Dr. Frederike “Rike” Petzschner joined CoPsy as an Assistant Professor of Cognitive and Psychological Sciences on July 1st. In this capacity, she will both teach courses and run the Psychiatry, Embodiment, and Computation (PEAC) Lab. She will also continue to be affiliated with the Carney Institute for Brain Science, where since 2021 she co-directed the Brainstorm program, which provides space and resources for computational neuroscience research to advance into tangible applications.
A graduate of JMU-Würzburg and LMU-Munich, Petzschner holds a masters degree with Honors in physics in addition to her doctoral work in systemic neuroscience. Her initial studies focused on both spatial and temporal perception in humans.
Petzschner worked in one of the first labs studying computational psychiatry. As she explained, “[i]t quickly became clear to me that we can't understand mental illness by looking at the brain in isolation. We have to recognize that the brain and body function as a closed, integrated system. Many emotions emerge from changes in our physiology—and, in turn, our mental state can drive those physiological changes. It's a two-way street.” This work—along with her focus on the somatic symptoms associated with mental illnesses—drew her to interoception and its interaction with emotions and well-being.
This provides the context for her fall class: CPSY 1480E. The course, called “Embodiment and Interoception,” explores how bodily signals shape our emotions, cognition, and physical well-being. As Petzschner put it, the goal is to help students understand “how we feel and why we feel the way we feel,” as well as “how the brain perceives the body, and how the body influences the brain.”
One of the largest questions the course will tackle, she noted, is: “Where does the body end? Does it really end where your skin ends?”
Such multifaceted questions mirror the many ways in which Petzschner approaches her work—from the perspective of a neuroscientist, a physicist, and an expert in digital health—shaped by the many experiences she has had across Europe and the United States. “I think there is a danger in narrowing yourself too much into one niche because you overlook how so many other aspects are influencing that particular space,” she reflected. “In neuroscience, we study the brain, but the function of the brain is crucially determined by the fact that we have a body.”
This approach also connects to her understanding of embodied intelligence. “We don’t think like an AI, because we live in bodies that have physical constraints that we need to take into account,” she explained. “So I think a lot of my work is trying to integrate these different aspects and constraints because I consider them essential to understanding mental well-being [and illness].”
“That’s why I use computational tools, why I consider bodily states, why I focus on the underlying neuroscience,” she added, “because fundamentally what drives my research is the question, not the method. Methods are tools, and I use several of them. When you're early in your career, it's valuable to build a diverse toolkit—you never know which one you’ll need to answer the questions that matter most.”
Petzschner is looking forward to working with new and old colleagues in CoPsy. “It's a fantastic group of people that have overlapping but distinct research interests,” she said, “So I'm getting excited about collaborations across the board at a really high scientific level.”
“That's one of the things that excites me,” she shared. “The other one is the students. I've been working with students at Brown, and there are so many bright minds, and I love engaging with young people who share my curiosity and passion.”
She is also continuing to build up the PEAC lab. “Working with good people is a lot of fun,” she said, and “I anticipate having a lot of fun doing good research.”
She encouraged interested students to visit her office or send an email to the lab: “It's an open, welcoming environment. We are very accessible.”