Greg Dixon                University of Wisconsin - Madison                638 WJ Brogden Hall                1202 W Johnson St                Madison WI 53706 USA Obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the United States, and related conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, and stroke have become primary causes of preventable death and disability in the US and other industrialized nations. The CDC reports that today in the United States, nearly 1 in 5 children is overweight. One aspect of obesity concerns exercise. What motivates people to be active and athletic? How do kids become interested in sports? My career objective is to help understand the neural processes of motivation as they relate to athleticism. This involves, at the most basic level, understanding the foundations of motivation. My masters’ research considered approach- and withdrawal-circuitry in the human brain. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, fMRI, I have developed taste paradigms to investigate what neural areas are involved in rewarding, pleasant tastes, and objectionable, aversive tastes. I am interested in what gambling paradigms can tell us about reward centers—and more generally, I hope to apply ideas from the developing science of neuroeconomics to athletic motivation. Specifically, I plan to investigate whether tools of neuromarketing can be used to enhance behaviors that address problems of obesity. My doctoral research involves basic research into those areas, but I am excited to apply what I learn in practice. I would like to take my research and quickly develop it in the real world—to help address a key health problem in the world today.    Education, Awards, Organizations PhD student, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Dept of Psychology Master of Science, Psychology. 2005, University of Wisconsin - Madison Bachelor of Science with Honors. 2002, University of Wisconsin - Madison. Graduated with distinction in top 20% of class and 4.0 GPA in major Summer Research Award. 2005, University of Wisconsin Dept of Psychology National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow. 2004 Wisconsin Idea Fellow. 2002, University of Wisconsin Morgridge Center for Public Service Honors Fellow. 2001, University of Wisconsin - Madison Elected to Psi Chi. 2000, National Psychology Honors Society Wisconsin Small Business Innovation Consortium Award. 1996, Governor Tommy Thompson and the State of Wisconsin SBIR Phase I Grant. 1995, USDA Small Business Innovation Research grant Member, Society for Neuroscience Member, International Primatological Society  Publications Nitschke, J. B., Dixon, G. E., Sarinopoulos, I., Short, S. J., Cohen, J. D., Smith, E. E., Kosslyn, S. M., Rose, R. M., Davidson, R. J. (2006). Altering expectancy dampens neural response to aversive taste in primary taste cortex. Nature Neuroscience, 9(3), 435-442. Sarinopoulos, I., Dixon, G. E., Short, S. J., Davidson, R. J., & Nitschke, J. B. (2006). Brain mechanisms of expectation associated with insula and amydala response to aversive taste: Implication for placebo. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 20(2), 120-132. Dixon, G. E. (2005). Expectations modulate behavioral and neural responses to taste. Master's Thesis, University of Wisconsin, Madison. Dixon, G. E.; Nitschke, J. B.; Short, S. J., Lakshmanan, A., Carew, M. E., Anderle, M. J., Schaefer, H. S., Johnstone, T., Cohen, J. D., Kosslyn, S. M., Smith, E. E., & Davidson, R. J. (2004). Expectancy and modulation of neural activation in response to gustatory stimuli. Poster presented at the 34th Annual Meeting of Society for Neuroscience, San Diego, CA. Dixon, G. E., Nitschke, J. B., & Davidson, R. J. (in preparation) Pleasant and aversive taste reactivity in the human brain. Dixon, G. E., Lakshmanan, A., Nitschke, J. B., Short, S. J., Anderle, M. J., & Davidson, R. J. (in preparation) M.R. Hydra: A device for taste stimulus delivery for functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).  Cirriculum Vitae Click here for Greg Dixon's CV in PDF format  Contact Greg Dixon E-mail Gregory E. Dixon at gedixon@gmail.com Call Greg Dixon at 1.608.345.3642 Greg Dixon, brain, fMRI, athletic motivation, exercise, imaging, functional magnetic resonance imaging, diabetes, neuromarketing, neuroeconomics, reward