Brian Knutson

At CASBS, Brian Knutson will work on a book linking Buddhist notions of attachment to emerging findings about the neural basis of affect. Metaphorical animal spirits that spin the karmic “wheel of becoming” will serve as metaphors for the incessant and dynamic activity of branching neurotransmitter systems which modulate motivated behavior. The book will explore implications of visualizing activity of these systems for predicting and regulating individual choice, as well as for forecasting group behavior. Knutson will also compile a primer on the nascent field of neuroeconomics based on two decades of research and teaching about how human brains choose.

Knutson is a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Stanford University and codirector of Stanford’s NeuroChoice Initiative. His group has pioneered interdisciplinary research aimed at elucidating the neural basis of emotion (affective neuroscience) and exploring implications for decision-making (neuroeconomics) as well as psychopathology (neurophenomics). Knutson is a fellow of the Academy for Behavioral Medicine Research and the Association for Psychological Science, as well as past president of the Society for Neuroeconomics. His group’s work has been funded by numerous public and private organizations (e.g., the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, several private foundations), published in prominent venues (e.g., Science, Nature, Nature Neuroscience, Neuron), and featured in the popular press (e.g., ABC, BBC, NPR, New York Times, Wall Street Journal).

For more information, please visit: https://stanford.edu/~knutson