EXPERT: Brain-based tips for sticking to New Year’s resolutions

Neuroscientist Elliot Berkman is available to talk about the best ways to make (and keep) New Year’s resolutions. The gimmick-free tips are backed by more than a decade of research Berkman has collected while studying human behavior in the Social and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory at the University of Oregon.

About Elliot Berkman
Elliot Berkman is a professor of psychology at the University of Oregon and Co-Director of the Center for Translational Neuroscience. He studies the motivational and cognitive factors that contribute to success and failure at health goals such as cigarette smoking cessation and dieting. His research leverages the distinct strengths of several research methods, including functional magnetic resonance imaging, longitudinal survey methods, and laboratory experiments. This work adopts a translational neuroscience approach by using knowledge of brain function, structure, and connectivity to design and improve interventions on health behavior and wellbeing. Projects in the lab are currently funded by the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute on Drug Abuse. He directs the Social and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory in the Department of Psychology.