Uta Sailer

Image of Uta Sailer
Norwegian version of this page
Phone +47 22851032
Room 2161
Username
Visiting address Sognsvannsveien 9 Domus Medica 0372 Oslo
Postal address Postboks 1111 Blindern 0317 Oslo

Academic interests

My research focus is on the experience, processing and effects of rewards, i.e. events that produce a pleasant or positive affective experience. This includes social interactions and sensory stimuli. In particular, I investigate processes related to pleasant odours and touch, and the factors that underlie and affect experienced pleasantness. To unravel these mechanisms, we use self-report, psychophysical methods, peripheral physiological measures, endocrine measures and fMRI.

Uta is also the institute’s Head of Postgraduate Studies (PhD Coordinator).

Courses taught

Background

Academic Qualifications

  • 2013: Professor, Dept. of Psychology, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
  • 2009 Docent (“Habilitation”, venia legendi) in Psychology, University of Vienna, Austria
  • 2003: PhD from Dept. of Neurology, Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich, Germany (thesis title “Eye-hand coordination in time and space”)
  • 1998: M.Sc. (diploma) in psychology, University of Munich, Germany

Professional history

  • Since 2016: Professor at the IMB, University of Oslo
  • 2011-2016: Associate professor (until 2013), then full professor at the Dept. of Psychology, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
  • 2005-2011: University of Vienna, Austria, Section for Biological Psychology. Research fellow of the German Research Foundation (DFG) (2003-2005), thereafter postdoc, associate professor, and vice head of the Dept. of Clinical, Biological and Differential Psychology
  • 2003-2005: Postdoc at the University of Umeå, Sweden, Dept. of Integrative Medical Biology, Section for Physiology
  • 2002: Guest researcher, Dept. of Experimental and Work Psychology, University of Groningen, Netherlands (3 months)
  • 1999-2003: PhD student at Dept. of Neurology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich
  • 1998 – 1999: Research assistant, Dept. of  Psychology, section for neuropsychology, Ludwig-Maximilians University, and Max-Planck Institute for Psychiatry, Dept. of  Neuropsychology, Munich
  • 1997-1998: Student research assistant, Faculty of Psychology, Technical University Munich
  • 1997: Research internship, Dept. of Psychology, University of Durham, UK (3 months)

Publications

  • Sailer, Uta; Friedrich, Yvonne; Asgari, Fatemeh; Hassenzahl, Marc & Croy, Ilona (2024). Determinants for positive and negative experiences of interpersonal touch: context matters. Cognition & Emotion. ISSN 0269-9931. doi: 10.1080/02699931.2024.2311800.
  • Sailer, Uta; Wurm, Franz & Pfabigan, Daniela M. (2023). Social and non-social feedback stimuli lead to comparable levels of reward learning and reward responsiveness in an online probabilistic reward task. Behavior Research Methods. ISSN 1554-351X. doi: 10.3758/s13428-023-02255-6. Full text in Research Archive
  • Pfabigan, Daniela M.; Frogner, Erik Rimestad; Schéle, Erik; Thorsby, Per Medbøe; Skålhegg, Bjørn Steen & Dickson, Suzanne L. [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2023). Ghrelin is related to lower brain reward activation during touch. Psychophysiology. ISSN 0048-5772. 61(2). doi: 10.1111/psyp.14443. Full text in Research Archive
  • Edwards, Peter & Sailer, Uta (2023). Death in Music and Music in Death: Reflections on Mortality and Listening in the Performances of Marino Formenti. In Marx, Wolfgang (Eds.), Music and Death. Funeral Music, Memory and Re-Evaluating Life.. Boydell & Brewer. ISSN 9781837650644. p. 155–169.
  • Schneider, Ekaterina; Hopf, Dora; Aguilar-Raab, Corina; Scheele, Dirk; Neubauer, Andreas B & Sailer, Uta [Show all 9 contributors for this article] (2023). Affectionate touch and diurnal oxytocin levels: An ecological momentary assessment study. eLIFE. ISSN 2050-084X. 12. doi: 10.7554/eLife.81241. Full text in Research Archive
  • Sailer, Uta; Riva, Federica; Lieberz, Jana; Campbell-Meiklejohn, Daniel; Scheele, Dirk & Pfabigan, Daniela Melitta (2023). Hungry for compliments? Ghrelin is not associated with neural responses to social rewards or their pleasantness. Frontiers in Psychiatry. ISSN 1664-0640. 14. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1104305. Full text in Research Archive
  • Sailer, Uta; Zucknick, Manuela Karola & Laeng, Bruno (2023). Caressed by music: Related preferences for velocity of touch and tempo of music? Frontiers in Psychology. ISSN 1664-1078. 14. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1135988. Full text in Research Archive
  • Sailer, Uta; Wurm, Franz & Pfabigan, Daniela Melitta (2023). Social and non-social feedback stimuli lead to comparable levels of reward learning and reward responsiveness in an online probabilistic reward task. PsyArXiv. doi: 10.31234/osf.io/zm6gj.
  • Pfabigan, Daniela Melitta; Hertel, Jens Kristoffer; Svanevik, Marius; Lindberg, Morten; Sailer, Uta & Hjelmesæth, Jøran Sture (2022). Single-centre, non-randomised clinical trial to investigate the effects of bariatric surgery on social experiences and biomarkers of well-being one year after surgery in individuals with severe obesity: a protocol for the Bariatric Surgery and Social Experiences (BaSES) study. medRxiv. doi: 10.1101/2022.12.21.22283770.
  • Pfabigan, Daniela Melitta; Frogner, Erik Rimestad; Erik, Schéle; Thorsby, Per Medbøe; Skålhegg, Bjørn Steen & Dickson, Suzanne L. [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2022). The “hunger” hormone ghrelin is associated with neural activation during touch, but not its affective experience. bioRxiv. ISSN 2692-8205. doi: 10.1101/2022.05.10.491384.
  • Pfabigan, Daniela M.; Vezzani, Cecilia; Thorsby, Per Medbøe & Sailer, Uta (2022). Sex difference in human olfactory sensitivity is associated with plasma adiponectin. Hormones and Behavior. ISSN 0018-506X. 145. doi: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2022.105235. Full text in Research Archive
  • Sailer, Uta & Leknes, Siri (2022). Meaning makes touch affective. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences. ISSN 2352-1546. 44. doi: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2021.101099. Full text in Research Archive
  • Bendas, Johanna; Ree, Anbjørn; Pabel, Luise; Sailer, Uta & Croy, Ilona (2021). Dynamics of affective habituation to touch differ on the group and individual level. Neuroscience. ISSN 0306-4522. 464, p. 44–52. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2020.12.024. Full text in Research Archive
  • Eckstein, Monika; Mamaev, Ilshat; Ditzen, Beate & Sailer, Uta (2020). Calming effects of touch in human, animal, and robotic interaction — Scientific state-of-the-art and technical advances. Frontiers in Psychiatry. ISSN 1664-0640. 11, p. 1–17. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.555058. Full text in Research Archive
  • Sailer, Uta; Hausmann, Marlene & Croy, Ilona (2020). Pleasantness Only?: How Sensory and Affective Attributes Describe Touch Targeting C-Tactile Fibers. Experimental Psychology. ISSN 1618-3169. 67(4), p. 224–236. doi: 10.1027/1618-3169/a000492. Full text in Research Archive
  • Ree, Anbjørn; Benda, Johanna; Pabel, Luise; Croy, Ilona & Sailer, Uta (2020). Right between the eyes: Corrugator muscle activity tracks the changing pleasantness of repeated slow stroking touch. Physiology and Behavior. ISSN 0031-9384. 222. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2020.112903. Full text in Research Archive
  • Croy, Ilona; Bierling, Antonie; Sailer, Uta & Ackerley, Rochelle (2020). Individual variability of pleasantness ratings to stroking touch over different velocities. Neuroscience. ISSN 0306-4522. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2020.03.030. Full text in Research Archive
  • Schéle, Erik; Pfabigan, Daniela M.; Simrén, Joel; Sailer, Uta & Dickson, Suzanne L. (2020). Ghrelin Induces Place Preference for Social Interaction in the Larger Peer of a Male Rat Pair. Neuroscience. ISSN 0306-4522. 447(1), p. 148–154. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2020.01.027. Full text in Research Archive
  • Bessler, Ria; Bendas, Johanna; Sailer, Uta & Croy, Ilona (2019). The “Longing for Interpersonal Touch Picture Questionnaire”: Development of a new measurement for touch perception. International Journal of Psychology (IJP). ISSN 0020-7594. doi: 10.1002/ijop.12616. Full text in Research Archive
  • Strauss, Timmy; Rottstädt, Fabian; Sailer, Uta; Schellong, Julia; Hamilton, J. Paul & Raue, Claudia [Show all 8 contributors for this article] (2019). Touch aversion in patients with interpersonal traumatization. Depression and Anxiety. ISSN 1091-4269. 36(7), p. 635–646. doi: 10.1002/da.22914. Full text in Research Archive
  • Ree, Anbjørn; Morrison, India; Olausson, Håkan; Sailer, Uta; Heilig, Markus & Mayo, Leah M (2019). Using Facial Electromyography to Assess Facial Muscle Reactions to Experienced and Observed Affective Touch in Humans. Journal of Visualized Experiments. ISSN 1940-087X. 145. doi: 10.3791/59228. Full text in Research Archive
  • Triscoli, Chantal; Croy, Ilona & Sailer, Uta (2019). Depression predicts interpersonal problems partially through the attitude towards social touch. Journal of Affective Disorders. ISSN 0165-0327. 246, p. 234–240. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2018.12.054. Full text in Research Archive
  • Ree, Anbjørn; Mayo, Leah M; Leknes, Siri & Sailer, Uta (2018). Touch targeting C-tactile afferent fibers has a unique physiological pattern: A combined electrodermal and facial electromyography study . Biological Psychology. ISSN 0301-0511. 140, p. 55–63. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2018.11.006.
  • Rosenberger, Lisa Anna; Ree, Anbjørn; Eisenegger, Christoph & Sailer, Uta (2018). Slow touch targeting CT-fibres does not increase prosocial behaviour in economic laboratory tasks. Scientific Reports. ISSN 2045-2322. 8(1). doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-25601-7. Full text in Research Archive
  • Sailer, Uta & Ackerley, Rochelle (2017). Exposure shapes the perception of affective touch. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. ISSN 1878-9293. doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2017.07.008.
  • Triscoli, Chantal; Croy, Ilona; Steudte-Schmiedgen, Susann; Olausson, Håkan & Sailer, Uta (2017). Heart rate variability is enhanced by long-lasting pleasant touch at CT-optimized velocity. Biological Psychology. ISSN 0301-0511. 128, p. 71–81. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2017.07.007.
  • Triscoli, Chantal; Croy, Ilona; Olausson, Håkan & Sailer, Uta (2017). Touch between romantic partners: Being stroked is more pleasant than stroking and decelerates heart rate. Physiology and Behavior. ISSN 0031-9384. 177, p. 169–175. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2017.05.006.
  • Kogler, Lydia; Sailer, Uta; Derntl, Birgit & Pfabigan, Daniela (2017). Processing expected and unexpected uncertainty is modulated by fearless-dominance personality traits - An exploratory ERP study on feedback processing. Physiology and Behavior. ISSN 0031-9384. 168, p. 74–83. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2016.10.016.
  • Sailer, Uta; Triscoli, Chantal; Häggblad, Gisela; Hamilton, Paul; Olausson, Håkan & Croy, Ilona (2016). Temporal dynamics of brain activation during 40 minutes of pleasant touch. NeuroImage. ISSN 1053-8119. 139, p. 360–367. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.06.031.
  • Sailer, Uta; Riva, Federica; Lieberz, Jana; Campbell-Meiklejohn, Daniel; Scheele, Dirk & Pfabigan, Daniela Melitta (2002). Hungry for compliments? Ghrelin is not associated with neural responses to social rewards or their pleasantness. bioRxiv. ISSN 2692-8205. doi: 10.1101/2022.11.18.516889.

View all works in Cristin

  • Pfabigan, Daniela Melitta; Hertel, Jens Kristoffer; Svanevik, Marius; Lindberg, Morten; Sailer, Uta & Hjelmesæth, Jøran Sture (2023). Single-centre, non-randomised clinical trial at a tertiary care centre to investigate 1-year changes in social experiences and biomarkers of well-being after bariatric surgery in individuals with severe obesity: protocol for the Bariatric Surgery and Social Experiences (BaSES) study. BMJ open gastroenterology. ISSN 2054-4774. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-071332.
  • Jacobsen, Hilde Kristin; Tandberg, Bente; Kynø, Nina M & Sailer, Uta (2023). Is parental attitude related to the amount of time they devote to skin-to-skin contact with their preterm infant?
  • Sailer, Uta; Riva, Federica & Pfabigan, Daniela Melitta (2022). DOES THE HUNGER HORMONE GHRELIN INFLUENCE THE BRAIN'S RESPONSE TO SOCIAL RECOGNITION? Psychophysiology. ISSN 0048-5772. 59(S1), p. S68–S68. doi: 10.1111/psyp.14144.
  • Pfabigan, Daniela M. & Sailer, Uta (2021). BEING FASTED REDUCES TOUCH REWARD.
  • Pfabigan, Daniela M.; Ree, Anbjørn & Sailer, Uta (2021). Being hungry decreases the pleasantness of touch.
  • Croy, Ilona & Sailer, Uta (2021). Zurücktreten, bitte! Psychologie heute. ISSN 0340-1677. p. 40–44.

View all works in Cristin

Published Apr. 13, 2016 1:18 PM - Last modified Sep. 20, 2023 12:59 PM