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Morten L Kringelbach
Morten L Kringelbach
	Professor Morten L Kringelbach
Born	Copenhagen, Denmark
Nationality	Danish
Awards	Science Communication Prize 2006, Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science.
	Scientific career
Fields	Neuroscience, Cognitive Science
Institutions	University of Oxford, University of Aarhus
Website	hedonia.kringelbach.org

Morten L Kringelbach is a professor of neuroscience at University of Oxford, UK and Aarhus University, Denmark.^[2]^[3] He is the director of the 'Centre for Eudaimonia and Human Flourishing', fellow of Linacre College, Oxford and board member of the Empathy Museum.^[4]

Research overview

Kringelbach has made contributions to a range of topics within neuroscience using neuroimaging, deep brain stimulation and whole-brain modelling. His research is focused on reverse-engineering the human brain and in particular he has identified some of the evolutionary principles and heuristics of teleological computation enabling us to survive and thrive, which depend on intact human brain systems related to emotion, pleasure and eudaimonia. Together with Kent Berridge he has identified brain mechanisms underlying the reward system and identified a network of hedonic hotspots essential for the fundamental pleasure cycle of 'wanting', 'liking' and learning.^[5]^[6] In a large series of neuroimaging studies of many rewards, he has elucidated the spatiotemporal organisation of the orbitofrontal cortex,^[7] e.g. demonstrating a fast parental signature of infant cuteness even in adults who are not yet parents.^[8]^[9]^[10] They have also investigated the close links between pleasure and happiness.^[11]

Kringelbach has also worked with neurosurgeon Tipu Aziz to elucidate the neural mechanisms of deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease, essential tremor, dystonia and chronic pain^[12]

Together with Peter Vuust, he founded the 'Center for Music in the Brain'^[13] at University of Aarhus focused on better understanding the neuroscience of music and in particular the dual questions of how music is processed in the brain and how this can inform our understanding of fundamental principles behind brain functioning in general.

Furthermore, Kringelbach and Gustavo Deco have developed a research programme of whole-brain modelling for combining structural connectivity data Diffusion Tensor Imaging with functional neuroimaging data such as fMRI and magnetoencephalography. This allows for the discovery of causal mechanisms of brain function, and they have e.g. identified fundamental mechanisms and principles of integration and segregation,^[14] as well as metastability and coherence.^[15] In time, these findings might help open up for a better understanding and potential treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders ^[16] as well as the role of one of the cardinal symptoms, namely anhedonia, the lack of pleasure.^[17]

References

^ "Forskningskommunikationsprisen — Uddannelses- og Forskningsministeriet".
^ Theils, Lone (26 September 2008). "Professor i Nydelse". Berlingske Tidende. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
^ Feltman, Rachel (8 June 2016). "The sneaky ways babies get inside our heads". Washington Post. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
^ "Empathy Museum".
^ Grayling, A.C. (27 November 2010). "Exchanges at the Frontier: Episode 5 Interview with Morten L Kringelbach". BBC World Service. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
^ Berridge KC, Kringelbach ML (May 2015). "Pleasure systems in the brain". Neuron. 86 (3): 646–664. doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2015.02.018. PMC 4425246. PMID 25950633.
^ Kringelbach, Morten L. (2005). "The human orbitofrontal cortex: linking reward to hedonic experience". Nature Reviews Neuroscience. 6 (9): 691–702. doi:10.1038/nrn1747. ISSN 1471-003X. PMID 16136173. S2CID 205500365.
^ Cunningham, Aimeel (1 April 2008). "Baby in the Brain". Scientific American. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
^ Kringelbach, Morten L.; Lehtonen, Annukka; Squire, Sarah; Harvey, Allison G.; Craske, Michelle G.; Holliday, Ian E.; Green, Alexander L.; Aziz, Tipu Z.; Hansen, Peter C.; Cornelissen, Piers L.; Stein, Alan (2008). "A Specific and Rapid Neural Signature for Parental Instinct". PLOS ONE. 3 (2): e1664. Bibcode:2008PLoSO...3.1664K. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0001664. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 2244707. PMID 18301742.
^ Kringelbach, Morten L.; Stark, Eloise A.; Alexander, Catherine; Bornstein, Marc H.; Stein, Alan (2016). "On Cuteness: Unlocking the Parental Brain and Beyond". Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 20 (7): 545–558. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2016.05.003. ISSN 1364-6613. PMC 4956347. PMID 27211583.
^ Kringelbach ML, Berridge KC (2009). "Towards a functional neuroanatomy of pleasure and happiness". Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 13 (11): 479–487. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2009.08.006. PMC 2767390. PMID 19782634.
^ Kringelbach, Morten L.; Jenkinson, Ned; Owen, Sarah L.F.; Aziz, Tipu Z. (2007). "Translational principles of deep brain stimulation". Nature Reviews Neuroscience. 8 (8): 623–635. doi:10.1038/nrn2196. ISSN 1471-003X. PMID 17637800. S2CID 147427108.
^ "Center for Music in the Brain".
^ Deco, Gustavo; Tononi, Giulio; Boly, Melanie; Kringelbach, Morten L. (2015). "Rethinking segregation and integration: contributions of whole-brain modelling". Nature Reviews Neuroscience. 16 (7): 430–439. doi:10.1038/nrn3963. hdl:10230/27083. ISSN 1471-003X. PMID 26081790. S2CID 7962033.
^ Deco, Gustavo; Kringelbach, Morten (2016). "Metastability and Coherence: Extending the Communication through Coherence Hypothesis Using a Whole-Brain Computational Perspective". Trends in Neurosciences. 39 (6): 432. doi:10.1016/j.tins.2016.04.006. ISSN 0166-2236. PMID 27131472.
^ Deco, Gustavo; Kringelbach, Morten L. (2014). "Great Expectations: Using Whole-Brain Computational Connectomics for Understanding Neuropsychiatric Disorders". Neuron. 84 (5): 892–905. doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2014.08.034. ISSN 0896-6273. PMID 25475184.
^ Roemer Thomsen, Kristine; Whybrow, Peter C.; Kringelbach, Morten L. (2015). "Reconceptualizing anhedonia: novel perspectives on balancing the pleasure networks in the human brain". Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience. 9: 49. doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2015.00049. ISSN 1662-5153. PMC 4356228. PMID 25814941.

Bibliography

Books

Kringelbach M.L. & Phillips, H. (2014) Emotion: pleasure and pain in the brain. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Preston S., Kringelbach M.L. & Knutson, B., eds. (2014) The Interdisciplinary Science of Consumption. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
Hansen P.C., Kringelbach M.L & Salmelin R, eds. (2010) MEG: an introduction to methods. New York: Oxford University Press.
Cornelissen P.L., Hansen P.C., Kringelbach M.L & Pugh K, eds. (2010) The neural basis of reading. New York: Oxford University Press.
Kringelbach M.L. & Berridge, K.C., eds. (2010) Pleasures of the Brain. New York: Oxford University Press.
Kringelbach M.L (2009) The Pleasure Center. Trust your animal instincts. New York: Oxford University Press (Polish translation (2015)).
Kringelbach M.L (2009) Njótingarsami Heilin (translation P.Nielsen). Thorshavn: Ítriv.
Kringelbach M.L (2008) Den nydelsesfulde hjerne. Nydelsens og begærets mange ansigter. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
Kringelbach M.L. (2004) Hjernerum. Den følelsesfulde hjerne. Copenhagen: People’sPress.