Abstract

Emotional and motivational processes are vital for everyday functioning and mental health. Dysregulation in these domains critically impede adaptive behavior and represent a transdiagnostic feature across major mental and neurological disorders. A significant proportion of individuals experiencing pathological dysregulation do not respond adequately to currently available interventions. Therefore, integrated translational strategies that precisely identify the underlying brain systems and explore novel strategies to modulate these targets in humans are urgently needed. In this talk, I will outline synergistic strategies aimed at (1) determining the neural basis of highly subjective, conscious emotional experiences using machine learning–based neural decoding of advanced and naturalistic fMRI experiments, (2) demonstrating how these neural signatures differ from those underlying hard-wired autonomic affective responses, and (3) exploring how these domains can be precisely regulated via neuropeptide systems (such as oxytocin and angiotensin II) and novel technologies, including conversational AI.