Kevin S. LaBar
Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience

My research focuses on understanding how emotional events modulate cognitive processes in the human brain. We aim to identify brain regions that encode the emotional properties of sensory stimuli, and to show how these regions interact with neural systems supporting social cognition, executive control, and learning and memory. To achieve this goal, we use a variety of cognitive neuroscience techniques in human subject populations. These include psychophysiological monitoring, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), machine learning,  and behavioral studies in healthy adults as well as psychiatric patients. This integrative approach capitalizes on recent advances in the field and may lead to new insights into cognitive-emotional interactions in the brain.

Current Research Interests

  • How different emotions are mediated in the brain and expressed physiologically
  • How moods and emotions bias memory
  • How we learn and generalize fear associations and the contextual factors that bias fear expression
  • How we use coping strategies to regulate our emotions
  • How emotion and emotion regulation are altered in aging and psychiatric disorders

Current Appointments & Affiliations

Contact Information

  • B247 Levine Sci Res Ctr, Ctr Cognit Neurosci Box 90999, Durham, NC 27708-0999
  • Duke Box 90999, Durham, NC 27708-0999
  • uri icon www.LaBaratory.org

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