Brain health does not arise in the brain alone. It is also shaped by body systems that mostly function unnoticed—including the autonomic nervous system, which controls heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, and stress responses. This is the starting point of Mather's research. She studies how changes in these regulatory systems across the lifespan affect memory, emotion, and brain health.
A central focus of her work is on biological processes that can precede neurodegenerative diseases by many years. Mather examines whether changes in the autonomic nervous system occurring as early as young and middle adulthood eventually affect the future health of the brain. At the center of her research is the locus coeruleus, a brainstem region just a few millimeters in size. It regulates the neurotransmitter noradrenaline, which influences attention, alertness, and stress responses, among other things. At the same time, the locus coeruleus is among the first brain regions to show changes linked to Alzheimer's disease.
"We know remarkably little about what happens in the autonomic nervous system between the ages of 20 and 40," says Mara Mather. "Yet some of the most significant physiological changes take place during this period. We want to understand what consequences these changes have for brain health."
To pursue these questions, Mather combines state-of-the-art brain imaging with physiological measurements and long-term studies. A key focus of the new research center is the development of multimodal 7 Tesla imaging methods for the locus coeruleus. Mather’s research team will benefit from the Institute's emerging research infrastructure, which includes a 7 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner. The system's high resolution provides insights into small brain structures that have been difficult to study so far.
Mather is also planning the first long-term study to track changes in the autonomic nervous system across the age range of 20 to 60 and relate them to biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease. In addition, the research center will use randomized studies to investigate whether safe, everyday interventions—such as slow breathing techniques or so-called 4-7-8 breathing—influence physiological regulation processes, and whether this produces measurable changes in brain function, emotion, and cognitive performance.
Mather's work has significantly shaped research on the relationship between emotion and aging. She is known, among other things, for her work on the positivity effect: numerous studies show that older adults tend to direct their attention and memory toward positive rather than negative information more often than younger adults do. Going forward, she plans to connect these findings with her research on the autonomic nervous system, addressing the question of how people can preserve emotional well-being despite the physical impairments that accompany aging.
With the appointment of Mara Mather, the Max Planck Institute for Human Development is expanding its cognitive neuroscience research to include an area that jointly considers body, brain, and emotions.
"With Mara Mather, we are gaining an outstanding researcher who will greatly enrich the Institute's scientific profile," says Ulman Lindenberger, Managing Director of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development. "Mara has visited the Institute before, as a Max Planck Sabbatical Awardee and a Humboldt Research Fellow. We are thrilled that we were able to attract her to Berlin permanently as a director and colleague. Her research will help elucidate how changes in the body across the lifespan affect brain health."
Mara Mather studied psychology as an undergraduate at Stanford University and earned her PhD in cognitive psychology from Princeton University. After positions at Stanford University and the University of California, Santa Cruz, she was Professor of Gerontology, Psychology, and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Southern California. As of September 1, 2026, she is the head of the Center for Affective and Autonomic Neuroscience (CAAN) at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development. Mather has received numerous honors for her scientific work, including a National Institute of Health Career Award, the American Psychological Association Award for Distinguished Scientific Early Career Contributions to Psychology, and Association for Applied Psychophysiological and Biofeedback Distinguished Scientist Award, as well as awards for her teaching, mentoring, and service. Based on the scientific impact of her publications, she is ranked among the most highly cited researchers worldwide. She is also a fellow of several international scientific societies and serves on scientific advisory boards and editorial boards.
Interview with Mara Mather:
https://mpibreport26.iwww.mpg.de/109827/article-mather-body-and-mind