Faculty
Michelle Wirth
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., University of Michigan
Dr. Wirth studies the physiology of emotion and motivation with a focus on neuroendocrine systems. She is interested in how stress-responsive hormones (such as cortisol and allopregnanolone) and other hormones (such as testosterone and oxytocin) affect the brain and therefore modulate emotional, motivational, and cognitive processes. She is also interested in how dysregulation in stress hormone systems might contribute to emotion-processing disruptions in affective disorders such as depression.
One of Dr. Wirth’s current projects is studying the roles progesterone and neurosteroids made from progesterone (such as allopregnanolone) in stress and other emotional processes, affiliation/attachment, and disorders such as depression and anxiety. Another recent project, for which data analysis is ongoing, was designed to concurrently examine cortisol's effects on stress physiology (HPA axis negative feedback) and its effects on cognition (emotional memory), using intravenous administration of cortisol to human subjects.
Other topics of current and past study include: psychophysiology (facial muscle activity) involvement in emotional cognition; neuroendocrine (hormonal) involvement in emotions and motivations related to dominance and affiliation/bonding; facial expressions of emotion as social signals; and how personality differences affect the impact of social stress on hormonal systems. In the past, Dr. Wirth studied brain systems involved in hunger and satiety in an animal model; her experience with both animal and human neuroscience informs her work.
If you are interested in joining Dr. Wirth’s laboratory, please contact her by email to check for available positions and apply. (Website coming soon!)
Recent publications [PDFs coming soon]
Wirth, M. M., Monticelli, R. M., Jackson, D. C., Lakshmanan, A., and Abercrombie, H. C. Corrugator and startle responses differentially predict long-term memory for emotional pictures. Under review at Biological Psychology.
Brown, S. L., Fredrickson, B. L., Wirth, M. M., Poulin, M. J., Meier, E. A., Heaphy, E. D., Cohen, M. D. & Schultheiss, O. C. Social intimacy increases salivary progesterone in humans. In press, Hormones and Behavior.
Schultheiss, O. C., Wirth, M. M., Waugh, C. E., Stanton, S. J., Meier, E. A., Reuter-Lorenz, P., 2008. Exploring the motivational brain: Effects of implicit power motivation on brain activation in response to facial expressions of emotion. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 3(4): 333-43. PMCID: PMC2607053 [Available on 2009/12/01].
Wirth, M. M., Schultheiss, O. C., 2007. Basal testosterone moderates responses to anger faces in humans. Physiology and Behavior 90(2-3): 496-505.
Wirth, M. M., Meier, E. A., Fredrickson, B. L., Schultheiss, O.C., 2007. Relationship between salivary cortisol and progesterone levels in humans. Biological Psychology 74: 104-107.
Wirth, M. M., Schultheiss, O. C., 2006. Effects of affiliation arousal (hope of closeness) and affiliation stress (fear of rejection) on progesterone and cortisol. Hormones and Behavior 50: 786-95.
Wirth, M. M., Welsh, K. M., Schultheiss, O. C., 2006. Salivary cortisol changes in humans after winning or losing a dominance contest depend on implicit power motivation. Hormones and Behavior 49: 346-52.
Contact Information
Office: 123B Haggar
Notre Dame, IN 46556
Phone: 574-631-1635
Email: mwirth@nd.edu