The Berg Laboratory
Our Research ApproachOur long-term research goal is to investigate maladaptive defensive behaviors in clinical anxiety, to generate insights that can inform the development of targeted treatments. We aim to create an environment that is conducive to rigor, creativity, and innovation.
For many individuals, threat-related behaviors are just one facet of life: the desire to avoid, neutralize, or seek reassurance about threatening situations coexists with a variety of other goals and values. But for those with clinical anxiety, including those with diagnoses of anxiety disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder, threat-related behaviors often take up an enormous amount of time and energy, resulting in serious functional impairment. While great strides have been made in understanding and treating clinical anxiety, these patterns of costly, unnecessary threat-related behavior are not yet fully understood. To address this gap, the Berg Lab brings a decision-science approach to the investigation of clinical anxiety, with an emphasis on task-based neuroimaging methods. Through this work, we hope to contribute to a comprehensive account of threat-related decision-making that will inform future treatments for clinical anxiety. |
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Research Program Highlights
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Main Questions
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Approach
We apply neuroimaging during experimental paradigms that mirror real-world scenarios in which maladaptive behaviors arise.
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Future Directions
The lab’s next major project uses task-based neuroimaging to compare brain activations during threat-related behavior in individuals with and without obsessive-compulsive disorder.
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Scientific Background
Dr. Berg received her Bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University. She then completed a research training fellowship at the National Institute of Mental Health, and received her PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Minnesota under the mentorship of Dr. Shmuel Lissek. Her graduate training followed a clinical science model, combining a focus on task-based neuroscience with clinical training in assessment and treatment of anxiety-related and obsessive-compulsive disorders. Her graduate research applied functional magnetic resonance imaging and fear conditioning to investigate maladaptive avoidance in clinical anxiety. In 2021, she joined LIBR for a predoctoral clinical internship, beginning a research collaboration with Dr. Robin Aupperle focused on neurobehavioral responses to approach-avoidance conflict and clinical outcomes in mood and anxiety disorders.
Dr. Berg next completed a postdoctoral fellowship at LIBR under the mentorship of Dr. Aupperle. During this fellowship she conducted analyses of fMRI predictors of psychotherapy outcomes, and initiated a pilot project examining threat-related neutralization behavior as an analogue for compulsions in obsessive-compulsive disorder. In 2024, Dr. Berg was promoted to Associate Investigator at LIBR. She is continuing her work investigating the neural underpinnings of threat-related behavior in obsessive-compulsive disorder, with the aim of identifying treatment targets and informing future interventions.
Dr. Berg next completed a postdoctoral fellowship at LIBR under the mentorship of Dr. Aupperle. During this fellowship she conducted analyses of fMRI predictors of psychotherapy outcomes, and initiated a pilot project examining threat-related neutralization behavior as an analogue for compulsions in obsessive-compulsive disorder. In 2024, Dr. Berg was promoted to Associate Investigator at LIBR. She is continuing her work investigating the neural underpinnings of threat-related behavior in obsessive-compulsive disorder, with the aim of identifying treatment targets and informing future interventions.