About
I am an Assistant Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience & Behavior at Wesleyan University. My research focuses on brain mechanisms of motivation and reward, especially related to neural generators of reward ‘wanting’ (incentive salience) and ‘liking’ (hedonic impact). A major focus in my lab is how the brain can produce excessive ‘wanting’ for a particular reward, and how this can result in compulsive risky decision-making. My approach includes the use of optogenetics and DREADDs, combined with behavioral approaches to uncover the mechanisms underlying excessive attribution of incentive value for drug addiction, gambling and diet-induced obesity.
Joined
February 2016
