Professor Christian Keysers is a French and German neuroscientist.
Education
He finished his school education at the European School, Munich and studied psychology and biology at the University of Konstanz, the Ruhr University Bochum, University of Massachusetts Boston, the Shepens eye research Institute of the Harvard Medical School as well as with Marvin Minsky at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Career
Education and He then started his research career at the University of Street Andrews by investigating cells in the Temporal cortex with David Perrett, and described cells that respond when the monkey views particular faces in a way that correlates with conscious perception. After that, he moved to the University of Parma where he was part of the team that discovered auditory mirror neurons in the frontal cortex of the macaque monkey. He then expanded the notion of mirror neurons to emotions and sensations, by showing that your somatosensory cortex is active not only when you are being touched, but also if you see someone else being touched, and that your insular cortex is active not only if you feel disgusted, but also if you see someone else being disgusted.
Most recently, he has looked at the neural basis of abnormal empathy in schizophrenia, autism and psychopathy.
While we watch a movie, we share the experiences of the actors we observe: our heart for instance starts beating faster while we see an actor slip from the roof of a tall building. Why? Specific brain areas are involved when we perform certain actions or have certain emotions or sensations.
Interestingly, some of these areas are also recruited when we simply observe someone else performing similar actions, having similar sensations or having similar emotions. These areas called "shared circuits" transform what we see into what we would have done or felt in the same situation.
With such brain areas, understanding other people is not an effort of explicit thought but becomes an intuitive sharing of their emotions, sensations and actions.
Through the investigation of shared circuits, he attempts to understand the neural basis of empathy and its dysfunctions in autism, schizophrenia and sociopathy.
Membership
As a student he was a member of the Studienstiftung, Germany"s most prestigious foundation for the promotion of excellence in study. He is a member of the Young Academy of Europe since 2012, and was elected into the Board of that academy in 2014.