Perspectives and challenges for the study of brain responses to coaching: Enhancing the dialogue between the fields of neuroscience and coaching psychology

Article: The interest in coaching psychology and neuroscience have been steadily increasing over the past 15 years. However, the two fields have not yet established consistent dialogues underpinned by experimental research. This paper highlights the importance of such dialogue for the growth of evidence-based coaching and how coaching psychology could benefit from previous neuroimaging and electroencephalographic studies in the field of psychotherapy and task-specific brain functioning to design research protocols that could significantly contribute to our understanding of how coaching works at the brain level and how coachees could best achieve results.

The British Neuroscience Association (BNA) is the largest UK organisation representing all aspects of neuroscience.

The Aims of the BNA are to:

• promote neuroscience research
• organise lectures, symposia, meetings, events and reports
• advise on issues in neuroscience
• engage with the public and the media
• train neuroscientists and other neuroscience-related professionals
• represent UK neuroscience to Government, funding agencies, and science administration, regulation and standards organisations.

The BNA is a growing learned society with around 1700 members. There are many benefits of membership, including free or discounted registration for events, discounted journals and books, the BNA Journal and many other offers.

Another article by the team at the Coaching Psychology Unit, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Brazil and the Centre for Neuroscience, International Academy for Professional Development. The group undertook a systematic review of electroencephalographic findings in patients with major depressive disorder during cognitive or emotional tasks. The studies identified reveal the frontal cortex as an important brain structure involved in the
complex neural processes associated with MDD. Findings point to disorganization of right-hemisphere
activity and deficient cognitive processing in MDD. Depressed individuals tend to ruminate on negative
information and respond with a pattern of relatively higher right frontal activity to emotional stimuli
associated with withdrawal and isolation.

Take a look at the article, in press.

de Freitas, S.B., Marques, A.A., Bevilaqua, M. C., de Carvalho, M. R., Ribeiro, P., Palmer, S., Nardi, A. E. & Dias, G. P. (in press). Electroencephalographic findings in patients with major depressive disorder during cognitive or emotional tasks: a systematic review. Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatria. DOI: 10.1590/1516-4446-2015-1834.

FENS Forum 2016: Copenhagen. 2-6 July.

The FENS Forum is fast approaching and this year it will take place in the lively city of Copenhagen.
The Forum scientific programme is designed to bring you engaging science from some of the world’s top neuroscientists, plus an impressive list of high-profile satellite meetings along with special interest and networking events. These offer opportunities for both young and established neuroscientists to expand their networks. We warmly invite you to have a look at the programme, which includes:

Featured Lectures
• The Presidential Lecture with Nobel Prize winners John O’Keefe (UK), Edvard Moser (Norway) and May-Britt Moser (Norway) (4 July)
• The Brain Cavalcade, with five winners of the Brain Prize from 2011-2015 (2 July)
• The FENS-EJN Awards winners Antonello Bonci (USA) Jerry Chen (Switzerland) Lars Schwabe (Germany) (6 July)
Satellite Events
• Cells, Circuits and Computation: Expanding the Horizons of Big Data Analysis – Allen Institute for Brain Science and HBP
• Mechanisms of neurodegeneration and progression: From mechanisms to therapies in Parkinson’s disease – Neurotoxicity Society
• Nutrition for the Ageing Brain – ILSI Europe Nutrition and Mental Performance Task Force
Special Interest Events
• Why do we need to use animals in research?
• Bridging Knowledge Session: Alpha-synuclein prion like forms as target for therapy in Parkinson’s disease and other synucleinopathies
• Code of Conduct and Ethics in Science
Come and join over 6,000 researchers sharing your passion for neuroscience, in the capital of Northern Europe – Copenhagen.
Deadline for online registration: 20 June. Register here.
www.forum2016.fens.org/

We are pleased to announce that Dr Gisele Dias PhD has joined the Centre for Neuroscience faculty. Dr Dias is a neuroscientist, psychologist and coaching psychologist. She is Director of the Coaching Psychology Unit and member of the Translational Neurobiology Unit at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Brazil.

She has published several original articles and review papers in both psychology and neuroscience journals. This includes articles on coaching psychology and also the problems involved in undertaking neuroscience research applied to the field of coaching psychology.

Her main research areas of interest are the neurobiological correlates of coaching outcomes and the interface between coaching, positive psychology and mental health/wellbeing. She is first author of “Cognitive-behavioural coaching: evidence-based and solution-focused human development”, published in Brazil in 2015 by Editora Cognitiva.

Professor Stephen Palmer,  said, “We are really pleased that Dr Gisele Dias has joined the team. Her experience in both coaching psychology and neuroscience brings together two fields that are of great interest to our students at our affiliated centres which are attached to the International Academy for Professional Development.”