2000 award winners.

Abstract

Award for Distinguished Scientific ContributionsCitation "For remarkable scientific contributions sustained over three decades that have helped us understand the role that brain structures play in the initiation and regulation of emotion. Richard J. Davidson's work has taught us profound lessons about the importance of asymmetries in cortical activation for understanding the nature of emotion, the different neural substrates for positive and negative emotion and for approach and avoidance behaviors, and the ways that these characteristics of the brain influence who we are as individuals and our vulnerabilities to mood and anxiety disorders. This body of work has been characterized by the highest methodological rigor and scientific care coupled with a bold and creative view of the potential of affective neuroscience to address fundamental mind-body issues, including the impact of emotions on health and the nature of consciousness. Carried out with prodigious energy, infectious enthusiasm, and a zeal for scientific dialogue of all types, his work has had broad influence in all areas of psychology and throughout the social and biobehavioral sciences."