Uta Sailer

Professor - Department of Behavioural Medicine

Norwegian version of this page

Email uta.sailer@medisin.uio.no

Phone +47 22851032

Room 1161

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Visiting address Sognsvannsveien 9 Domus Medica 0372 Oslo

Postal address Postboks 1111 Blindern 0317 Oslo

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Academic interests

My current research focus is on the experience, processing and effects of rewards. This includes the processing of feedback and reinforcement and its relationship to learning, as well as the processing of events that produce a pleasant or positive affective experience. In particular, I investigate processes related to pleasant odours and touch, and the factors that underly and affect experienced pleasantness. To unravel these mechanisms, we use psychophysical methods, peripheral physiological measures, endocrine measures and fMRI.

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

Courses taught

Introductory course to the medical PhD programme (MF9010E)

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)

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
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
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
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
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
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
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; 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
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
Rosenberger, Lisa Anna; Ree, AnbjÃ¸rn; 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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.

View all works in Cristin

Croy, Ilona & Sailer, Uta (2021). Zurücktreten, bitte! Psychologie heute. ISSN 0340-1677. p. 40–44.
Pfabigan, Daniela M.; Ree, Anbjørn & Sailer, Uta (2021). Being hungry decreases the pleasantness of touch.
Pfabigan, Daniela M. & Sailer, Uta (2021). BEING FASTED REDUCES TOUCH REWARD. Show summary
Hunger constitutes one of the strongest motivators in the animal kingdom with the potential to override almost all competing incentives. While short-term hunger is ubiquitous in our daily lives, we do not know whether it is strong enough to override strong interpersonal incentives such as affective touch. Thus, this neuroimaging study investigated whether touch reward is influenced by one’s metabolic state. In a within-subject study, 60 participants (16 women) remained once fasted, while they started the other test session with a standardized meal. All rated pleasantness and stimulus intensity for slow (0.3cm/s), CT-targeted (3cm/s), and fast (30cm/s) touch applied to the right shin. For 45 participants (11 women), 3T fMRI data were collected during touch processing. Touch was rated as more pleasant when participants were satiated than when fasted. Additionally, participants rated CT-targeted touch as most pleasant. In accordance, brain activation was enhanced in the right supramarginal gyrus and bilateral paracingulate areas during CT-targeted touch when participants were satiated compared to fasted (cluster-level FWE-corrected p<.05). The more participants reported to enjoy CT-targeted touch when satiated compared to being fasted, the higher the corresponding activation levels in paracingulate areas. Our results are in line with animal studies on motivational hierarchies, as fasting obviously decreased the pleasantness of affective touch. This suggests that metabolic needs can overshadow the rewarding effects of otherwise pleasant stimuli provided in another modality.