Prof. Benjamin BECKER

EDUCATION

• Ph.D. University of Duesseldorf (Germany) 2010
• M.S. University of Trier (Germany) 2005
• B.S. University of Trier (Germany) 2001

RESEARCH INTERESTS

My MIND & AI Lab drives innovation at the intersection of Neuropsychology and Artificial Intelligence to advance Mental Health and Social-Cognitive Affective Sciences. Leveraging recent technological and computational progress, we investigate the neural underpinnings of social-cognitive and affective processes in humans, focusing on how these (1) shape and are shaped by interactions with emerging technologies and new forms of intelligence (such as social media and AI), (2) become dysregulated in mental disorders (including anxiety, depression, and addiction), and (3) can be modulated by neuropeptides (e.g., oxytocin, renin-angiotensin) or brain-inspired technologies (e.g., non-invasive brain stimulation, real-time neurofeedback).

My international team employs a comprehensive array of methodologies – from neuropsychology and cognitive neuroscience, to experimental psychology, advanced neuroimaging, AI, machine learning-based neural decoding, computational modeling, and both pharmacological and real-time fMRI-guided neuromodulation in healthy and clinical populations. Our findings have been published in more than 300 articles across leading scientifc journals and have been sucessfully translated into randomized clinical trials, paving the way for innovative mental health interventions and policy development.

Currently, I serve as Principal Editor of Psychopharmacology, Executive Board Member of Advanced Science, Editor of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, co-direct the CIBD Task Force of the Global Brain Consortium (GBC) and have been recognized among the World’s Top 1% or Top 2% scientists by Clarivate or Stanford, respectively.

ACADEMIC JOURNAL EDITORIAL SERVICES

• Psychopharmacology (Principal Editor)
• Advanced Science (Executive Editorial Board)
• Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics (Board Member) 
• PLOS Biology (Guest Scientific Editor)
• Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews (SI Editor)
• Psychoradiology (Board Member)

KEY PUBLICATIONS

Becker B (2025) Will our social brain inherently shape – and be shaped by – interactions with AI? Neuron 113: 2037-2041

Montag C, Spape M, Becker B (2025) Challenges and opportunities of AI solutions to loneliness. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 29: 869-871

Fu K, Xu S, Zhang Z, Liu D, Zhang Y, Zhou F, Zhang X, Lan C, Wang J, Wang L, He J, Kendrick K, Biswal B, Liang Z, Zhao W, Becker B (2025) Oxytocin reduces subjective fear in naturalistic social contexts via enhancing top-down middle cingulate-amygdala regulation and brain-wide connectivity. Advanced Science (12:e03251)

Ran Z, Gan X, Xu T, Yu F, Lan W, Song X, Jiao G, Liu X, Zhou F, Becker B (2025) A neurofunctional signature of affective arousal generalizes across valence domains and distinguishes subjective experience from autonomic reactivity. Nature Communications 16: 6492

Zhou F, Zhang R, Yao S, Dong D, Feng P, Kranz G, Feng T, Becker B (2025) Capturing dynamic fear experiences in naturalistic contexts: An ecologically valid fMRI signature integrating brain activation and connectivity. IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing (in press)

Xu T, Fu K, Ma C, Yao D, Becker B (2025) Renin-angiotensin system: a novel target for brain health. Trends in Molecular Medicine (online first: doi: 10.1016?j.molmed.2025.10.001)

Gan X, Zhou F, Xu T, Liu X, Zhang R, Zheng Z, Yang X, Zhou X, Yu F, Li J, Cui R, Wang L, Yuan J, Yao D, Becker B (2024) A neurofunctional signature of subjective core disgust generalizes to oral distaste and socio-moral contexts. Nature Human Behaviour, 8:1383-1402

Montag C, Becker B (2024) Use EU digital act to fund research on social-media harms. Nature 628, 268

Montag C, Schulz PJ, Marciano L, Roman-Urrestarazu A, Rumpf HJ, Becker B (2024) Safeguarding young users on social media through academic oversight. Nature Reviews in Psychology 3, 368-369

Xu T, Chen Z, Zhou X, Wang L, Zhou F, Yao D, Zhou B, Becker B (2024) The central renin angiotensin II system – a genetic pathway, functional decoding and selective target engagement characterization in humans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) 121, e2306936121

Liu X, Jiao G, Zhou F, Kendrick KM, Yao D, Xiang S, Jia T, Zhang X, Zhang J, Feng J, Becker B (2024) A neural signature for the subjective experience of threat anticipation under uncertainty. Nature Communications 15:1544

Montag C, Marciano L, Schulz PJ, Becker B (2023) Unlocking social media’s brain secrets through neuroscience. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 27:1102-1104

Xu T, Zhou X, Kanen JW, Wan L, Chen Z, Zhang R, Jiao G, Zhou F, Zhao W, Yao S, Becker B (2023) Angiotensin blockade enhances motivational reward learning via enhancing ventral striatal prediction error and frontostriatal communication. Molecular Psychiatry 28: 1692-1702

Kou J, Zhang Y, Zhou F, Gao Z, Yao S, Zhao W, Li H, Lei Y, Gao S, Kendrick KM, Becker B (2022) Anxiolytic effects of chronic oxytocin on neural responses to threat are dose-frequency dependent. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics 91: 253-264

Zhou F, Zhao W, Qi Z, Geng Y, Yao S, Kendrick KM, Wager TD, Becker B (2021) A distributed fMRI-based neuromarker for the subjective experience of fear. Nature Communications 12:6643

Quintana D, Lischke A, Grace S, Scheele D, Ma Y, Becker B (2021) Advances in the field of oxytocin research: lessons learned and future directions for clinical research. Molecular Psychiatry 26: 80-91.

Xin F, Zhou X, Dong D, Zhao Z, Yang X, Wang Q, Gu Y, Kendrick KM, Chen A, Becker B (2020) Oxytocin differentially modulates amygdala responses during top-down and bottom-up aversive anticipation. Advanced Science 2001077.

Xu X, Dai J, Liu C, Chen Y, Xin F, Zhou F, Zhou X, Huang Y, Wang J, Zou Z, Li J, Ebstein RP, Kendrick KM, Zhou B, Becker B (2020) Common and disorder-specific neurofunctional markers of dysregulated empathic reactivity in major depression and generalized anxiety disorder. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics 89: 114-116.

Zhou F, Geng Y, Li J, Liu C, Zhao W, Feng T, Guastella A, Ebstein, RP, Kendrick KM, Becker B (2019) Human extinction learning is accelerated by an angiotensin antagonist via ventromedial prefrontal cortex and its connections with basolateral amygdala. Biological Psychiatry 86:910-920.

Zhao Z, Yao S, Li K, Sindermann C, Zhou F, Zhao W, Li J, Luehrs M, Goebel R, Kendrick KM, Becker B (2019) Real-time functional connectivity-based neurofeedback of amygdala-frontal pathways reduces anxiety. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics 88:5-15.

Li J, Xu L, Zheng X, Fu M, Zhou F, Xu X, Ma X, Li K, Kendrick KM, Becker B (2019) Common and dissociable contributions of alexithymia and autism to domain-specific interoceptive dysregulations – a dimensional approach. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics 88: 187-189.

Becker B, Wagner D, Koester P, Tittgemeyer M, Mercer-Chalmers-Bender K, Hurlemann R, Zhang J, Gouzoulis-Mayfrank E, Kendrick KM, Daumann J (2015) Smaller amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex predict escalating stimulant use. Brain 138:2074-86.

Becker B, Scheele D, Moessner R, Maier W, Hurlemann R (2013) Deciphering the neural signature of conversion blindness. American Journal of Psychiatry 170:121-122.

For a full publication list see also google scholar  https://tinyurl.com/GSbbecker

RESEARCH LABORATORY

MIND & AI Lab (Mental health Innovation, Neuropsychology, Decoding emotions & AI Laboratory)

RESEARCH INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

Contact us for opportunities