Investigators at the Center for Neuroscience work with both human populations and animal models to understand how emotions arise, how they are regulated in neurotypical individuals, and how they are dysregulated in neurological and mental health disorders. Closely related topics of interest involve motivation, reinforcement and arousal. Some specific questions include:
- What are the neural circuits and mechanisms in the brain that underlie emotional phenomena?
- How does early development and the social environment shape emotion?
- What role do age, temperament and gender-related differences play in emotional processes?
- Why does a traumatic experience result in psychopathology for some individuals but leave others unscathed?
- How is cognitive and emotional control affected in traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, autism spectrum disorders, and Fragile X patients?
- How can health-promoting activities such as exercise, sleep and meditation, help with anxiety, psychotic and mood disorders?
- How does music affect emotion?
Faculty studying emotion
In-House
- Diasynou Fioravante, PhD
- Charan Ranganath, PhD
- Jennifer Whistler, PhD
- Brian Wiltgen, PhD
- Andrew Yonelinas, PhD
Affiliated
- David Amaral, PhD
- Eliza Bliss-Moreau, PhD
- Jacqueline Crawley, PhD
- Cecilia Giulivi, PhD
- Amanda Guyer, PhD
- Randi Hagerman, MD
- Petr Janata, PhD
- Richard Maddock, MD
- Christine Wu Nordahl, PhD
- David Olson, PhD
- Julie Schweitzer, PhD
- Julia Devi Sharma, M.D., F.R.C.S.C, F.A.A.N.S.
- Tony Simon, PhD
- Diane Swick, PhD
- Brian Trainor, PhD
- Jie (JZ) Zheng, PhD