[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Davidson_Rich.jpg” caption=”Brain Awareness Week will feature two discussions by Dr. Richard Davidson on Wednesday, March 21. Photo courtesy of Dr. Sandra Witelson.”]All human beings feel emotions, such as happiness, sadness, fear and anger. Emotion will be the focus of two presentations by visiting speaker Dr. Richard Davidson, being held in conjunction with Brain Awareness Week on Wednesday, March 21. Davidson was listed by Time magazine as one of the world's 100 most influential people in 2006.

Hosted by the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioural Neurosciences, the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour and The Brain-Body Institute at St. Joseph's Healthcare, the discussions will feature Dr. Richard Davidson, whose research focuses on cortical and subcortical substrates of emotion and affective disorders, including depression and anxiety. His work includes studies with normal adults and children with affective and anxiety disorders.

Using quantitative electrophysiology (EEG), positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), his current work focuses on interactions between prefrontal cortex and the amygdala in the regulation of emotion in both normal subjects and patients with affective and anxiety disorders.

The Psychiatry Grand Rounds will be held on Wednesday, March 21 from 9 to 10:30 a.m. in HSC, Room 1A1. The discussion will examine Order and Disorder in the Emotional Brain.

The Psychology Colloquium is scheduled for Wednesday, March 21 from 3 to 4 p.m. in ITB, Room 137. The colloquium will focus on Buddha's Brain: Neuroscientific Research on Meditation and the Transformation of Attention and Emotion. A reception will follow in the Psychology Building, second floor lounge.

Brain Awareness Week is a public outreach effort driven by the work of the Society for Neuroscience Society for Neuroscience and the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives, a non-profit organization formed to advance public awareness and the progress and benefits of brain research.

BAW is an annual event in which institutions around the world hold educational events including distinguished lectures and laboratory tours. This is McMaster's eigth annual BAW Lecture.

For more information, please contact Dr. Sandra Witelson at 905-521-2100, ext. 76438.