Daniela Schiller facts for kids

Daniela Schiller (born October 26, 1972, in Israel) is a leading neuroscientist. She works at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. There, she leads a lab that studies how our brains handle emotions. She is famous for her work on how memories can be changed. She also studies how we learn and remember emotional things.

Early Life and Education

Daniela Schiller was born in Rishon LeZion, Israel. Her mother was from Morocco, and her father was from Ukraine. Her father, Sigmund Schiller, survived the Holocaust. Daniela is the youngest of four children.

She earned her first degree in psychology and philosophy in 1996. Then, she got her doctorate in psychobiology in 2004. Both degrees were from Tel Aviv University. She later received a special scholarship called a Fulbright fellowship. This allowed her to work with other famous scientists at New York University. Outside of her science work, Daniela also plays drums. She sings backing vocals for two bands, The Amygdaloids and Supersmall.

Awards and Recognition

Daniela Schiller has received several important awards for her scientific work:

• 2014 Klingenstein-Simons Fellowship in Neuroscience
• 2013 Kavli Frontiers of Science Fellow, National Academy of Sciences
• 2010 Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists
• 2005 Fulbright Scholar

Scientific Research

Daniela Schiller's research aims to understand how our brains handle emotional memories. She wants to know how these memories can be changed. This helps us adjust our feelings and social actions.

How We Learn and Change Fear

Schiller's team studies how we learn to be afraid of things. They also look at how we can change those fears. They use special tasks where people learn to connect a neutral thing with something scary. Then, they see how people change that connection.

They found that parts of the brain, like the amygdala and striatum, track scary things. These brain parts change their activity when the danger changes. Another brain area, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, also helps. It reacts more to things that are safe.

Her research also showed how different brain systems work together. They help us overcome learned fears. This includes forgetting fears or changing our responses to them. Her team also studied how combat veterans, some with difficult memories, process fear. They looked at how their brains update what they've learned about danger.

Changing Memories: Reconsolidation

Schiller's research also focuses on something called memory reconsolidation. This is a process where a memory becomes stable again after you remember it. Imagine a memory is like a building. When you remember it, it's like taking the building apart for a moment. During this time, you can change parts of it before it's rebuilt.

Schiller showed that you can interfere with scary memories in humans. This can be done by doing something new while the memory is being "rebuilt." For example, if you remember a scary event and then immediately learn something new and calming, it can change the scary memory.

Some studies have had different results, which is normal in science. However, many other studies have supported her findings. This idea of changing memories has been very helpful. It has led to new ways to help people deal with strong memories. This includes helping people with phobias or other challenges.

The Power of Imagination

Daniela Schiller's research also explores how imagination affects our brains. She found that imagining things can change how our brains react. For example, her team showed that imagining a scary thing can actually help reduce fear.

When people imagined something scary, the same brain areas were active as when they actually faced it. This included the amygdala and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. This suggests that our imagination can be a powerful tool. It can help us manage our emotions and fears.

Understanding Social Connections

Another part of Schiller's research looks at how our brains understand social relationships. She studies how we form first impressions of people. Her team found that brain areas involved in emotions and value judgments are active when we meet new people. These areas include the amygdala and the posterior cingulate cortex.

The way these brain areas react when we first meet someone can predict our future impressions. This suggests that our brains use similar ways to judge people and things.

Her team also studies how our brains track social groups. They created a game where people interact with others in an imaginary town. They found that our brains map out social relationships. This is like creating a mental map of who is powerful or friendly. This research helps us understand how our brains navigate the complex social world.