Book presentation “Trauma and the brain: How social experiences shape – and injure – the brain”

The human brain is malleable, especially in childhood and adolescence. This malleability or neuroplasticity enables learning and development, but also makes our brain susceptible to negative environmental influences.

The lecture with accompanying reading from the book Trauma and the Brain – How Social Experiences Shape Brain Development by Isabella Sarto-Jackson uses case studies, historical examples and current research findings to show how social interactions, emotional attachments and traumatic experiences shape the development of the brain.

The book combines findings from neuroscience, psychology, education and evolutionary biology to create a new understanding of cognition, intelligence and mental health and argues for decisive social action in education and social work to protect children at risk.

Short biography:

Dr. Isabella Sarto-Jackson is a neuroscientist and Managing Director of the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research.

She holds a Master’s degree in genetics, a PhD in neurobiochemistry and is a habilitated neurobiologist. For more than 10 years she worked as a scientist at the Center for Brain Research at the Medical University of Vienna and has since expanded her research focus to cognitive science and evolutionary biology. In her interdisciplinary, practical work with therapists, she uses psychoeducational approaches to give children at risk equal opportunities to develop their full cognitive potential.