Dr. Johanna Janson-Schmitt

Education & research experience

  • since 2020: Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Chair of Health Psychology, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg
  • 2019: PhD in Psychology at the Chair of Health Psychology, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg (Thesis: “Variation in Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis Responses to Acute Psychosocial Stress as a Function of Stress Protocol Variations, Coping, and Emotion Regulation“, summa cum laude)
  • 2015-2019: Research Associate and Doctorate candidate at the Chair of Health Psychology, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg
  • 05/2017: Visiting researcher at the Health Psychology Lab, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachussetts, USA
  • 2015: Master of Science in Psychology, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg
  • 2014-2015: Working student R&D Audiology, Sivantos GmbH, Erlangen
  • 2013: Bachelor of Science in Psychology, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg

Research interests

  • Protective effects of Coping and Emotion Regulation skills during acute and chronic stress
  • Biological stress response patterns (Alpha-Amylase, Cortisol, Cytokines) during acute and chronic stress
  • Deviations in biological stress response patterns and their effect on long-term health

Research funding & Scholarships

  • 2021: Research Grant, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
  • 2020: Scholarship, Ilse und Dr. Alexander Mayer-Stiftung
  • 2020: Research Grant, Emerging Talents Initiative (ETI), FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg
  • 2017: Young Investigator Travel Award, International Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology (ISPNE)

Teaching experience

  • Advanced Laboratory in Field Research Methods (Stress research, Progressive Muscle Relaxation, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction)
  • Advanced Laboratory in Experimental Research Methods (Stress research)
  • Seminar Experimental Psychology I (Memory, Perception)

Publications

Journal articles (peer-reviewed)

  • Plank, A.-C., Maschke, J., Mestermann, S., Janson-Schmitt, J., Sturmbauer, S., Eichler, A., & Rohleder, N. (2024). Association of perinatal characteristics with biomarkers of stress and inflammation in young adults: An explorative study. Comprehensive Psychoneuroendocrinology, 19, 100249. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpnec.2024.100249
  • Baird, A., Amirparian, S. Cummins, N., Sturmbauer, S., Janson, J., Messner, E.-M., Baumeister, H., Rohleder, N., & Schuller, B. (2019). Using speech to predict sequentially measured cortisol levels during a Trier Social Stress Test. Proceedings of Interspeech 2019, 534-538. https://doi.org/10.21437/Interspeech.2019-1352
  • Roos, L. G., Janson, J., Sturmbauer, S. C., Bennett, J. M., & Rohleder, N. (2019). Higher trait reappraisal predicts stronger HPA axis habituation to repeated stress. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 101, 12-18. doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2018.10.018
  • Janson, J., & Rohleder, N. (2017). Distraction coping predicts better cortisol recovery after acute psychosocial stress. Biological Psychology, 128, 117-124. doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2017.07.014
  • Goodman, W. K., Janson, J., & Wolf, J. M. (2017). Meta-analytical assessment of the effects of protocol variations on cortisol responses to the Trier Social Stress Test. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 80, 26-35. doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2017.02.030

Conference contributions (presentations)

  • Rohleder, N., Janson, J., & Sturmbauer, S. (2020). Inflammatory responses to repeated acute stress in the laboratory. Virtual Meeting of the International Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology (ISPNE).
  • Goodman, W. K., Janson, J., & Wolf, J. M. (2018). Overcoming statistical challenges when developing a prototypical cortisol recovery model in response to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). 76th Annual Meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society (APS), Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
  • Rohleder, N., Janson, J. & Sturmbauer, S. (2017). Mechanisms of habituation versus sensitization of inflammatory responses to repeated acute stress. 47th Annual Conference of the International Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology (ISPNE), Zurich, Switzerland.

Conference contributions (poster)

  • Janson, J., Rohleder, N., & Kirschbaum, C. (2020). The role of temporal distance between repeated stress inductions for habituation of hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis responses to stress. Virtual Annual Meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society (APS).
  • Janson, J., Becker, S., Sturmbauer, S., & Rohleder, N. (2020). The role of anxiety-related emotional arousal and worry for biological stress response patterns. 78th Annual Meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society (APS), Long Beach, California, USA. Conference cancelled.
  • Janson, J., Sturmbauer, S., & Rohleder, N. (2019). Adaptive and maladaptive coping differentially predicts pro-inflammatory immune responses to repeated acute stress. 26th Annual Meeting of the PsychoNeuroImmunolgy Research Society (PNIRS), Berlin, Germany.
  • Janson, J., Sturmbauer, S., & Rohleder, N. (2019). Adaptive and maladaptive coping differentially predicts pro-inflammatory immune responses to repeated acute stress. Annual Meeting of the German Endocrine Brain Immune Network (GEBIN), Berlin, Germany.
  • Janson, J., Sturmbauer, S., & Rohleder, N. (2019). Differential associations of adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies with stress response patterns of plasma IL-6 and IL-6 gene expression. 77th Annual Meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society (APS), Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
  • Janson, J., Sturmbauer, S., Roos, L. G., & Rohleder, N. (2018). Cortisol habituation mediates the relationship between positive trait coping and plasma interleukin-6 habituation. 76th Annual Meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society (APS), Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
  • Roos, L. G., Janson, J., Sturmbauer, S., Bennett, J. M., & Rohleder, N. (2018). The role of emotion regulation strategies in HPA axis habituation to acute stress. 76th Annual Meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society (APS), Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
  • Janson, J. & Rohleder, N. (2017). State and trait coping is differentially linked to cortisol and alpha-amylase recovery from acute psychosocial stress. 47th Annual Conference of the International Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology (ISPNE), Zurich, Switzerland.
  • Janson, J. & Rohleder, N. (2017). Distraction coping after acute psychosocial stress predicts steeper post-stress cortisol decline. 75th Annual Meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society (APS), Sevilla, Spain.
  • Janson, J., Goodman, W. & Wolf, J. M. (2016). A Meta-Analytic Review of Trier Social Stress Test Procedure Effects on Cortisol Stress Responses. Poster accepted for presentation at the 50th Annual Meeting of the Deutschen Gesellschaft für Psychologie (DGPs), Leipzig, Germany.
  • Janson, J. & Rohleder, N. (2016). Distraction coping predicts better cortisol recovery after acute psychosocial stress. Poster accepted for presentation at the 46th Annual Conference of the International Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology (ISPNE), Miami, Florida, USA.
  • Goodman, W., Janson, J. & Wolf, J. M. (2016). A Systematic Review of Cortisol Recovery Determinants. 46th Annual Conference of the International Society of Psychoneuroendorinology (ISPNE), Miami, Florida, USA.
  • Goodman, W., Janson, J., Rohleder, N. & Wolf, J. M. (2016). Do I Have to Stick to the Protocol? A Systematic Review of TSST Procedures. 74th Annual Meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society (APS), Denver, Colorado, USA.