Research Interests and Publications:

How do we pursue long-term goals?  What are the behavioral, motivation, and neural systems that contribute to our success or failure?  A central aim of Dr. Berkman’s research is to understand how these systems work together to help us pursue our goals.  To do this, he combines the distinct strengths of several research methods including functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), cross-sectional and longitudinal survey methods, and laboratory experiments.  Examples of his research include fMRI studies of basic goal-relevant processes such as self-regulation and inhibitory control, experimental studies on how approach and avoidance motivation relate to emotions and performance, and longitudinal studies on real-world goals such as smoking cessation.  As part of this research program, Dr. Berkman is developing and using new statistical techniques to integrate data across a number of methodologies, including structural equation modeling, idiographic analysis of fMRI data, and joint hierarchical linear modeling of fMRI and behavioral data.

Selected Publications:

Berkman, E. T., & Lieberman, M. D. (in press). Approaching the good and avoiding the bad: Separating action and valence using dorsolateral prefrontal cortical asymmetry.  Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

Berkman, E. T., Burklund, L., & Lieberman, M. D. (2009).  Inhibitory spillover: Intentional motor inhibition produces incidental limbic inhibition via right inferior frontal cortex.  Neuroimage, 47, 705-712.

Berkman, E. T., Gable, S., & Lieberman, M. D. (2009). BIS, BAS, and response conflict: Testing predictions of the revised reinforcement sensitivity theory.  Personality and Individual Differences, 46, 586-591.

Berkman, E. T., & Lieberman, M. D. (2009).  The neuroscience of goal pursuit: Bridging gaps between theory and data.  In G. Moskowitz & H. Grant (Eds.), The Psychology of Goals (pp. 98-126).  New York, NY: Guilford Press.