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Richard Davidson

Richard Davidson

Professor, Department of Psychology
University of Wisconsin-Madison
rjdavids@wisc.edu

Research in Dr. Richard’s laboratory is focused on cortical and subcortical substrates of emotion, emotion regulation, affective style, mood and anxiety disorders and autism. They study normal adults and young children, and those with, or at risk for, affective and anxiety disorders, autism and related developmental disorders. They use functional magnetic resonance imaging, quantitative electrophysiology, and positron emission tomography to make inferences about patterns of regional brain function. A major focus of our current work is on circuitry that includes prefrontal cortex, amygdala, anterior cingulate and insula that participates in the generation and regulation of emotion in both normal and disordered individuals. They have also begun a program of research designed to examine the biological impact of meditation, particularly as it affects the central circuitry of emotion.



Representative Publications
Ryff, C.D., Love, G.D., Urry, H.L., Muller, D., Rosenkranz, M.A., Friedman, E., Davidson, R.J., & Singer, B. (2006). Psychological well-being and ill-being: Do they have distinct or mirrored biological correlates? Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 75, 85-95.

Salomons, T. V., Johnstone, T., Backonja, M., & Davidson, R. J. (2004). Perceived Controllability Modulates the Neural Response to Pain. Journal of Neuroscience, 24, 7199-7203.

Urry, H. L., Nitschke, J. B., Dolski, I., Jackson, D. C., Dalton, K. M., Mueller, C. J., Rosenkranz, M. A., Ryff, C. D., Singer, B. H., & Davidson, R. J. (2004). Making a life worth living: Neural correlates of well-being. Psychological Science, 15, 367-372.

Rosenkranz, M.A., Jackson, D.C, Dalton K.M., Dolski, I., Ryff, C.D., Singer, B.H., Muller, D., Kalin, N.H., Davidson, R.J. (2003). Affective style and in vivo immune response: Neurobehavioral mechanisms. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 100, 11148-11152.

Davidson, R. J., Kabat-Zinn, J., et al. (2003). Alterations in brain and immune function produced by mindfulness meditation. Psychosomatic Medicine, 65, 564-570.

Davidson, R.J. (2002). Visions of Compassion: Western scientists and Tibetan Buddhists examine human nature. New York: Oxford University Press.

Davidson, R. J., Pizzagalli, D., Nitschke, J. B., & Putnam, K. M. (2002). Depression: Perspectives from affective neuroscience. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 545-574.

Davidson, R. J. (2001). The neural circuitry of emotion and affective style: Prefrontal cortex and amygdala contributions. Social Science Information, 40.

Davidson, R. J. (2001). Toward a biology of personality and emotion. Ann.N.Y.Acad.Sci., 935, 191-207.

Kalin, N. H., Shelton, S. E., Davidson, R. J., & Kelley, A. E. (2001). The primate amygdala mediates acute fear but not the behavioral and physiological components of anxious temperament. Journal of Neuroscience, 21, 2067-2074.

Pizzagalli, D., Pascual-Marqui, R. D., Nitschke, J. B., Oakes, T. R., Larson, C. L., Abercrombie, H. C., Schaefer, S. M., Koger, J. V., Benca, R. M., & Davidson, R. J. (2001). Anterior cingulate activity as a predictor of degree of treatment response in major depression: evidence from brain electrical tomography analysis. Am.J Psychiatry, 158, 405-415.

Davidson, R.J., Putnam, K.M. & Larson, C.L. (2000). Dysfunction in the neural circuitry of emotion regulation-A possible prelude to violence. Science, 289, 591-594.

Davidson, R.J., Jackson, D.C. & Kalin, N.H. (2000). Emotion, plasticity, context and regulation: Perspectives from affective neuroscience. Psychological Bulletin, 126, 890-906.

Davidson, R.J. (2000). Affective style, psychopathology, and resilience: Brain mechanisms and plasticity. American Psychologist, 55, 1196-1214.

Davidson, R.J., Marshall, J.R., Tomarken, A.J. & Henriques, J.B. (2000). While a phobic waits: Regional brain electrical and autonomic activity in social phobics during anticipation of public speaking. Biological Psychiatry, 47, 85-95.

Davidson, R.J., Coe, C.L., Dolski, I, & Donzella, B. (1999). Individual differences in prefrontal activation asymmetry predict natural killer cell activity at rest and in response to challenge. Brain, Behavior and Immunity 13: 93-108.

Davidson, R.J. & Irwin, W. (1999). The functional neuroanatomy of emotion and affective style. Trends in Cognitive Science, 3,11-21.

Davidson, R.J., Abercrombie, H.C., Nitschke, J. & Putnam, K. (1999). Regional brain function, emotion and disorders of emotion. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 9, 228-234.

Abercrombie, H.C., Schaefer, S.M., Larson, C.L., Oakes, T.R., Lindgren, K.A., Holden, J.E., Perlman, S.E., Turski, P.A., Krahn, D.D., Benca, R.M., & Davidson, R.J. (1998). Metabolic rate in the right amygdala predicts negative affect in depressed patients. NeuroReport, 9, 3301-3307.

Davidson, R.J. (1998). Affective style and affective disorders: Perspectives from affective neuroscience. Cognition and emotion, 12, 307-330.

Sutton, S.K. & Davidson, R.J. (1997). Prefrontal brain asymmetry: A biological substrate of the behavioral approach and inhibition systems. Psychological Science, 8, 204-210.

Irwin, W., Davidson, R.J., Lowe, M.J., Mock, B.J., Sorenson, J.A. & Turski, P.A. (1996). Human amygdala activation detected with echo-planar functional magnetic resonance imaging. NeuroReport, 7, 1765-1769.

Davidson, R.J. & Sutton, S.K. (1995). Affective neuroscience: The emergence of a discipline. Special Cognitive Neuroscience issue for Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 5, 217-224.

Davidson, R.J. & Hughdahl, K. (1995). Brain asymmetry. (Eds.) Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Tomarken, A.J., & Davidson, R.J. (1994). Frontal brain activation in repressors and nonrepressors. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 103, 339-349.

Davidson, R.J. (1994). Asymmetric brain function, affective style and psychopathology: The role of early experience and plasticity. Development and Psychopathology, 6, 741-758..