, M., Curic, S., Rauh, J., Steinmann, S., Mulert, C., & Leicht, G. (2023). Opposite modulation of the NMDA receptor by glycine and S-ketamine and the effects on resting state EEG gamma activity: new insights into the glutamate hypothesis of schizophrenia. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 24(3), 1913. find paper

Haaf, M., Polomac, N., Starcevic, A., Lack, M., Kellner, S., Dohrmann, A. L., Fuger, U., Steinmann, S., Rauh, J., Nolte, G., Mulert, C., & Leicht, G. (2024). Frontal theta oscillations during emotion regulation in people with borderline personality disorder. BJPsych Open, 10 (2), e58. find paper

Langhein, M., Lyall, A. E., Steinmann, S., Seitz-Holland, J., Nägele, F. L., Cetin-Karayumak, S., ... & Mulert, C. (2023). The decoupling of structural and functional connectivity of auditory networks in individuals at clinical high-risk for psychosis. The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry, 24(5), 387-399. find paper

Langhein, M., Seitz-Holland, J., Lyall, A. E., Pasternak, O., Chunga, N., Cetin-Karayumak, S., Ku-bicki, A., Mulert, C., Espinoza, R. T., Narr, K. L., & Kubicki, M. (2022). Association between peripheral inflammation and free-water imaging in Major Depressive Disorder before and after ketamine treatment–A pilot study. Journal of affective disorders, 314, 78-85. find paper

Lockhofen, D. E. L., Hübner, N., Debnath, R., Rumpf, K. P., Sander, M., Wolff, M., ... & Mulert, C (2025). Glutamatergic mechanisms in early salience processing. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 16, 1601797 find paper

former project-related publications

Andreou, C., Frielinghaus, H., Rauh, J., Mußmann, M., S. Vauth, S., Braun, P., Leicht, G. and Mulert, C. (2017). Theta and high-beta networks for feedback processing: a simultaneous EEG & fMRI study in healthy male subjects. Translational Psychiatry, 7(1), e1016. find paper

Andreou, C., Steinmann, S., Kolbeck, K., Rauh, J., Leicht, G., Moritz, S., Mulert, C. (2018). The role of effective connectivity between the task-positive and task-negative network for evidence gathering [Evidence gathering and connectivity]. Neuroimage, 173, 49-56. find paper

Curic, S., Leicht, G., Thiebes S., Andreou C., Polomac, N., Eichler, I.C., Eichler, L., Zöllner, C., Gallinat, J., Steinmann, S., Mulert, C. (2019). Reduced auditory evoked gamma-band response and schizophrenia-like clinical symptoms under subanesthetic ketamine. Neuropsychopharmacology, 44(7), 1239-1246. find paper

Elyamany, O., Leicht, G., Herrmann, C. S., & Mulert, C. (2020). Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS): from basic mechanisms towards first applications in psychiatry. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 1-22. find paper

Haaf, M., Curic, S., Steinmann, S., Rauh, J., Leicht, G., & Mulert, C. (2021). Glycine attenuates impairments of stimulus-evoked gamma oscillation in the ketamine model of schizophrenia. bioRxiv. find preprint

Kornmayer, L., Leicht, C. and Mulert, C. (2015). Increased gamma oscillations evoked by physically salient distracters are associated with schizotypy. Brain Topography, 28(1), 153-161. find paper

Kornmayer, L., Leicht, G. and Mulert, C. (2018). Attentional capture by physically salient stimuli in the gamma frequency is associated with schizophrenia symptoms. The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry, 19(sup2), S52-S62. find paper

Leicht, G., Andreou, C., Nafe, T., Nägele, F., Rauh, J., Curic, S., Schauer, P., Schöttle, D., Steinmann, S., Mulert, C. (2020). Alterations of oscillatory neuronal activity during reward processing in schizophrenia. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 129, 80-87. find paper

Leicht, G., Vauth, S. Polomac, N., C. Andreou, C., Rauh, J., Mussmann, M., Karow, A., and Mulert, C. (2016). EEG-Informed fMRI Reveals a Disturbed Gamma-Band-Specific Network in Subjects at High Risk for Psychosis. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 42(1), 239-249. find paper

Lockhofen, D. E. L., Hübner, N., Hemdan, F., Sammer, G., Henare, D., Schubö, A., & Mulert, C (2021). Differing Time Courses of Reward-Related Attentional Processing: An EEG Source-Space Analysis. Brain Topography, 34(3), 283-296. find paper

Meier, J., Nolte, G., Schneider, T.R., Engel, A.K., Leicht, G., Mulert C. (2019). Intrinsic 40Hz-phase asymmetries predict tACS effects during conscious auditory perception. Plos One, 14(4), e0213996. find paper

Thiebes, S., Steinmann, S., Curic, S., Polomac, N., Andreou, C., Eichler, I.C., Eichler, L., Zöllner, C., Gallinat J., Leicht, G., Mulert, C. (2018). Alterations in interhemispheric gamma-band connectivity are related to the emergence of auditory verbal hallucinations in healthy subjects during NMDA-receptor blockade. Neuropsychopharmacology, 43(7), 1608-1615. find paper

Project leader

Prof. Dr.
Christoph Mulert Sekretariat-Mulert@psychiat.med.uni-giessen.de

Staff

Dr.
Ranjan Debnath Justus-Liebig Universität Gießen
Center for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
Ranjan.Debnath@psychiat.med.uni-giessen.de