Kent Berridge, Ph.D.

Michigan Neuroscience Institute Affiliate
James Olds Distinguished University Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience
Department of Psychology, Biopsychology Program, and University-wide Neuroscience Program

Department of Psychology
4014 East Hall (530 Church St.)
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1043

berridge@umich.edu
Articles ↓

Areas of Interest

Research in my lab seeks better answers to questions, such as:

  • How is pleasure generated in the brain?
  • What are the neural bases of reward wanting and liking?
  • How are rewards learned?
  • How do brain motivation systems work?
  • How is appetite controlled?
  • What causes addiction?
  • How does the brain distinguish pleasant from unpleasant?
  • How does fear relate to desire?

We use optogenetic, drug microinjection, and other painless techniques to manipulate neural components of mesocorticolimbic systems in rodents, combined with sophisticated behavioral analysis techniques to assess changes in reward learning, ‘liking’, and ‘wanting’ or other motivation processes.  Each graduate student in our lab has an individualized research program focused on a selection from these topics guided by their own interests.

Honors & Awards

  • Elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, 2024
  • APS William James Fellow award, Association for Psychological Science 2023
  • Honorary Doctor of Science degree (D.Sc. Hon.), University of Sussex, U.K., 2020
  • APA Distinguished Scientific Contributions Award, American Psychological Association, 2016
  • AAAS Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2011
  • APA Master Lecturer, American Psychological Association, 2011

Credentials

  • Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania
  • M.A., University of Pennsylvania
  • B.S. (with Honors), University of California at Davis (Junior year at University of Sussex, England, 1977-78)

Published Articles or Reviews

  • Berridge, K. C. Separating desire from prediction of outcome value.  Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 27 (10), 932-946 (2023).  PMC 1052790  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2023.07.007  
  • Baumgartner, H. M., Schulkin, J., & Berridge, K. C. Activating corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) systems in nucleus accumbens, amygdala, and bed nucleus of stria terminalis: Incentive motivation or aversive motivation? Biological Psychiatry, 89: 1162–1175 (2021). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2021.01.007
  • Nguyen, D., Naffziger, E.M., Berridge, K.C.  Positive affect: nature and brain bases of liking and wanting.  Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 39:72-78 (2021).  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2021.02.013    PMCID: PMC7978410
  • Warlow, S.M., Naffziger, E.E. & Berridge, K.C. The central amygdala recruits mesocorticolimbic circuitry for pursuit of reward or pain. Nature Communications 11, 2716 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16407-1