IRSP Faculty Affiliate Profile:
Naomi I. Eisenberger
UCLA Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology; Department of Psychology
Campus Address:
UCLA Cousins Center for PNI
300 Medical Plaza, Room 3156
Los Angeles, CA 90095-7076
Phone: (310) 825-2576
Email:
Web page: Social and Affective Neuroscience Labratory

Research:
My program of research borrows from social psychology, affective/cognitive neuroscience, and health psychology to understand: a) the processes that motivate social connection and b) the mechanisms whereby social connection impacts mental and physical health. Most, recently, I have focused on the neurocognitive and physiological correlates of 'social pain,' the painful feelings that follow social rejection. Currently, I am investigating the neural and physiological systems that underlie the positive, contented feelings experienced with close others.

Selected Publications:

Eisenberger, N. I., Way, B., Taylor, S. E., & Lieberman, M. D. (in press). MAOA, gender differences and social exclusion: response to Gallardo-Pujol et al. Biological Psychiatry.

Eisenberger, N. I., Gable, S. L., & Lieberman, M. D. (in press). fMRI responses relate to differences in real-world social experience. Emotion.

Eisenberger, N. I., Taylor, S. E., Gable, S. L., Hilmert, C. J., & Lieberman, M. D. (2007). Neural pathways link social support to attenuated neuroendocrine stress responses. NeuroImage, 35, 1601-1612.

Eisenberger, N. I., Jarcho, J. J., Lieberman, M. D., & Naliboff, B. D. (2006). An experimental study of shared sensitivity to physical pain and social rejection. Pain, 126, 132-138.

Eisenberger, N.I. & Lieberman, M.D. (2004). Why rejection hurts: A common neural alarm system for physical and social pain. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 8, 294-300.

Eisenberger, N.I., Lieberman, M.D., & Williams, K.D. (2003). Does rejection hurt? An fMRI study of social exclusion. Science, 302, 290-292.

Selected Courses:
The Neurobiology of Social Relationships
Emotion in Social Contexts
Affective Neuroscience
.