Laboratory Director

Richard Davidson

Richard J. Davidson
Vilas Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry
Ph.D. 1976, Harvard University

Brodgen Office: 538
Phone: 608.262.8972
Waisman Center Office: T-225
Phone: 608.265.8189
Email:

Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience
Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging & Behavior

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.

Dr. Davidson's Biographical Sketch (PDF) or CV (PDF)
Full list of articles, books and chapters

Representative Publications

Davidson, R. J. & Lutz, A. (2008). Buddha’s Brain:  Neuroplasticity and Meditation. IEEE Signal Processing 25(1), 171-174.

Lutz, A., Brefczynski-Lewis, J. A., Johnstone, T., & Davidson, R. J. (2008). Voluntary regulation of the neural circuitry of emotion by compassion meditation: Effects of expertise. PLoS One 3(3), e1897.

Lutz, A., Slagter, H. A., Dunne, J., & Davidson, R. J. (2008). Attention regulation and monitoring in meditation. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 12 (4), 163-169. NIHMS # 82882

Brefczynski-Lewis J. A., Lutz, A., Schaefer, H. S., Levinson, D. B. & Davidson, R. J. (2007). Neural correlates of attentional expertise in long-term meditation practitioners. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104(27) 11483-11488.

Dalton, K. M., Nacewicz, B. M., Alexander, A. L., & Davidson, R. J. (2007). Gaze-fixation, brain activation and amygdala volume in unaffected siblings of individuals with autism. Biological Psychiatry 61 (4), 512-520.

Johnstone, T., van Reekum, C. M., Urry, H. L., Kalin, N. H. & Davidson R. J. (2007). Failure to regulate:  Counter-productive recruitment of top-down prefrontal-subcortical circuitry in major depression. Journal of Neuroscience 27: 8877-8884.

Coan, J. A., Schaefer, H. S. & Davidson, R. J. (2006). Lending a hand: Social regulation of the neural response to threat. Psychological Science, 17(12) 1032-1039.

Larson, C. L., Schaefer, H. S., Siegle, G. J., Jackson, C. A. B., Anderle, M. J., & Davidson, R. J. (2006). Fear is fast in phobics: Amygdala activation in response to fear-relevant stimuli. Biological Psychiatry, 60, 410-417.

Nacewicz, B.M., Dalton, K.M., Johnstone, T., Long, M., McAuliff, E.M., Oakes, T.R., Alexander, A.L. & Davidson, R.J. (2006) Amygdala volume and nonverbal social impairment in adolescent and adult males with autism. Archives of General Psychiatry 63:1417-1428.

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):435-42.

Shackman, A. J., Sarinopoulos, I, Maxwell, J. S., Pizzagalli, D. A., Lavric, A., & Davidson, R. J. (2006). Anxiety selectively disrupts visuospatial working memory. Emotion, 6, 40-61.

Urry, H. L., van Reekum, C. M., Johnstone, T., Kalin, N. H., Thurow, M. E., Schaefer, H. S., Jackson, C. A., Frye, C. J., Greischar, L. L., Alexander, A. L., & Davidson, R. J.  (2006). Amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex are inversely coupled during regulation of negative affect and predict the diurnal pattern of cortisol secretion among older adults. Journal of Neuroscience, 26, 4415-4425

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.

Davidson, R. J. & van Reekum, C. (2005) Emotion is not one thing. Psychological Inquiry, 16, 16-18.

Ekman, P., Davidson, R.J., Ricard, M. & Wallace, B. Alan. Buddhist and psychological perspectives on emotions and well-being. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14, 59-63.

Fox A.S., Oakes T.R., Shelton S.E., Converse A.K., Davidson R.J., Kalin N.H.(2005). Calling for help is independently modulated by brain systems underlying goal-directed behavior and threat perception. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 102, 4176-4179.

Rosenkranz, M. A., Busse, W. W., Johnstone, T., Swenson, C. A., Crisafi, G. M., Jackson, M. M., Bosch, J. A., Sheridan, J. F., & Davidson, R. J. (2005). Neural circuitry underlying the interaction between emotion and asthma symptom exacerbation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 102, 13319-13324.

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.

Salomons TV, Johnstone T, Backonja MM, Davidson RJ. (2004) Perceived controllability modulates the neural response to pain. Journal of Neuroscience. 24:7199-203.

Urry HL, Nitschke JB, Dolski I, Jackson DC, Dalton KM, Mueller CJ, Rosenkranz MA, Ryff CD, Singer BH, Davidson RJ. (2004) Making a life worth living: neural correlates of well-being. Psychological Science 15:367-72.

Wager TD, Rilling JK, Smith EE, Sokolik A, Casey KL, Davidson RJ, Kosslyn SM, Rose RM, Cohen JD. (2004) Placebo-induced changes in FMRI in the anticipation and experience of pain. Science 303:1162-7.

Rosenkranz MA, Jackson DC, Dalton KM, Dolski I, Ryff CD, Singer BH, Muller D, Kalin NH, Davidson RJ. (2003) Affective style and in vivo immune response: neurobehavioral mechanisms. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 100:11148-52.

Visions of Compassion: Western scientists and Tibetan Buddhists examine human nature (2002). 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., 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.