Richard Davidson

Research Area(s)
Biology of Brain and Behavior
Clinical

Lab Website
Center for Healthy Minds
Website: centerhealthyminds.org

Research Interests
Research in my laboratories is focused on cortical and subcortical substrates of emotion and affective disorders, including depression and anxiety. We study normal adults and young children, and those with, or at risk for, affective and anxiety disorders. We use quantitative electrophysiology, positron emission tomography and functional magnetic resonance imaging to make inferences about patterns of regional brain function. A major focus of our current work is on interactions between prefrontal cortex and the amygdala in the regulation of emotion in both normal subjects and patients with affective and anxiety disorders.

Representative Publications
Series in Affective Science
Richard J. Davidson, Paul Ekman, Klaus R. Scherer, Editors

Emotion
Richard J. Davidson and Klaus R. Scherer, Editors

Dalton KM, Nacewicz BM, Johnstone T, Schaefer HS, Gernsbacher MA, Goldsmith HH, Alexander AL, Davidson RJ. (2005) Gaze fixation and the neural circuitry of face processing in autism. Nature Neuroscience. 8, 519-526

Lutz A, Greischar LL, Rawlings NB, Ricard M, Davidson RJ. (2004) Long-term meditators self-induce high-amplitude gamma synchrony during mental practice. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 101:16369-73

Davidson RJ. (2004) Well-being and affective style: neural substrates and biobehavioural correlates. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (London). 359:1395-411