KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Catherine Tallon-Baudry

Time: Thursday, 04/June/2026: 9:00am – 10:00am

Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience Laboratory (LNC2), INSERM U960, Department of Cognitive Studies, Ecole Normale Supérieure, PSL University (FR)

Prof. Catherine Tallon-Baudry’s research explores how signals from the body, particularly cardiac and gastric activity, interact with brain dynamics to shape perception of and behavior in the external world. Her work combines psychophysiological and neuroimaging methods to investigate how visceral inputs provide a reference frame for sensory and cognitive processes.

Interoceptive signals originate from inside the body and convey information about bodily physiological state to the central nervous system. Hence, interoceptive signals have long been associated with physiological regulations and physiological challenges, as in sports or emotions. In this talk, I will argue that in addition to this informative role, interoceptive signals coordinate brain dynamics, relatively independently from actual bodily states. More specifically, I propose that interoceptive signals coordinate the different reference frames in which information is encoded to create the unified egocentric viewpoint that is the hallmark of subjective experience. I will illustrate this thesis with data from gastric and cardiac interoception in human adults: the gastric rhythm imposes a temporal rhythm across visual, auditory, and somato-motor cortices, as well as to the default network. Cardiac interoception, measured with the heartbeat-evoked response, co-varies with subjective experience in a number of domains, from perception to self-related cognition. I will further detail how the information and coordination modes of bodily signaling could combine to form affective feelings.

Carmen Sandi

Time: Friday, 05/June/2026: 9:00am – 10:00am

Brain Mind Institute, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) (CH)

Carmen Sandi has made seminal contributions to understanding how stress affects brain function and behavior, identifying key modulators of stress-induced neural and behavioral adaptations. Her current research focuses on how metabolism shapes the structure and function of neural circuits involved in emotion regulation, motivation, and decision-making. Using integrative approaches in rodents and humans, her work has revealed how mitochondrial processes contribute to individual differences in behavior and vulnerability to psychiatric disorders, including anxiety and depression.

Emotional states are often described in terms of circuits, computations and subjective experience, yet they also depend on the energetic and metabolic capacity of the brain. In this keynote, I will present a framework in which mitochondria are viewed not only as cellular powerhouses, but as dynamic regulators of neural plasticity, stress adaptation and behavioral vulnerability. I will focus on high anxiety as a vulnerable phenotype that, when persistent and severe, intersects with depressive dimensions such as reduced motivation. Drawing on work in animal models and human studies, I will discuss how individual differences in brain metabolism and mitochondrial function shape anxiety-related behavior, effort-based motivation and resilience to stress. I will also highlight how translational approaches, including magnetic resonance spectroscopy, virtual-reality-based behavioral phenotyping and metabolism-targeted interventions, can help bridge mechanistic biology with human affective neuroscience. Together, these findings point to brain metabolism as a modifiable dimension of emotional vulnerability

Ewelina Knapska

Time: Saturday, 06/June/2026: 9:00am – 10:00am

Centre of Excellence for Neural Plasticity and Brain Disorders (BRAINCITY); Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Warsaw, Poland

Her research integrates neurophysiology, behavioral neuroscience, and advanced neuronal activity imaging to investigate how the brain processes and transmits emotional information in social contexts. She discovered specialized neuronal populations in the amygdala responsible for the intra- and interspecies transmission of emotional states, providing fundamental insights into the biological mechanisms underlying emotional contagion and empathy. Her team also developed Eco-HAB, an innovative automated system enabling the study of complex social behaviours in mice under naturalistic conditions.

In social species, the emotions of others provide a rapid and efficient source of information about environmental opportunities and dangers. Emotional contagion – the transfer of emotional states between individuals – allows adaptive behavior without direct experience. Yet socially transmitted emotions are not simple reflexes. The brain selectively interprets social signals and transforms them into context-appropriate behavioral strategies.

In this lecture, I will present converging evidence from rodent and human studies showing how emotional and reward-related information spreads through social interaction and how specific neural circuits convert socially acquired information into adaptive behavior. First, I will discuss the social transmission of fear through amygdala circuits and show how distinct neuronal populations encode threat imminence to support the selection of appropriate defensive responses. I will then demonstrate that the transfer of emotional information is evolutionarily conserved across species and can operate even between species.

Moving beyond fear, I will examine how socially transmitted reward information propagates through social networks and how the prefrontal cortex regulates the use of social information. I will present recent findings showing that prefrontal circuits encode others’ emotional states according to threat immediacy, transforming social signals into flexible behavioral decisions. Finally, I will discuss how hippocampal circuits integrate social and spatial information to support socially guided learning about environmental resources.

Together, these findings reveal that emotional contagion is not merely emotional resonance, but a sophisticated neural mechanism that enables individuals to use the experiences of others to guide adaptive decision-making. Understanding these processes provides new insight into the neural foundations of social cognition, learning, and survival.