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  • E-mailBerge.Osnes@uib.no
  • Phone+47 55 58 62 11
  • Visitor Address
    Alrek helseklynge, Årstadveien 17
    5009 Bergen
  • Postal Address
    Postboks 7807
    5020 Bergen

Research interests:

  • Etiology of emotion regulation difficulties 
  • Relation between cognitive control and emotion regulation difficulties.
  • Interception
  • Psychophysiology/heart rate variability
  • Role of alexithymia in psychopathology and treatment
  • Psychotherapy research

Emotion regulation difficulties are common for individuals who have experienced aversive life events and invalidation and for some individuals with cognitive difficulties such as attention difficulties. In my research, an important measure in the study of emotion regulation difficulties has been heart rate variability (HRV) in combination with clinical, experimental, and self-report measures. HRV is considered an index of the nervous system’s ability to flexibly adapt to changing environmental demands and a biological index of emotion regulation. In my research, HRV is also applied to investigate functional aspects of phenomena related to emotion regulation difficulties, such as alexithymia, emotional bias, internalizing difficulties, and emotion regulation strategies, both in psychopathological (major depression, borderline personality disorder, bipolar disorder, and ADHD) and healthy samples.  In relation to psychotherapeutic interventions for emotion regulation difficulties, my research interest is particularly in non-suicidal self-harm (NSSH), and its relation to attention disorders and difficulties with pragmatic language. 

One transdiagnostic factor that predicts both the severity of psychopathology and prognosis is alexithymia, which refers to difficulty in verbalizing, experiencing, and differentiating emotions. An important aspect of my current and future research is developing tools to identify and study this phenomenon experimentally. It is of great importance to study both the differential manifestation of alexithymia and to study its prevalence in psychiatric populations. Furthermore, I am interested in therapeutic interventions that target and alleviate these difficulties because of their prognostic importance. This interest has a broad scope, including Dialectical Behavioral Therapy and Unified Protocol.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Berge-Osnes

Primary teaching responsibilities are associated with the professional psychology program within the following topics:

In addition, Osnes is the section leader for the section for adults and the elderly at the Psychological University Clinic (Psykologisk universitetspoliklinikk)

Osnes has also extensive experience in teaching psychophysiology (PRPSYK303), cognitive neuroscience (PRPSYK304), and neuropsychological testing (PRPSYK306).

Academic article
  • Show author(s) (2023). Unified Protocol. Transdiagnostisk behandling for emosjonelle lidelser . Tidsskrift for Norsk Psykologforening. 821-830.
  • Show author(s) (2023). Reduced heart rate variability during mania in a repeated naturalistic observational study. Frontiers in Psychiatry.
  • Show author(s) (2023). Neurobiological mechanisms of ECT and TMS treatment in depression: study protocol of a multimodal magnetic resonance investigation. BMC Psychiatry.
  • Show author(s) (2022). Vagally mediated heart rate variability, stress, and perceived social support: a focus on sex differences. Stress. 113-121.
  • Show author(s) (2022). Self-Compassion and Its Association With Ruminative Tendencies and Vagally Mediated Heart Rate Variability in Recurrent Major Depression. Frontiers in Psychology.
  • Show author(s) (2022). Low heart rate variability is associated with a negativity valence bias in interpreting ambiguous emotional expressions. Emotion. 9 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2022). Innovative approaches in investigating inter-beat intervals: Graph theoretical method suggests altered autonomic functioning in adolescents with ADHD. Psychophysiology. 1-19.
  • Show author(s) (2021). Self-criticism and self-reassurance in individuals with recurrent depression: Effects of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy and relationship to relapse. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research. 1-12.
  • Show author(s) (2021). HYPERAKTIV: An Activity Dataset from Patients with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). MMSys '21: Proceedings of the 12th ACM Multimedia Systems Conference.
  • Show author(s) (2020). The effects of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy on risk and protective factors of depressive relapse – a randomized wait-list controlled trial . BMC Psychology.
  • Show author(s) (2020). Study protocol of the Bergen brain-gut-microbiota-axis study: A prospective case-report characterization and dietary intervention study to evaluate the effects of microbiota alterations on cognition and anatomical and functional brain connectivity in patients with irritable bowel syndrome. Medicine. 1-8.
  • Show author(s) (2020). Lower Cardiac Vagal Activity Predicts Self-Reported Difficulties With Emotion Regulation in Adolescents With ADHD. Frontiers in Psychiatry.
  • Show author(s) (2020). Is Dispositional Self-Compassion Associated With Psychophysiological Flexibility Beyond Mindfulness? An Exploratory Pilot Study. Frontiers in Psychology.
  • Show author(s) (2020). Cortical thickness and resting‐state cardiac function across the lifespan: A cross‐sectional pooled mega‐analysis. Psychophysiology. 16 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2019). The association between juvenile onset of depression and emotion regulation difficulties. Frontiers in Psychology. 1-12.
  • Show author(s) (2019). Can clinical psychology students benefit from brief and intensive mindfulness training? Counselling and Psychotherapy Research.
  • Show author(s) (2019). A psychophysiological investigation of the interplay between orienting and executive control during stimulus conflict: A heart rate variability study. Physiology and Behavior. 1-8.
  • Show author(s) (2018). Dispositional mindfulness and attentional control: The specific association between the mindfulness facets of non-judgment and describing with flexibility of early operating orienting in conflict detection. Frontiers in Psychology. 1-9.
  • Show author(s) (2017). The association between self-reported difficulties in emotion regulation and heart rate variability: The salient role of not accepting negative emotions. Frontiers in Psychology. 1-9.
  • Show author(s) (2017). Listening to rhythmic music reduces connectivity within the basal ganglia and the reward system. Frontiers in Neuroscience. 1-7.
  • Show author(s) (2016). Trait self-compassion reflects emotional flexibility through an association with high vagally mediated heart rate variability. Mindfulness. 1103-1113.
  • Show author(s) (2014). Resting states are resting traits - An fMRI study of sex differences and menstrual cycle effects in resting state cognitive control networks. PLOS ONE.
  • Show author(s) (2012). Stimulus expectancy modulates inferior frontal gyrus and premotor cortex activity in auditory perception. Brain and Language. 65-69.
  • Show author(s) (2012). Language lateralization and cognitive control across the menstrual cycle assessed with a dichotic-listening paradigm. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 1866-1875.
  • Show author(s) (2011). Increased activation in superior temporal gyri as a function of increment in phonetic features. Brain and Language. 97-101.
  • Show author(s) (2011). Effective connectivity analysis demonstrates involvement of premotor cortex during speech perception. NeuroImage. 2437-2445.
  • Show author(s) (2010). Effective connectivity analysis demonstrates involvement of premotor cortex during speech perception. NeuroImage. 2437-2445.
  • Show author(s) (2009). Detection of differential speech-specific processes in the temporal lobe using fMRI and a dynamic "sound morphing" technique. Human Brain Mapping. 3436-3444.
Academic lecture
  • Show author(s) (2023). Parent training for ADHD difficulties.
  • Show author(s) (2022). Foreldreveiledning ved ADHD vansker hos barn - forskningsevaluering av tiltaket.
  • Show author(s) (2022). Foreldrestøtte ved ADHD vansker - De Utrolige Årene.
  • Show author(s) (2022). Foreldrestøtte ved ADHD vansker.
  • Show author(s) (2022). De Utrolige Årene foreldreveiledning rettet mot ADHD vansker.
  • Show author(s) (2016). This is not a brain: The problem of data visualisation in cognitive neuroscience.
  • Show author(s) (2016). The functional interaction between attention networks reflects enhanced flexible and adaptive abilities – as measured with heart rate variability .
  • Show author(s) (2010). “Non-auditory” involvement in auditory perception.
  • Show author(s) (2008). When a sound becomes speech.
Feature article
  • Show author(s) (2017). Hjernen gjør motstand. Le Monde Diplomatique.
Doctoral dissertation
  • Show author(s) (2012). Temporal and Posterior Frontal Involvement in Auditory Speech Perception.
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
  • Show author(s) (2015). Attentional Lapses as a Transdiagnostic Factor to Target Treatment in Mental Health Disorders: The Role of Mindfulness Training. 24 pages.
Poster
  • Show author(s) (2023). The effects of different Light Conditions on Emotional Processing in Young Adults.
  • Show author(s) (2023). Light exposure, sleep quality, and sleepiness as predictors of memory decline in older adults: A cohort study from Norway .
  • Show author(s) (2023). Effect of light on an emotional go/no-go task in young adults.
  • Show author(s) (2012). Sex differences in resting state activity within the inferior frontal gyrus is only evident when women are in the follicular phase.
  • Show author(s) (2012). Intra-individual differences in cognitive control across the menstrual cycle assessed with the dichotic listening paradigm.
  • Show author(s) (2012). Executive functions & frontal lobe: Cognitive control modulation of ear advantage across the menstrual cycle assessed by a dichotic listening paradigm.
  • Show author(s) (2011). Instruction 
dependent 
modulation
 of 
speech

 production
 areas 
in 
auditory
perception.
  • Show author(s) (2011). Instruction dependent activations during a speech perception task.
  • Show author(s) (2011). Asymmetric Mismatch Negativity Responses to Parametrically Varied Speech and Music Sounds.
  • Show author(s) (2010). Speech Sounds Initiate Effective Connectivity between Auditory and Premotor Areas.
  • Show author(s) (2010). Effective connectivity analysis demonstrates involvement of premotor cortex during speech perception.
  • Show author(s) (2010). Effective connectivity analysis demonstrates involvement of premotor cortex during speech perception.
  • Show author(s) (2010). Dynamic causal modelling reveals involvement of premotor cortex during speech perception.
  • Show author(s) (2010). Differential inferior frontal activation by an implicit lexical decision task.
  • Show author(s) (2010). Differential Processing of Phonetic and Non-phonetic Information Involving the Same Areas in Superior Temporal Gyrus.
  • Show author(s) (2010). Dance floor in the brain.
  • Show author(s) (2009). The neural basis of left-right decisions – a pilot fMRI study.
  • Show author(s) (2009). Speech sensitivity in early auditory processes.
  • Show author(s) (2009). Mismatch negativity responses to parametrically varied speech and music sounds.
  • Show author(s) (2009). Effective connectivity analysis demonstrates involvement of premotor cortex during speech perception.
  • Show author(s) (2008). Dance floor in the brain.
  • Show author(s) (2007). “Soundmorphing”: Tracing the differential perception of speech and music with gradually manipulated sound spectra.
  • Show author(s) (2007). Soundmorphing": Tracing the differential perception of speech and music with gradually manipulated sound spectra.
Errata
  • Show author(s) (2018). Correction to: Trait Self-Compassion Reflects Emotional Flexibility Through an Association with High Vagally Mediated Heart Rate Variability\. Mindfulness. 1994-1995.

More information in national current research information system (CRIStin)

Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders (Unified Protocol):

The Unified Protocol (UP) focuses on underlying emotion regulation difficulties that are common across various mental disorders. This project consists of multiple components. A feasibility study of UP has been initiated in a Norwegian context. The project will also enable the investigation of potential changes in interoceptive ability (sensing internal bodily functions like the heart and respiration) and heart rate variability (which is linked to emotion regulation ability) in individuals undergoing treatment within the framework of UP. Professor Elisabeth Schanche, Associate Professor Jon Vøllestand, and Associate Professor Berge Osnes lead this project. A larger European multisite study (RCT) involving units from Spain, Portugal, Romania, Germany, Denmark, and Norway is planned. In this part of the project, new digital solutions and technological tools, such as smartphone apps, will be utilized and tested.

Sleep in Psychiatric Care (SIP): A Transdiagnostic Group-based Sleep School as Treatment for Comorbid Sleep Disorders:

This project involves manualizing non-pharmacological sleep treatment in groups for people with psychiatric illness and substance use disorders. It offers an evidence-based approach to delivering non-pharmacological sleep treatment to people with psychiatric illness and SUD with comorbid insomnia and delayed sleep-wake phase disorder (DSWPD). Dr. Ane Wilhelmsen-Langeland is the project leader. The project includes actigraphy, 24-hour heart rate variability monitoring, and regular sleep measurements. It is supported by the DAM Foundation.

https://www.uib.no/fg/sc/142812/sleep-psychiatric-care-sip-transdiagnost...

Dynamond:

ADHD, bipolar disorder (BipD), and borderline personality disorder (BPersD) are all characterized by fluctuations in affect. In this project, we use the DynAffect model, which posits the existence of an affective attractor (homebase) reflecting an individual's primary affective state. This project proposes the existence of a second "homebase" during depressive episodes. The aim of this project is to analyze mood changes using detailed real-world data from young patients. The goal is to explore both shared and unique aspects of affective fluctuations across these disorders and to link external stressors to their affective state.

The project is funded by the EU (ERA-NET NEURON https://www.neuron-eranet.eu) and involves multiple units across Europe, coordinated by Dr. Professor Andreas Reif (University Hospital Frankfurt). The Norwegian unit is led by Professor Jan Haavik (project leader), Associate Professor Anne Halmøy, Professor Astrid Lundervold, and Associate Professor Berge Osnes.

https://www.neuron-eranet.eu/projects/DynAMoND/

Other Collaborative Projects:

Specialist in clinical psychology with a specialization in clinical adult psychology. (Particular expertise in psychosis, personality disorders, self-harm, and suicidal behavior)

Licensed therapist in Dialectical Behavior Therapy.

Licensed therapist in the "Unified Protocol."