Michael R. Koenigs

Human lesion studies; Emotion, decision-making, and social behavior

E-mail: mrkoenigs@wisc.edu

Office Phone: (608) 263-1679

Lab Website: Koenigs Lab

Research Strengths: Behavior, Cognition and Emotion

TThe goal of our research is to identify and characterize the brain circuits underlying emotion and social behavior. To this end, we primarily study two clinical populations with notable deficits in these domains.

In one line of work, we study neurological and neurosurgical patients who have undergone dramatic changes in emotion, personality, and social behavior as a result of focal brain lesions. By associating specific areas of brain damage with specific changes in emotion, one can infer which brain areas are critically involved in affective function, and ultimately, which brain areas may be responsible for disorders of emotion, such as depression and anxiety.

In addition to detailed mapping of the patient’s structural brain damage, we employ a range of assessment techniques that probe the patient’s emotional state as well as cognitive and psychosocial function. For example, we have shown that brain lesions involving prefrontal cortex or amygdala can alter the patient’s risk of developing certain types of psychopathology, such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. In other studies we have shown that brain lesions involving ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) can alter the patient’s “rational” decision-making, such as moral judgment, financial bargaining, or even susceptibility to commercial advertising.

In a second line of work, we study prison inmates with psychopathy. Psychopathy is a mental health disorder characterized by impulsive antisocial behavior and a marked lack of empathy and guilt. The identification of neural correlates of the disorder could have profound implications for the clinical and legal management of psychopathic criminals, as well as for the basic understanding of the biological substrates underlying human social behavior.

We use multimodal brain imaging to identify structural and functional abnormalities in the psychopaths’ brains, as well as behavioral testing to evaluate the psychopaths’ decision-making abilities. In particular, we are exploring the hypotheses that (1) psychopathy is associated with dysfunction in a circuit involving ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and (2) psychopathy may consist of distinct subtypes (differentiated on the basis of anxiety level), which have distinct neurobiological and behavioral features.

Selected Publications:

• Motzkin J, Newman JP, Kiehl K, and Koenigs M. (2011).   Reduced prefrontal connectivity in psychopathy. Journal of Neuroscience, 31, 17348-17357.
• Koenigs M, Kruepke M, and Newman J.  2010.  Economic decision-making in psychopathy: A comparison with ventromedial prefrontal lesions. Neuropsychologia, 48: 2198-2204.
• Koenigs, M., E. Huey, M. Calamia, V. Raymont, D. Tranel, and J. Grafman. 2008. Distinct regions of prefrontal cortex mediate resistance and vulnerability to depression. J. Neurosci. 28:12341-12348.
• Koenigs, M., E. Huey, V. Raymont, B. Cheon, J. Solomon, E. Wassermann, and J. Grafman. 2008. Focal brain damage protects against post-traumatic stress disorder in combat veterans. Nature Neuroscience 11:232-237.
• Koenigs, M. and D. Tranel. 2008. Prefrontal cortex damage abolishes brand-cued changes in cola preference. Social, Cognitive, and Affective Neuroscience 3:1-6.
• Koenigs, M., L. Young, R. Adolphs, D. Tranel, F. Cushman, M. Hauser, and A.R. Damasio. 2007. Damage to the prefrontal cortex increases utilitarian moral judgments. Nature 446:908-11.
• Koenigs, M. and D. Tranel. 2007. Irrational economic decision-making following ventromedial prefrontal damage: Evidence from the Ultimatum Game. J. Neurosci. 27:951-6.
• Adolphs, R., D. Tranel, M. Koenigs, and A.R. Damasio. 2005. Preferring one taste over another without recognizing either. Nature Neuroscience 8:860-1.