Ullrich Wagner

What did you do or experience yesterday, one week ago, one year ago, or in your childhood? If you try to answer this question, you will typically remember most easily those episodes of your life with the greatest emotional impact, i.e., particularly positive or particularly negative events. Experimental psychology has confirmed that memory for emotionally arousing material is generally superior to memory for emotionally neutral material, and neurobiological research indicates that this superiority critically depends on neuromodulatory processes within the amygdala, a small almond-shaped structure in the medial temporal lobe of the brain. My current research projects are dedicated to the role that sleep and different sleep stages play in emotional and non-emotional memory processes as well as neuromodulatory influences of glucocorticoids on these processes.

Wagner, U., Gais, S., Haider, H., Verleger, R. & Born, J. (2004) Sleep inspires insight. Nature. 427(6972):352-355. [PubMed] [request reprint]

Wagner, U., Hallschmid, M., Verleger, R. & Born, J. (2003) Signs of REM sleep dependent enhancement of implicit face memory: a repetition priming study. Biol. Psychol. 62(3):197-210. [PubMed] [request reprint]

Wagner, U., Fischer, S. & Born, J. (2002) Changes in emotional responses to aversive pictures across periods rich in slow wave sleep versus rapid eye movement sleep. Psychosom. Med. 64(4):627-34. [PubMed] [request reprint]

Perras, B., Wagner, U., Born, J. & Fehm, H. L. (2003) Improvement of sleep and pituitary-adrenal inhibition after subchronic intranasal vasopressin treatment in elderly humans. J. Clin. Psychopharmacol. 23(1):35-44. [PubMed] [request reprint]

Wagner, U. & Born, J. (2002). Psychoendokrine Aspekte neuropsychologischer Funktionen. In: S. Lautenbacher & S. Gauggel (Eds.), Die Neuropsychologie psychischer Störungen. Springer: Heidelberg, Germany.

Wagner, U., Gais, S. & Born, J. (2001) Emotional memory formation is enhanced across sleep intervals with high amounts of rapid eye movement sleep. Learn. Mem. 8(2):112-9 [PubMed] [request reprint]

Wagner, U. & Born, J. (2000). Neurochemische Emotionssysteme. In: J.H. Otto, H.A. Euler & H. Mandl (Eds.), Emotionspsychologie: Ein Handbuch. (pp. 498-518). Psychologie Verlags Union: Weinheim, Germany.

Gais, S., Plihal, W., Wagner, U. & Born, J. (2000) Early sleep triggers memory for early visual discrimination skills. Nat. Neurosci. [PubMed] [request reprint]

Born, J. & Wagner, U. (2001) Memory formation in sleep: Giving a wave to dreams. Neuropsychobiology, 44(4), 212-214

Hallschmid, M., Mölle, M., Wagner, U., Fehm, H.L. & Born, J. (2001) Drinking related direct current positive potential shift in the human EEG depends on thirst. Neurosci. Lett., 311(3), 173-176

Other Contributions

Wagner, U., Plihal, & Born, J. (1999). Early and late nocturnal sleep differentially affects memory consolidation for emotional vs. neutral learning contents. Sleep Research Online, 2 Suppl. 1, 245

Wagner, U., Plihal, W., Klein, J.H. & Born, J. (1999). Differential effects of early and late nocturnal sleep on explicit and implicit memory for emotional vs. neutral materials. Journal of Psychophysiology.

Wagner, U., Plihal, W., Hallschmid, M., Gais, S., Fischer, S. & Born, J. (2000) Effects of early and late nocturnal sleep on explicit and implicit memory for faces. Journal of Psychophysiology.

Hallschmid, M., Mölle, M., Wagner, U., Gais, S., Fischer, S. & Born, J. (2000) Direct current (DC) positive potential shift upon drinking depends on thirst. Journal of Psychophysiology.

Gais, S., Plihal, W., Wagner, U. & Born, J. (2000) Early sleep enhancement of early visual discrimination skills. Journal of Psychophysiology.

Born, J., Wagner, U. & Gais, S. (2000) Konsolidierung von Gedächtnis im Schlaf. Abstract for 42. Kongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Psychologie, Jena

Wagner, U., Plihal, W., Hallschmid, M., Gais, S., Fischer, S. & Born, J. (2000) Differentielle Effekte des frühen und späten nächtlichen Schlafs auf explizites und implizites Gesichtergedächtnis. Somnologie, 4(S1), 43-44.

Gais, S., Plihal, W., Wagner, U. & Born, J. (2000) Visuell-prozedurale Gedächtnisbildung im frühen und späten Schlaf. Abstract for 8. Kongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Schlafforschung und Schlafmedizin, Norderney

Wagner, U., Fischer, S. & Born, J. (2001) Processing of aversive pictures across early and late nocturnal sleep. Journal of Psychophysiology. in press

Wagner, U. & Born, J. (2001). Neuropsychologie des Cortisols. Abstract for 16. Congress of the Gesellschaft für Neuropsychologie, Marburg.

Wagner, U., Fischer, S. & Born, J. (2001) Veränderungen emotionaler Reaktionen durch Deltaschlaf- vs. REM-Schlaf-dominierte Schlafperioden. Abstract for 9. Kongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Schlafforschung und Schlafmedizin, Hamburg.

Fischer, S., Hallschmid, M., Wagner, U. & Born, J. (2001) Sleep facilitates consolidation of motor skills. Journal of Psychophysiology. in press

Born, J. & Wagner, U. (2001). Der Einfluss von Glucocorticoiden auf Gedächtnisprozesse. Abstract for Congress of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Psychiatrie, Psychotherapie und Nervenheilkunde, Berlin.