Labrenz F, Elsenbruch S, Icenhour A (2026). The impact of contingency awareness on the neurocircuitry underlying pain-related fear and safety learning. Biol Psychol, 209, 109311. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2026.109311
Franziska Labrenz
PD Dr. rer. nat.
Medical Psychology, Affective Neuroscience
Curriculum Vitae
- Since 2020 Postdoc, Department of Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, Ruhr-University Bochum
- 2018 - 2020 Postdoc, Institute for Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology and Neuroradiology, University Hospital Essen
- 2016 Research stay at the Centre for Brain Science, Department of Psychology, University of Essex, United Kingdom
- 2013 - 2020 Postdoc, Institute for Medical Psychology and Behavioural Immunobiology, Essen University Hospital
- 2010 - 2013 Dr rer. nat., Department of Biopsychology, Ruhr University Bochum
- 2007 - 2009 M. Sc. Applied Cognitive and Media Science, University of Duisburg-Essen
- 2004 - 2007 B. Sc. Applied Communication and Media Studies, University of Duisburg-Essen
Methods and research foci
- Functional and structural brain imaging
- Gut-brain axis
- Visceral pain
- Bio-psycho-social mechanisms
- Pain-related learning and memory processes
- Fear avoidance and extinction
Recent publications
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Radua J, Savage HS, Vilajosana E, Jamieson A, Abler B, Åhs F, Beckers T, Cardoner N, Cisler JM, Diniz JB, Bach DR, Elsenbruch S, Greening SG, Holt DJ, Kaczkurkin AN, Keil A, Kindt M, Koch K, LaBar KS, Lam CL, Larson CL, Lonsdorf TB, Merz CJ, McLaughlin KA, Neria Y, Pine DS, van Reekum CM, Shackman AJ, Soriano-Mas C, Spoormaker VI, Stout DM, Straube B, Straube T, Tuominen L, Visser RM, Ahumada L, Arolt V, Batistuzzo MC, Bazán PR, Biggs EE, Cano M, Chavarría-Elizondo P, Cooper SE, Dannlowski U, de la Peña-Arteaga V, DeCross SN, Domschke K, Ehlers MR, Graner JL, Hamm AO, Herrmann MJ, Huggins AA, Icenhour A, Juaneda-Seguí A, Junghoefer M, Kircher T, Koelkebeck K, Kuhn M, Labrenz F, Lissek SM, Lotze M, Lueken U, Margraf J, Martínez-Zalacaín I, Moeck R, Morriss J, Ortuño M, Pittig A, Porta-Casteras D, Richter J, Ridderbusch IC, Rief W, Roesmann K, Rosén J, Rußmann AN, Sjouwerman R, Spohrs J, Ströhle A, Suarez-Jimenez B, Ulrich M, Wittchen HU, Zhu X, Waller L, Walter H, Thompson PM, Bas-Hoogendam JM, Groenewold NA, J Stein D, Van der Wee NJ, Dunsmoor JE, Marquand AF, J Harrison B, Fullana MA (2025). Neural correlates of human fear conditioning and sources of variability in 2199 individuals. Nat Commun, 16(1), 7869. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-63078-x
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Labrenz F, Kalenbach A, Elsenbruch S, Icenhour A (2025). Costly pain avoidance and its impact on the modulation and extinction of visceral pain-related fear. Sci Rep, 15(1), 27001. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-10499-9
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Benson S, Labrenz F, Kotulla S, Brotte L, Rödder P, Tebbe B, Theysohn N, Engler H, Elsenbruch S (2023). Amplified gut feelings under inflammation and depressed mood: A randomized fMRI trial on interoceptive pain in healthy volunteers. Brain Behav Immun, 112, 132-137. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2023.06.005
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Labrenz F, Merz CJ, Icenhour A (2023). Connecting dots in disorders of gut-brain interaction: the interplay of stress and sex hormones in shaping visceral pain. Front Psychiatry, 14, 1204136. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1204136
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Labrenz F, Spisák T, Ernst TM, Gomes CA, Quick HH, Axmacher N, Elsenbruch S, Timmann D (2022). Temporal dynamics of fMRI signal changes during conditioned interoceptive pain-related fear and safety acquisition and extinction. Behav Brain Res, 427, 113868. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2022.113868
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Völter C, Fricke H, Götze L, Labrenz F, Tokic M, Wirth R, Nasreddine ZS, Dawes P (2022). Evaluation of the non-auditory neurocognitive test MoCA-HI for hearing-impaired. Front Neurol, 13, 1022292. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2022.1022292
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Labrenz F, Woud ML, Elsenbruch S, Icenhour A (2022). The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly-Chances, Challenges, and Clinical Implications of Avoidance Research in Psychosomatic Medicine. Front Psychiatry, 13, 841734. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.841734
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Gomes CA, Steiner KM, Ludolph N, Spisak T, Ernst TM, Mueller O, Göricke SL, Labrenz F, Ilg W, Axmacher N, Timmann D (2021). Resection of cerebellar tumours causes widespread and functionally relevant white matter impairments. Hum Brain Mapp, 42(6), 1641-1656. doi: 10.1002/hbm.25317
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Öhlmann H, Koenen LR, Labrenz F, Engler H, Theysohn N, Langhorst J, Elsenbruch S (2021). Altered Brain Structure in Chronic Visceral Pain: Specific Differences in Gray Matter Volume and Associations With Visceral Symptoms and Chronic Stress. Front Neurol, 12, 733035. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2021.733035
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Claassen J, Koenen LR, Ernst TM, Labrenz F, Theysohn N, Forsting M, Bingel U, Timmann D, Elsenbruch S (2020). Cerebellum is more concerned about visceral than somatic pain. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry, 91(2), 218-219. doi: 10.1136/jnnp-2019-321025
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Icenhour A, Labrenz F, Roderigo T, Benson S, Elsenbruch S (2020). The Role of Chronic Stress in Normal Visceroception: Insights From an Experimental Visceral Pain Study in Healthy Volunteers. Front Psychiatry, 11, 107. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00107
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Labrenz F, Knuf-Rtveliashvili S, Elsenbruch S (2020). Sex Differences Linking Pain-Related Fear and Interoceptive Hypervigilance: Attentional Biases to Conditioned Threat and Safety Signals in a Visceral Pain Model. Front Psychiatry, 11, 197. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00197
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Icenhour A, Labrenz F, Roderigo T, Siebert C, Elsenbruch S, Benson S (2019). Are there sex differences in visceral sensitivity in young healthy men and women?. Neurogastroenterol Motil, 31(9), e13664. doi: 10.1111/nmo.13664
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Labrenz F, Ferri F, Wrede K, Forsting M, Schedlowski M, Engler H, Elsenbruch S, Benson S, Costantini M (2019). Altered temporal variance and functional connectivity of BOLD signal is associated with state anxiety during acute systemic inflammation. Neuroimage, 184, 916-924. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.09.056
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Elsenbruch S, Labrenz F (2018). Nocebo Effects and Experimental Models in Visceral Pain. Int Rev Neurobiol, 138, 285-306. doi: 10.1016/bs.irn.2018.01.010
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Labrenz F, Wrede K, Forsting M, Engler H, Schedlowski M, Elsenbruch S, Benson S (2016). Alterations in functional connectivity of resting state networks during experimental endotoxemia - An exploratory study in healthy men. Brain Behav Immun, 54, 17-26. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2015.11.010
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Labrenz F, Icenhour A, Schlamann M, Forsting M, Bingel U, Elsenbruch S (2016). From Pavlov to pain: How predictability affects the anticipation and processing of visceral pain in a fear conditioning paradigm. Neuroimage, 130, 104-114. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.01.064
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Labrenz F, Icenhour A, Thürling M, Schlamann M, Forsting M, Timmann D, Elsenbruch S (2015). Sex differences in cerebellar mechanisms involved in pain-related safety learning. Neurobiol Learn Mem, 123, 92-9. doi: 10.1016/j.nlm.2015.05.006
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Labrenz F, Icenhour A, Benson S, Elsenbruch S (2015). Contingency Awareness Shapes Acquisition and Extinction of Emotional Responses in a Conditioning Model of Pain-Related Fear. Front Behav Neurosci, 9, 318. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2015.00318
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Hoffmann S, Labrenz F, Themann M, Wascher E, Beste C (2014). Crosslinking EEG time-frequency decomposition and fMRI in error monitoring. Brain Struct Funct, 219(2), 595-605. doi: 10.1007/s00429-013-0521-y
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Labrenz F, Themann M, Wascher E, Beste C, Pfleiderer B (2012). Neural correlates of individual performance differences in resolving perceptual conflict. PLoS One, 7(8), e42849. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0042849