Lake Effect | Jan 1, 2013

When Richard Davidson first began his doctoral work more than 30 years ago, the disciplines of neuroscience and  psychology didn't play well together.  The idea that emotions were brain activity that could actually be measured and quantified in a laboratory setting was dismissed by most researchers.  But Davidson persevered and is today the foremost expert on the science of emotions.  

He’s a scientist at UW-Madison, and his recent book, The Emotional Life of Your Brain, explores how our emotions are as much a part of our brain activity as its other functions, like cognition. 

We reached Davidson in Madison in March and he explained to Lake Effect's Bonnie North why the topic of emotions captured his professional interest so early in his career.

Davidson has been in Madison since 1984, and he is currently the William James and Vilas Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry, Director of the Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior and the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience, and Founder and Chair of the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds, at the Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison.