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Javier Schneider Peñate

Contact

Ruhr University Bochum
Faculty of Psychology

Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience
Department of Neuropsychology
Universitätsstr. 150
D-44801 Bochum

Office: IB 6/57
Email: javier.schneiderpenate@rub.de


In my doctoral studies

 I focus on the genetic basis of a wide range of phenotypes (e.g., psychological symptoms, intelligence, fear conditioning and extinction, therapy outcomes). Specifically, I examine how single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) implicated in the aetiology of psychological disorders and traits (e.g., anxiety, depression, PTSD, neuroticism, cross-disorder risk), relate to behavioral-, physiological- and self-report measures. A key goal of my research is to determine whether the effects of these SNPs on phenotypes are mediated through MRI-derived neural endophenotypes.


Curriculum Vitae


Since 2021: Reserach Associate
Department of Neuropsychology, Ruhr University Bochum

2021: Internship
Clinical Neuropsychology, Herz-Jesu Hospital Münster

2019-2021: Research Assistant
Department of Neuropsychology, Ruhr University Bochum

2019: Internship
Department of Neuropsychology, Ruhr University Bochum

Since 2021: Doctorate
Department of Neuropsychology, Ruhr University Bochum

2019-2021: M. Sc. in Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience
Ruhr University Bochum
Thesis: Manual or Automatic? Putting standardized EEGPreprocessing to the Test with the Alpha-Asymmetries of Personality

2016-2019: B. Sc. in Psychology
Ruhr University Bochum
Thesis: Subklinische akustische Halluzinationen und auditive Raumwahrnehmung

Preprints

  • Schwaba T, Clapp Sullivan ML, Akingbuwa WA, [...], Schneider Penate JE, [...], Tucker-Drop EM (2025) Robust inference and widespread genetic correlates from a large-scale genetic association study of human personality. bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.05.16.648988

  • Schneider Penate JE, Gomes CA, Spisak T, Genc E, [...], Kumsta R (2025) Polygenic prediction of fear learning is mediated by brain connectivity. medRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.03.12.25323754

  • Engler R, Stammen C, Arnau S, Schneider Penate J, [...], Genc E (2025) Electrophysiological resting-state signatures link polygenic scores to general intelligence. bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.01.17.633388

  • Stammen C, Schneider Penate J, Metzen D, Hönscher MJ, Fraenz C, Schlüter C, Güntürkün O, Kumsta R, Genc E (2025) Neurite density but not myelination of specific fiber tracts links polygenic scores to general intelligence. bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.01.15.633108

  • Gomes CA, Bach DR, Razi A, [...], Schneider JE, [...], Axmacher N (2025) Predicting individual differences of fear and cognitive learning and extinction. bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.05.04.651880

Master's Thesis

  • Schneider J (2022) Manual or Automatic? Putting Standardized Eeg-preprocessing to the Test with the Alpha-asymmetries of Personality. osf. https://osf.io/vc3zg/download

Poster presentations

  • Polygenic prediction of fear learning is mediated by brain connectivity (2024) World Congress of Psychiatric Genetics (WCPG), Singapore.
  • Polygenic prediction of learned fear responses mediated by brain connectivity in the human extinction network (2023) European Meeting of Human Fear Conditioning (EMHFC), Salzburg, Austria.
  • Polygenic prediction of learned fear responses mediated by functional connectivity in the human extinction network (2023) Society for Neuroscience, Washington, US.

Talks

  • Polygenic prediction of learned fear responses (2024) Psychologie und Gehirn (PuG), Hamburg.

Conference Abstract

  • Schneider Penate J, Gomes CA, Engler H, Elsenbruch S, Merz CJ, Wolf OT, Genc E, Spisak T, Güntürkün O, Quick H, Timmann D, Axmacher N, Kumsta R (2024) W14. Polygenic prediction of conditioned fear responses. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol 87:107-108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroneuro.2024.08.223

  • Seminar Imaging Genetics: Polygenic Scores
    Since winter term 2022/2023; M. Sc. Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience

  • Seminar Classical Cases of Neuropsychology (DE)
    Since winter term 2025/2026; B. Sc. Psychology