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Dr. Lisa Wirz


Ruhr University Bochum
Department of Cognitive Psychology
44780 Bochum, Germany


Room: IB 6-65
E-Mail: lisa.wirz@rub.de



Curriculum Vitae


since 2019: Postdoctoral Researcher
Department of Cognitive Psychology, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany

2014-2018: Psychology, PhD
Department of Cognitive Psychology, Hamburg University, Germany
Thesis: Stress effects on memory and emotion: genetic differences in resilience and vulnerability

2012-2014: Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, M.Sc.
Department of Cognitive Neuroscience
Thesis: Acute effects of Laughter Yoga on the stress response

2009-2012: Psychology, B.Sc.
Department of Cognitive Neuroscience
Thesis: Callous affect and early visual processing of fearful faces

2014-2018: Research Assistant
Department of Cognitive Psychologie, Hamburg University, Germany
Member of the Ethical Committee at Hamburg University

2013-2014: Student Research Assistant
Department of Psychology, McGill University, Canada

2013: Student Research Assistant
Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Maastricht University, the Netherlands

2011: Student Research Assistant
Department of Psychology, Brock University, Canada

  • Neuroimaging (fMRI, EEG)
  • Psychophysiology (stress hormones, heart rate, pupil dilation, skin conductance)
  • Stress induction in humans
  • Programming (Matlab, R, C#, Presentation)
  • Genetics (SNP and haplotype analyses)
  • Stress and the temporal dynamics of memory representations
  • Stress and the role of noradrenaline, cortisol and endocannabinoids in cognitive function
  • Stress and emotion processing and regulation
  • Meier, M., Wirz, L., Dickinson, P., Prüssner, J. (2020). Laughter Yoga reduces the cortisol response to acute stress in healthy individuals. Stress.
  • Wirz, L., Schwabe, L. (2020). Prioritized attentional processing: Acute stress, memory and stimulus emotionality facilitate attentional disengagement. Neuropsychologia, 138, 107334.
  • Wirz, L., Reuter, M., Felten, A., Schwabe, L. (2018). An endocannabinoid receptor polymorphism modulates affective processing under stress. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci, 1-13.
  • Wirz, L., Bogdanov, M., Schwabe, L. (2018). Habits under stress: mechanistic insights across different types of learning. Curr Opin Behav Sci, 20, 9-16.
  • Wirz, L., Reuter, M., Wacker, J., Felten, A., Schwabe, L. (2017). A haplotype associated with enhanced mineralocorticoid receptor expression facilitates the stress-induced shift from ‘cognitive’ to ‘habit’ learning. eNeuro, 4(6), e0359-17.2017.
  • Wirz, L., Wacker, J., Felten, A., Reuter, M., Schwabe, L. (2017). A deletion variant of the α2b-adrenoceptor modulates the stress-induced shift from ‘cognitive’ to ‘habit’ memory. JNeurosci, 37(8), 2149-2160.
  • DFG Research Grant: “Training cognitive reappraisal to build stress resilience”
    Donders Institute for Cognitive Neuroimaging, the Netherlands
  • Cognitive Affective and Behavioral Neuroscience
  • Brain Sciences
  • Psychoneuroendocrinology
  • Scientific Reports
  • Frontiers in Psychology
  • PLOS ONE
  • Anxiety, Stress and Coping

Past Teaching Activities:

  • Seminar "Allgemeine Psychologie II"
    B.Sc. Psychology, Hamburg University