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Kevin S. LaBar

Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience
Psychology & Neuroscience
Duke Box 90999, Durham, NC 27708-0999
B247 Levine Sci Res Ctr, Ctr Cognit Neurosci Box 90999, Durham, NC 27708-0999

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

Selected Grants


Duke-NCCU Interdisciplinary Postdoctoral Training Program in Child Psychiatric and Neurodevelopmental Conditions Program (DN-IPT)

Inst. Training Prgm or CMEPreceptor · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2024 - 2029

Duke University Psychiatry Physician-Scientist Residency Training Program

Inst. Training Prgm or CMEMentor · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2024 - 2029

Neurostimulation Enhanced Cognitive Restructuring for Transdiagnostic Emotional Dysregulation: A component Analysis

ResearchCo Investigator · Awarded by National Institute of Mental Health · 2023 - 2027

Medical Scientist Training Program

Inst. Training Prgm or CMEPreceptor · Awarded by National Institute of General Medical Sciences · 2022 - 2027

Insular Connectomic Mechanisms of Emotion Dysregulation and Neuromodulation

FellowshipPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2024 - 2027

Forgetting and Forgiving: Exploring the Connections Between Memory, Forgiveness and Reconciliation

ResearchCo Investigator · Awarded by John Templeton Foundation · 2021 - 2025

Deep Generative Analyses for fMRI data

FellowshipCollaborator · Awarded by National Institute of Mental Health · 2023 - 2025

Using neurostimulation to accelerate change in misophonia: a pilot study

ResearchCo Investigator · Awarded by The REAM Foundation · 2023 - 2025

Neurocomputational Approaches to Emotion Representation

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2020 - 2025

Neurobehavioral Mechanisms of Emotion Regulation in Depression across the Adult Lifespan

ResearchCo-Principal Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2017 - 2024

Identifying the Optimal Neural Target for Misophonia Interventions

ResearchCo Investigator · Awarded by The REAM Foundation · 2019 - 2022

Neuromodulation Enhanced Cognitive Restructuring for Emotion Dysregulation: A Proof of Concept Study

ResearchCollaborator · Awarded by Brain and Behavior Research Foundation · 2016 - 2019

Contextual Influences on Fear Memories

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Science Foundation · 2015 - 2018

Evaluating a Novel Method of Generalizing Emotion Regulation

ResearchCo Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2012 - 2017

A Compute Cluster for Brain Imaging and Analysis

EquipmentMinor User · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2016 - 2017

Motivated Memory as Therapeutic Target

ResearchCo Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2011 - 2017

Multivariate Representations of Emotion

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2013 - 2016

Social Threat and Aging: Neural Mechanisms of Emotion Regulation

ResearchCo Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2009 - 2015

Brain Imaging Studies of Negative Reinforcement in Humans

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2009 - 2015

Emotion Regulation in Late-Life Depression: Effectiveness and Neural Mechanisms

ResearchCo-Mentor · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2009 - 2015

The Neural Correlates of Stress Reactivity, Learning and Memory in Depressed Patients

FellowshipPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia & Depression · 2011 - 2015

IPA - Kevin Labar

ResearchInvestigator · Awarded by Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center · 2013 - 2014

IPA - Kevin LaBar

ResearchInvestigator · Awarded by Veterans Administration Medical Center · 2011 - 2013

Brain Mechanisms Supporting the Generalization of Learned Fear

FellowshipPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2010 - 2012

Emotional modulation of procedural learning

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Science Foundation · 2008 - 2012

Biomarkers of Interoceptive Awareness in Adolescent Anorexia Nervosa

ResearchCo-Principal Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2009 - 2012

FMRI Assessment of Attention and Memory in PTSD

ResearchMentor · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2006 - 2012

Neuroimaging of emotional association formation and subsequent effect on memory

FellowshipCo-Sponsor · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2008 - 2011

Neural Correlates of Autobiographical Memory

ResearchCo Investigator · Awarded by National Institute of Mental Health · 2004 - 2010

Neural Compensation and Economic Decision Making in Aging

ResearchCo Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2007 - 2010

Neurodevelopmental Processes of Social Cognition in Anorexia Nervosa and Autism

ResearchCo Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2006 - 2010

A Linux Cluster Computational Facility for Neuroimaging Research

EquipmentMajor User · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2009 - 2010

Neuroimaging of Trauma Memory and Cognitive Reappraisal in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

ResearchMentor · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2009 - 2009

Neural Mechanisms of Fear Renewal in Humans

FellowshipPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2006 - 2009

CAREER: Cognitive Neuroscience of Emotional Memory

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Science Foundation · 2003 - 2008

Neural Substrates of Implicit Emotional Learning

FellowshipPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2005 - 2008

Neural Basis of Interactions between Attention & Emotion

FellowshipPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2005 - 2007

Neural Basis of Interactions Between Attention & Emotion

FellowshipPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2005 - 2007

Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Emotional Memory Networks

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2001 - 2007