Gary G. Berntson, Ph.D.

Professor 
Departments of Psychology, Psychiatry & Pediatrics

Degree: University of Minnesota
Postdoctoral Training: Rockefeller University, Dr. Neal Miller

Contact Information
053 Psychology
1835 Neil Avenue Mall
Columbus, OH  43210
PHONE: (614) 292-1749
FAX: (614) 688-4733
E-MAIL: Berntson.2@osu.edu

Link to NLM PubMed publications list for Gary G. Berntson (last 10 years)

Research Area:

Elucidation of the functional organization of brain mechanisms underlying behavioral and affective processes, with a special emphasis on social neuroscience.

Current Research:

The broad interest of my research program is in the elucidation of the functional organization of brain mechanisms underlying behavioral and affective processes, with a special emphasis on social neuroscience. The program is guided conceptually by a recognition of the importance of multiple levels of analyses in a meaningful understanding of complex neurobehavioral relations, and the strategic approach is collaborative and multidisciplinary in nature. This is illustrated by current research on anxiety and autonomic control, which ranges from basic animal studies of central neural and neuropharmacological mechanisms, to human research that examines the links between psychological processes and autonomic as well as immune functions. Central to this program of research is an effort to understand, at a theoretical level, the organizational principles that characterize psychobiological relations. Recent collaborative research includes: a) the role of cognitive and social factors in autonomic regulation and immune functions, b) contribution of cortical/cognitive processes to anxiety, and the neural systems that mediate these relations, c) the impact of autonomic states on higher neural systems, d) the integrative organization of neurobehavioral, neuroendocrine, autonomic and immune systems, and e) psychoneuroimmunology and the social neuroscience of health and disease.