Kevin Ochsner directs the Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience (SCAN) Lab in the Columbia University Department of Psychology. He received a Ph.D. in psychology from Harvard and postdoctoral training at Stanford. Dr. Ochsner is a recipient of the Young Investigator Award from The Cognitive Neuroscience Society, Columbia University’s Lenfest Distinguished Faculty Award, and the APA New Investigator Award. His lab’s research has been funded by grants from private and public institutions, including the National Institutes for Mental Health (NIMH), Aging (NIA), Child Health and Development (NICHD), Drug Abuse (NIDA) and Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse (NIAAA). He has been an editor at various journals, helped found the Social and Affective Neuroscience Society (SANS) and has been president of the Society for Affective Science (SAS). In 2008 Kevin was identified as the most cited Assistant Professor in Social Psychology and in 2010 he was identified as 27th most cited Social Psychologist of all time, corrected for stage of career. The author of more than 100 scientific articles and editor of two books, the SCAN lab’s work continues to be among the most cited in Social Psychology and Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. Dr. Ochsner serves the Conte Center for Suicide Prevention as the Leader of Project 4, “Cognitive Phenotype Neural Circuitry in Vivo in Mood Disorders and Suicidal Behavior”.
Research Focus
The SCAN lab studies the behavioral and brain bases of emotion, self-control, and person perception across the lifespan and in various forms of psychiatric and substance abuse.
Select Publications
1. Meyer, M. L., Davachi, L., Ochsner, K. N. & Lieberman, M. D. (in press). Evidence that default network connectivity during rest consolidates social information. Cerebral Cortex.
2. Cohen, N., & Ochsner, K. N. (2018). The emerging science of emotion regulation training. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 24, 143-155.
3. Dore, B. P., Rodrik, O., Boccagno, C., Hubbard, A., Weber, J., Stanley, B., Oquendo, M. A.; Sublette, M. E., Mann, J.J. & Ochsner, K. N. (2018). Negative Autobiographical Memory in Depression Reflects Elevated Amygdala-Hippocampal Reactivity and Hippocampally Associated Emotion Regulation. Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging, 3(4), 358-366. PMID: 29628068
4. Rubin-Falcone, H., Weber, J., Kishon, R., Ochsner, K., Delaparte, L., Dore, B., Miller, J. M. (2018). Longitudinal effects of cognitive behavioral therapy for depression on the neural correlates of emotion regulation. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 82-90.
5. Schneck, N., Haufe, S., Tao, T., Bonanno, G. A., Ochsner, K. N., Sajda, P., Mann, J. J. (2017). Tracking deceased-related thinking with neural pattern decoding of a cortical-basal ganglia circuit. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, 2(5), 421-429.
6. Dore, B. P., Weber, J. & Ochsner, K. N. (2017). Neural predictors of decisions to cognitively control emotion. Journal of Neuroscience, 37(10), 2580-2588.
7. Silvers, J. A, Insel, C., Powers, A., Franz, P., Helion, C., Martin, R. E., Weber, J., Mischel, W., Casey, B. J. & Ochsner, K. N. (2017). The transition from childhood to adolescence is marked by a general decrease in amygdala reactivity and an affect-specific ventral-to-dorsal shift in medial prefrontal recruitment. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 25, 128-137.
8. Martin-Braunstein, L., Gross, J. J. & Ochsner, K. N. (2017). Implicit and explicit emotion regulation: Review and integrative framework. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 12(10),1545-1557.
9. Dore, B. P., Morris, R. R., Burr, D. A., Picard, R. W. & Ochsner, K. N. (2017). Helping others regulate emotion predicts increased regulation of one’s own emotions and decreased symptoms of depression. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.
10. Dore, B. P., Boccagno, C., Burr, D., Hubbard, A., Long, K., Weber, J., Stern, Y. & Ochsner, K. N. (2017). Finding positive meaning in negative experiences engages ventral striatal and ventromedial prefrontal regions associated with reward valuation. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 29(2), 235-244.
11. Reeck, C., Ames. D. R. & Ochsner, K. N. (2016). The Social Regulation of Emotion: An Integrative, Cross-disciplinary Model. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 20, 47-63.
12. Silvers, J. A., Hubbard, A., Biggs, E., Shu, J., Fertuck, E., Chowdury, S., Weber, J., Kober, H., Carson-Wong, A., Grunebaum, M. G., Brodsky, B. S., Ochsner, K. N. & Stanley, B. (2016). Affective lability and difficulties with regulation predict amygdala and prefrontal response in women with Borderline Personality Disorder. Psychiatry Research, 254, 74-82.
13. Denny, B. T., & Inhoff, M., Zerubavel, N., Davchi, L. & Ochsner, K. N. (2015). Getting over it: Evidence for long-lasting effects of emotion regulation on amygdala response. Psychological Science, 26(9), 1377-1388.
14. Satpute, A., Nook, E., Narayanan, S., Shu, S., Weber, J. & Ochsner, K. N. (2016). Emotions in black and white or shades of gray: Decisions about emotion shape neural representations of emotion. Psychological Science, 27(11), 1428-1442.
15. Silvers, J. .A., Shu, J., Hubbard, A., Weber, J. & Ochsner, K. N. (2015). Concurrent and lasting effects of emotion regulation on amygdala response in adolescence and young adulthood. Developmental Science, 18:5, 771-784.