My interest is in the elucidation of the functional organization of brain mechanisms underlying behavioral and affective processes, with a special emphasis on autonomic regulation and social neuroscience. The program is guided conceptually by recognition of the importance of multiple levels of analyses and multiple levels of organization in neurobehavioral systems, and the need for multidisciplinary approaches. This is illustrated by current research on anxiety and autonomic control, which ranges from basic animal studies of central neural and neuropharmacological mechanisms, to human research that examines the links between psychological processes and autonomic as well as immune functions. Central to this program of research is an effort to understand, at a theoretical level, the organizational principles that characterize psychobiological relations. Recent collaborative research includes: a) the role of cognitive and social factors in autonomic regulation and immune functions, b) contribution of cortical/cognitive processes to anxiety, and the neural systems that mediate these relations, c) the impact of autonomic states on higher neural systems, d) the integrative organization of neurobehavioral, neuroendocrine, autonomic and immune systems, e) psychoneuroimmunology and the social neuroscience of health and disease, and f) the role of central nervous system structures in evaluative processes.

Berntson is a past president of the Society for Psychological Science, and is currently a fellow of that organization. He received the “Paul D MacLean Award for Outstanding Neuroscience Research in Psychosomatic Medicine” from the American Psychosomatic Society, 2013; And the Society for Psychophysiological Research Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychophysiology, 2020.

Publications

Books 

Cacioppo, J. T., Tassinary, L. G., & Berntson, G. G. (2000). Handbook of Psychophysiology. (2^nd Edition). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Cacioppo, J. T., Berntson, G. G., Adolphs, A., Carter, C. S., Davidson, R. J., McClintock, M. K., McEwen, B. S., Meaney, M. J., Schacter, D. L., Sternberg, E. M., Suomi, S. S., & Taylor, S. E. (2002). Foundations in social neuroscience. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press

Cacioppo, J. T. & Berntson, G. G. (2004). Essays in social neuroscience. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press

Cacioppo, J. T. & Berntson, G. G. (2005). Social Neuroscience.  NY: Psychology Press.

Cacioppo, J. T., Tassinary, L. G., & Berntson, G. G. (2007). Handbook of Psychophysiology ( 3^rd Edition). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Berntson, G. G. & Cacioppo, J. T. (2009). Handbook of Neuroscience for the Behavioral Sciences. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons

Cacioppo, J. T., Tassinary, L. G., & Berntson, G. G. (2017). Handbook of Psychophysiology (4^rd Edition). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Recent Articles

Berntson, G. G. & Norman, G. (2021). Multilevel analysis: Integrating multiple levels of neurobehavioral systems. Social Neuroscience.16(1):18-25. PMID: 33442999. DOI. 

Berntson, G. G. & Khalsa, S. S. (2021). Neural Circuits of Interoception. (Special section on Interoception; ed. Wen, C.) Trends in Neurosciences. 44: 17-28. PMID: 33378653. DOI. 

Berntson, G. G., Gianaros, P. J. & Tsakiris, M. (2019). Interoception. In Tsakiris, M. & Priester, H. (eds.). The interoceptive basis of the mind. (pp. 3-26). Oxford, England. Oxford University Press.

Berntson, G. G. (2019). Presidential Address 2011. Autonomic modes of control and Health. Psychophysiology, 56(1):e13306. (pp 1-10). DOI.

Berntson, G. G. & Hothersall, D. (2019). Neuroscience In Psychology. In Sternberg, R. & Pickren, W.  (eds.). Handbook of the Intellectual History of Psychology: How Psychological Ideas Have Evolved from Past to Present. (pp 63-87) London: Cambridge Univ. Press.

Nederend, I., ten Harkel, A.D.J, Blom, N., Berntson, G. & de Geus, E.J.C. (2017). Impedance cardiography in healthy children and children with congenital heart disease: improving stroke volume assessment. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 120, 136-147.

de Geus, E. J. C., Gianaros, P. J., Brindle, R. C., Jennings, J. R. & Berntson, G. G. (2017). Should heart rate variability be “corrected” for heart rate? Biological, quantitative, and interpretive considerations. Psychophysiology. 56(2):e13287. (pp.1-26). DOI.

• Top 20 downloaded papers from Psychophysiology, 2017-2018.

Norman, G.J. Necka, E.A. Berntson, G.J., (2016). Psychophysiological measures of emotion. In Meiselman, H. (ed.). Emotion Measurement. (pp 83-98) Sawston, UK: Woodhead Publishing.

Berntson, G. G., Quigley, K. S., Norman, G. & Lozano, D. (2016). Cardiovascular psychophysiology. In Cacioppo, J. T., Tassinary, L. G., & Berntson, G. G. (eds.). Handbook of Psychophysiology,  4th edition. (pp 183-216) Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Cacioppo, J.T., Tassinary, L.G. & Berntson, G.G. (2016). Strong inference in psychophysiological science. In Cacioppo, J. T., Tassinary, L. G., & Berntson, G. G. (eds.). Handbook of Psychophysiology,  4th edition. (pp 13-15) Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Berntson, G. G., Cacioppo, J. T. & Bosch, J. A. (2016). From homeostasis to allodynamic regulation. In Cacioppo, J. T., Tassinary, L. G., & Berntson, G. G. (eds.). Handbook of Psychophysiology, 4th edition. (pp 401-426) Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Norman, G. J., Berntson, G. G. & Cacioppo, J. T. (2014). Emotion, Somatovisceral Afference and Autonomic Regulation. Emotion Review, 6, 113-123.

Krzywickia, A. T., Berntson, G. G., & O’Kane, B. L. (2014). A Non-Contact Technique for Measuring Eccrine Sweat Gland Activity Using Passive Thermal Imaging. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 94,25-34.