How are human instincts governed and what makes us overreact? 

Getting angry is normal, but some people react very aggressively to things that others would shrug off. Wallenberg Academy Fellow Stefanos Stagkourakis is investigating what happens in the brain when we react instinctively, and why some people have difficulty controlling their reactions. 

Many mental disorders are are characterized by the loss of control of instinctual behaviors, which are otherwise essential to survival. Some people binge eat, some develop a sex addiction and some become extremely aggressive.  But why is this? 

The regions that control our instincts are located deep in the brain, and their inaccessibility has posed a significant challenge to researchers aiming to understand what triggers instinctive reactions. However, during his postdoctoral position at the California Institute of Technology, Dr Stefanos Stagkourakis developed a method that makes it possible to simultaneously record activity in very different areas of the deep mouse brain. He will now use this method to study how different brain centers interact when mice react instinctively. Which areas are involved? And what happens in the mice that overreact? 

Stefanos Stagkourakis will also study how physiological and environmental variables influence the activity of large neural networks that guide the expression of instincts. The long-term aim is to develop approaches for inhibiting excessive reactions, so that people who have difficulty controlling their instincts can receive better care.

As a Wallenberg Academy Fellow, Stefanos Stagkourakis will work at Karolinska Institutet. 

Photo Patrik Lundin