Benjamin Becker

• Professor
• Professor (Full) at The University of Hong Kong

The ability to successfully regulate negative emotions such as fear and anxiety is vital for mental health. Intranasal administration of the neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT) has been shown to reduce amygdala activity but to increase amygdala–prefrontal cortex connectivity during exposure to threatening stimuli suggesting that it may act as an important...

Reports on the modulatory role of the neuropeptide oxytocin on social cognition and behavior have steadily increased over the last two decades, stimulating considerable interest in its psychiatric application. Basic and clinical research in humans primarily employs intranasal application protocols. This approach assumes that intranasal administrati...

The specific neural systems underlying the subjective feeling of fear are debated in affective neuroscience. Here, we combine functional MRI with machine learning to identify and evaluate a sensitive and generalizable neural signature predictive of the momentary self-reported subjective fear experience across discovery (n = 67), validation (n = 20)...

Uncertainty about potential future threats and the associated anxious anticipation represents a key feature of anxiety. However, the neural systems that underlie the subjective experience of threat anticipation under uncertainty remain unclear. Combining an uncertainty-variation threat anticipation paradigm that allows precise modulation of the lev...

Accumulating evidence suggests that the brain renin angiotensin system (RAS) plays a pivotal role in the regulation of cognition and behavior as well as in the neuropathology of neurological and mental disorders. The angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AT1R) mediates most functional and neuropathology-relevant actions associated with the central RAS. H...

Background Flexible control over emotional behavior represents a promising target for novel interventions for mental disorders. A recent study from Bramson et al., (2023) employed a multi-modal neuroimaging approach to demonstrate a functional-anatomical shift from lateral frontal pole (FPI) to dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in anxious indi...

Background Compulsive cleaning is a characteristic symptom of a particular subtype of obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) and is often accompanied by intense disgust. While overgeneralization of threat is a key factor in the development of obsessive–compulsive symptoms, previous studies have primarily focused on fear generalization and have rarely...

Background Autobiographical memory (AM) dysfunction has been proposed as a neurocognitive mechanism underlying the development and maintenance of depression. However, case-control neuroimaging studies investigating the neural correlates of AM in depression have yielded inconsistent findings. The present study utilized neuroimaging meta-analyses to...

Empathy can be elicited by physiological pain, as well as in social contexts. Although physiological and different social contexts induce a strong subjective experience of empathy, the general and context‐specific neural representations remain elusive. Here, it is combined fMRI with multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) to establish neurofunctional...

Flexible control over emotional behavior represents a promising target for novel interventions for mental disorders. Accumulating evidence has indicated a key role of the lateral frontal pole (FPl) and its connections with other cortical and subcortical systems in emotional action regulation. A recent study from Bramson et al., (2023) employed a mu...

Behavioral addictions share symptomatological features with substance addiction. From the associative learning perspective, these characteristics include excessive and unregulated self-administration of sensory and other reinforcers, potentially reflecting the transition from goal-directed actions ( action → outcome associations) to habitual respon...

Mood disorders, including Major Depressive (MDD) and Bipolar (BD) Disorder, are highly prevalent and debilitating conditions that contribute significantly to the global disease burden. These disorders are characterized by persistent emotional dysregulations, such as pervasive sadness and anhedonia, resulting in substantial functional impairments. A...

Backgrounds Accumulating evidence suggests that migraine patients present abnormal brain responses to salient sensory and emotional stimuli. However, it is still unclear whether this is a generalized or domain-specific phenomenon. Employing a well-validated fMRI paradigm, we investigated pain empathic reactivity across two domains: observation of p...

Behavioral addictions share symptomatological features with substance addiction. From the associative learning perspective, these characteristics include excessive and unregulated self-administration of sensory and other reinforcers, potentially reflecting the transition from goal-directed actions (action → outcome associations) to habitual respons...

Background Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (lDLPFC) is a demonstrably efficacious therapy for various symptoms of psychiatric disorders (Kan et al., 2023b). Recent evidence indicates sex differences is an imperative factor in optimizing pharmacotherapeutic antidepressant treatments (Wil...

Traditional decision-making models conceptualize humans as adaptive learners utilizing the differences between expected and actual rewards (prediction errors, PEs) to maximize outcomes, but rarely consider the influence of violations of emotional expectations (emotional PEs) and how it differs from reward PEs. Here, we conducted a fMRI experiment (...

Background The lack of clearly defined neuromodulation targets has contributed to the inconsistent results of real-time fMRI-based neurofeedback (rt-fMRI-NF) for the treatment of chronic pain. In contrast, functional neurosurgery (funcSurg) approaches targeting specific brain regions have shown more consistent effects in reducing pain in patients w...

One of the fundamental questions in real‐time functional magnetic resonance imaging neurofeedback (rt‐fMRI NF) investigations is the definition of a suitable neural target for training. Previously, we applied a meta‐analytical approach to define a network‐level target for connectivity‐based rt‐fMRI NF in substance use disorders. The analysis yielde...

Youth suicidality is characterized by its transient nature and diverse causal pathways. Currently, a unified approach searching for final common pathway towards youth suicide has proven unsuccessful. Therefore an exploration of its heterogeneity across different levels is needed. Utilizing 1,624 children with suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STB) a...

Over the last decades, the traditional 'Homo economicus' model has been increasingly challenged by convergent evidence underscoring the impact of emotions on decision-making. A classic example is the perception of unfairness operationalized in the Ultimatum Game where humans readily sacrifice personal gains to punish those who violate fairness norm...

Individuals often actively suppress intrusive memories to alleviate the distress they cause and maintain mental well-being. However, those with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) often exhibit difficulties particularly in inhibiting or suppressing negative memories compared to individuals without PTSD. These memories can involve a physical threa...

Background: Serotonin (5-HT) critically regulates cognitive and emotional functions, and both stable and transient variations in 5-HT signaling have been associated with emotional dysregulations. However, findings regarding the neurofunctional effects of transient 5-HT variations have been highly inconsistent. Therefore, we examined whether individ...

Smartphone (over)use and internet use disorders share some features with substance and behavioral addictions. From the associative learning perspective, these characteristics include excessive and unregulated self-administration of sensory reinforcement on a digital operandum, possibly reflecting the transition from goal-directed actions (action →...

Over the last decade, a number of clinical trials have reported effects of chronic treatment with intranasal oxytocin on autistic symptoms but with inconsistent findings. Autism is a heterogeneous disorder and one factor which may influence treatment outcome is whether a subtype of individuals is more sensitive to oxytocin. In a recent cross-over t...

Behavioral addictions share symptomatological features with substance addiction. From the associative learning perspective, these characteristics include excessive and unregulated self-administration of sensory and other reinforcers, potentially reflecting the transition from goal-directed actions (action → outcome associations) to habitual respons...

This study provides preliminary evidence for real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging neurofeedback (rt-fMRI NF) as a potential intervention approach for internet gaming disorder (IGD). In a preregistered, randomized, single-blind trial, young individuals with elevated IGD risk were trained to downregulate gaming addiction–related brain acti...

UNSTRUCTURED This study provides preliminary evidence for real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging neurofeedback (rt-fMRI NF) as a potential intervention approach for internet gaming disorder (IGD). In a preregistered, randomized, single-blind trial, young individuals with elevated IGD risk were trained to downregulate gaming addiction–relat...

Arousal is fundamental for affective experience and, together with valence, defines the core affective space. However, a precise brain model of affective arousal is lacking, leading to continuing debates of whether the neural systems generalize across valence domains and are separable from those underlying autonomic arousal. Here, we combined natur...

Pavlovian fear conditioning and extinction represent learning mechanisms underlying exposure‐based interventions. While increasing evidence indicates a pivotal role of disgust in the development of contamination‐based obsessive‐compulsive disorder (C‐OCD), dysregulations in conditioned disgust acquisition and maintenance, in particular driven by hi...

Background Smartphones and social media have become ubiquitous in our lives, and while debates about their negative impact on mental health, addictive potential, and disruptive effects on daily activities have surged, neurobiological evidence remains scarce. Here, we investigated whether the behavioral and neural effects of interference of continuo...

Objective Despite the promising results of neurofeedback with real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (rt-fMRI-NF) in the treatment of various psychiatric and neurological disorders, few studies have investigated its effects in acute and chronic pain and with mixed results. The lack of clear neuromodulation targets, rooted in the still poor...

Empathy can be elicited by physiological pain, as well as in social contexts. Although physiological and different social contexts induce a strong subjective experience of empathy, the general and context-specific neural representations remain elusive. Here, we combine fMRI with multivariate pattern analysis to establish neurofunctional models for...

Prosocial and moral behaviors have overlapping neural systems and can both be affected in a number of psychiatric disorders, although whether they involve similar neurochemical systems is unclear. In the current registered randomized placebo-controlled trial on 180 adult male and female subjects, we investigated the effects of intranasal administra...

Traditional decision-making models conceptualize humans as optimal learners aiming to maximize outcomes by leveraging reward prediction errors (PE). While violated emotional expectations(emotional PEs) have recently been formalized, the underlying neurofunctional basis and whether it differs from reward PEs remain unclear. Using a modified fMRI Ult...

Accumulating evidence from animal and human studies suggests a fear-regulating potential of the neuropeptide oxytocin (OT), yet the clinical translation into novel interventions for pathological fear requires a behavioral and neurofunctional characterization under close-to-real life conditions. Here, we combined a naturalistic fMRI-design inducing...

Accumulating evidence from animal and human studies suggests a fear-regulating potential of the neuropeptide oxytocin (OT), yet the clinical translation into novel interventions for pathological fear requires a behavioral and neurofunctional characterization under close-to-real life conditions. Here, we combined a naturalistic fMRI-design inducing...

While disgust originates in the hard-wired mammalian distaste response, the conscious experience of disgust in humans strongly depends on subjective appraisal and may even extend to socio-moral contexts. Here, in a series of studies, we combined functional magnetic resonance imaging with machine-learning-based predictive modelling to establish a co...

Background Inhibitory control represents a core executive function that critically facilitates adaptive behavior and survival in an ever-changing environment. Non-invasive transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) has been hypothesized to improve behavioral inhibition performance, however the neurocomputational mechanism of taVNS-ind...

Autistic individuals generally demonstrate impaired emotion recognition but it is unclear whether effects are emotion-specific or influenced by oxytocin receptor (OXTR) genotype. Here we implemented a dimensional approach using an implicit emotion recognition task together with functional MRI in a large cohort of neurotypical adult participants (N...

Imitating facial emotion expressions can facilitate social interactions, although the behavioral and neural spatiotemporal dynamics is unclear. Here participants (N=100) imitated facial emotions repeatedly over one month (16 times in total) with neural activity measured on three occasions using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. Additionally, t...

Depression is a highly prevalent and debilitating disorder that often begins in adolescence. However, it remains unclear whether adults and adolescents with depression exhibit common or separate brain dysfunctions during reward processing. We aimed to identify common and separable neurofunctional alterations during receipt of rewards and brain stru...

Aims This study aimed to illuminate the neuropathological landscape of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) by a multiscale macro–micro‐molecular perspective from in vivo neuroimaging data. Methods The “ADHD‐200 initiative” repository provided multi‐site high‐quality resting‐state functional connectivity (rsfc‐) neuroimaging for ADHD ch...

Pain empathy represents a fundamental building block of several social functions, which have been demonstrated to be impaired across various mental disorders by accumulating evidence from case-control functional magnetic resonance imaging studies. However, whether the dysregulations are mediated by a shared transdiagnostic neural substrate remains...

Preterm birth is the leading cause of death in children under five years old, and is associated with a wide sequence of complications in both short and long term. In view of rapid neurodevelopment during the neonatal period, preterm neonates may exhibit considerable functional alterations compared to term ones. However, the identified functional al...

Emotions, bodily sensations and movement are integral parts of musical experiences. Yet, it remains unknown i) whether emotional connotations and structural features of music elicit discrete bodily sensations and ii) whether these sensations are culturally consistent. We addressed these questions in a cross-cultural study with Western (European and...

Outcomes of past decisions profoundly shape our behavior. However, choice-outcome associations can become volatile and adaption to such changes is of importance. The present study combines pharmaco-electroencephalography with computational modeling to examine whether intranasal oxytocin can modulate reinforcement learning under a volatile vs. a sta...

Background Despite hypothalamus has long being considered to be involved in the pathophysiology of cluster headache, the inconsistencies of previous neuroimaging studies and a limited understanding of the hypothalamic areas involved, impede a comprehensive interpretation of its involvement in this condition. Methods We used an automated algorithm...

Background The Incentive-Sensitization Theory postulates that addiction is primarily driven by the sensitization of the brain’s reward system to addictive substances, such as nicotine. According to this theory, exposure to such substances leads to an increase in ‘wanting’, while ‘liking’ the experience remains relatively unchanged. Although this ca...

Reward processing dysfunctions are considered a candidate mechanism underlying anhedonia and apathy in depression. Neuroimaging studies have documented that neurofunctional alterations in mesocorticolimbic circuits may neurally mediate these dysfunctions. However, common and distinct neurofunctional alterations during motivational and hedonic evalu...

Glaucoma is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive optic nerve damage and the most common cause for irreversible blindness. Emotional dysregulations are common in glaucoma patients, with high rates of generalized anxiety and depression. Glaucoma leads to pathological changes in the visual pathways of the brain, yet accumulating e...

Prosocial and moral behaviors have overlapping neural systems but whether they involve similar neurochemical systems is unclear. In the current pre-registered randomized placebo controlled trial on 180 adult male and female subjects we investigated effects of intranasal administration of two prosocial neuropeptides, oxytocin or vasopressin, on mora...

Uncertainty about potential future threats and the associated anxious anticipation represents a key feature of anxiety. However, the neural systems that underlie the subjective experience of threat anticipation under uncertainty remain unclear. Combining a novel uncertain shock anticipation paradigm that allows precise modulation of the level of mo...

Adolescence is a critical developmental with increased vulnerability to mental disorders. While the positive impact of physical exercise on adult mental health is well-established, dose-response relationships and the underlying neural and genetic mechanisms in adolescents remain elusive. Leveraging data from >11,000 pre-adolescents (9-10 years, ABC...

Background Internalising disorders are highly prevalent emotional dysregulations during preadolescence but clinical decision-making is hampered by high heterogeneity. During this period impulsivity represents a major risk factor for psychopathological trajectories and may act on this heterogeneity given the controversial anxiety–impulsivity relatio...

Inhibitory control represents a core executive function that critically facilitates adaptive behavior and survival in an ever-changing environment. Non-invasive transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) has been hypothesized to improve behavioral inhibition performance, however the neurocomputational mechanism of taVNS-induced neuroe...

Background The involvement of specific basal ganglia-thalamocortical circuits in response inhibition has been extensively mapped in animal models. However, the pivotal nodes and directed casual regulation within this inhibitory circuit in humans remains controversial. Methods Here, we capitalize on the recent progress in robust and biologically pl...

Autistic individuals generally demonstrate impaired emotion recognition but it is unclear whether effects are emotion-specific or influenced by oxytocin receptor (OXTR) genotype. Here we implemented a dimensional approach using an implicit emotion recognition task together with functional MRI in a large cohort of subjects (N = 255) to establish ass...

Background: A growing body of neuroimaging studies has reported common neural abnormalities among mental disorders in adults. However, it is unclear whether the distinct disorder-specific mechanisms operate during adolescence despite the overlap among disorders. Methods: We studied a large cohort of more than 11 000 preadolescent (age 9-10 yr) c...

Over the last decade, a number of clinical trials have reported effects of chronic treatment with intranasal oxytocin on autistic symptoms but with inconsistent findings. Autism is a heterogeneous disorder and one factor which may influence treatment outcome is whether a subtype of individuals is more sensitive to oxytocin. In a recent cross-over t...

Serotonin (5-HT) has long been implicated in adaptive emotion regulation as well as the development and treatment of emotional dysregulations in mental disorders. Accumulating evidence suggests a genetic vulnerability may render some individuals at a greater risk for the detrimental effects of transient variations in 5-HT signaling. The present stu...

Enhancing our understanding of how the brain constructs conscious emotional experiences within dynamic real-life contexts necessitates ecologically valid neural models. Here, we present evidence delineating the constraints of current fMRI activation models in capturing naturalistic fear dynamics. To address this challenge, we fuse naturalistic fMRI...

Background Comorbidity is the rule rather than the exception for childhood and adolescent onset mental disorders, but we cannot predict its occurrence and do not know the neural mechanisms underlying comorbidity. We investigate if the effects of comorbid internalizing and externalizing disorders on anatomical differences represent a simple aggregat...

Background The development of machine learning models for aiding in the diagnosis of mental disorder is recognized as a significant breakthrough in the field of psychiatry. However, clinical practice of such models remains a challenge, with poor generalizability being a major limitation. Methods Here, we conducted a pre-registered meta-research as...

Significance: Spatial working memory (SWM) is essential for daily life and deficits in this domain represent a common impairment across aging and several mental disorders. Impaired SWM has been closely linked to dysregulations in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) activation. Aim: The present study evaluates the feasibility and maintenance o...

While disgust originates in the hard-wired mammalian distaste response, the conscious experience of disgust in humans strongly depends on subjective appraisal and may even extend to sociomoral contexts. In a series of studies, we combined functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with machine-learning based predictive modeling to establish a com...