Research Interests

Robert W. Levenson

Robert W. Levenson works in the areas of human psychophysiology and affective neuroscience, both of which involve studying the interplay between psychological and physiological processes. Much of his work focuses on the nature of human emotion, in terms of its physiological manifestations, variations in emotion associated with age, gender, culture and clinical pathology, and the role emotion plays in interpersonal interactions. Dr. Levenson's research group is currently focusing primarily on two major projects: a study of emotion and aging and a study of the impact of neurodegenerative diseases on emotional functioning, both supported by grants from the National Institute of Aging.

Emotion and aging

The centerpiece of this work has been an ongoing longitudinal study of a large sample of long-term first marriages in middle and old age. This work uses an observational methodology in which couples come to the laboratory and engage in naturalistic discussions about important topics related to their relationship. These interactions are studied to determine if there are signs in emotional experience, behavior, language, and physiology that can be used to discrim¬inate between the interactions of couples who are satisfied and dissatisfied with their relationships, to discriminate between couples at different stages of the life span, and to predict what will happen to the level of couples' relationship satisfaction over time. Couples are studied as they progress through prototypical later-life transitions (children leaving home for middle-aged couples, retirement and health changes for older couples), trying to determine what kinds of couples fare well as they cope with these transitions and what kinds of couples fare poorly.

The other focus of this work is to learn about normative changes in emotion that occur with age. Here, emotional reactivity, emotional regulation, and emotional knowledge/understanding are assessed in the laboratory in participants at different ages (cross-sectionally and longitudinally) to determine how human emotions change as we age. Unlike many other aspects of human functioning which show pronounced declines with age (e.g., memory, psychomotor skills), certain aspects of emotional functioning appear to be relatively spared as we age, and some even show signs of continuing improve¬ment and positive development in late life.

Emotion in neurodegenerative disorders

In these studies, we are examining the ways that emotion (especially reactivity, regulation, and empathy), personality, language, and social behavior (especially marital interaction) are altered in the early stages of organic brain syndromes (frontotemporal dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and orbitofrontal brain injuries). Of particular interest are those patients who show neural loss in brain areas thought to be critical to emotional functioning. This work builds upon our extensive prior work studying normative emotional pro¬cesses, which should enable us to detect even subtle changes in the emotion system that are associated with the onset and course of neuropathology. Patients will be studied longitudinally so that changes in the emotional realm can be associated with neural loss in particular brain regions. This research is being conducted in collaboration with a group of neurologists at UCSF and Berkeley and is currently being expanded to include a component concerned with the genetics of these disorders and another concerned with the differential diagnosis of the dementias in clinical practice.

Other research

A number of other research projects are also being conducted in Dr. Levenson's laboratory.

Culture, ethnicity and emotion

In this project, we have been studying the ways that culture and ethnicity influence the behavioral, subjective, communicative, and physi¬ological aspects of emotions. In a series of studies, we are examining emotional reactivity (to a wide range of stimuli), emotional control (as people try to inhibit their emotional responses), emotional perception (the extent to which one person can know how another person of the same or dif¬ferent ethnicity is feeling), and emotional interactions of dating and married couples. This work is being conducted with samples of African American, Chinese American, European American, and Mexican American individuals, with special attention given to the impact of acculturation on emotion.

Basic studies of the physiology of emotions

In these studies, physiological changes (in both the autonomic nervous system and in the muscles that produce facial expressions) are studied during the emotions of anger, contempt, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and sur¬prise. Emotions are produced in the laboratory using a number of different methods (including emotional memories, posed emotional facial expressions, emotion-eliciting films, the interactions of couples in committed relation¬ships, and musical selections). This research addresses the question of how these primary emotions differ physiologically, and how physiology reflects variations in emotions as they occur at different intensities, in blended combinations, in complex sequences, and as they ebb and flow over time.

Studies of emotional communication and control

In these studies, more complex aspects of emotion are being examined. These include: (a) emotional language--the words and metaphors people use to convey their feelings and the relationships between emotional language and accompanying expressive and physiological signs of emotion; (b) empathy--the relationships between physiological state and being able to know the feelings being experienced by another person; (c) emotional control--the subjective, behavioral, and physiological consequences of intentionally inhibiting emotion in both young and older subjects; and (d) emotional interaction in gay and lesbian couples--dyadic interactions are being examined to help understand the interplay between gender and gender-roles in committed relationships.

Representative student research projects

Examples of current and recent research projects undertaken by graduate students and postdoctorals working with Dr. Levenson include: (a) empathic accuracy in young, middle-age, and elderly individuals; (b) emotional differences between patients with Alzheimer’s and frontotemporal dementias; (c) predicting marital distress and divorce; (d) neural loss in specific brain regions (e.g., anterior temporal lobes, amygdala) and emotional functioning; (e) marital schemas, emotional language, and marital behavior; (f) emotion and health in late life; (g) positive emotions and physiological soothing; and (h) emotion regulation in late life.

Additional training

Students working with Dr. Levenson typically learn the skills associated with psychophysiological measurement, the use of computers to process and analyze physiological data, the assessment of emotion by analyzing facial muscle movement, and other methods of behavioral coding. In addition to their course work in the Clinical Science Program, his students typically take courses in physiology, neuroanatomy, culture, emotion, and human aging.

Representative publications

Ebling, R., & Levenson, R.W. (2003). Who are the marital experts? Journal of Marriage and Family, 65, 130-142.

Roberts, N.A., & Levenson. R.W. (2001). The Remains of the Workday: Impact of job stress and exhaustion on marital interaction in police couples. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 63, 1052-1067..

Perry, R. J., Rosen, H. R., Kramer, J. H., Beer, J. S., Levenson, R.W., & Miller, B. L. (2001). Hemispheric dominance for emotions, empathy, and social behavior: Evidence from right and left handers with frontotemporal dementia. Neurocase, 7, 145-160.

Levenson, R. W. (2000). Expressive, physiological, and sub¬jective changes in emotion across adulthood. In S. H. Qualls & N. Abeles (Eds.). Psychology and the aging revolution: How we adapt to longer life. (pp. 123-140). Washington, D.C.: American Psycho¬logical Association.

Levenson, R. W. (1999). The intrapersonal functions of emotion. Cognition and Emotion, 13, 481-504.

Fredrickson, B. L., & Levenson, R. W. (1998). Positive emotions speed recovery from the cardiovascular sequelae of negative emotions. Cognition & Emotion, 12(2), 191-220.

Tsai, J. L., & Levenson, R. W. (1997). Cultural influences of emotional responding: Chinese American and European American dating couples during interpersonal conflict. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 28(5), 600-625.

Gross, J. J., & Levenson, R. W. (1997). Hiding feelings: The acute effects of inhibiting negative and positive emotion. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 106, 95-103.

Levenson, R. W., Carstensen, L. L., & Gottman, J. M. (1994). The influence of age and gender on affect, physiology, and their interrelations: A study of long-term marriage. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 56-68.

Levenson, R. W., & Ruef, A. M. (1992). Empathy: A physiological substrate. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 234-246.

Levenson, R. W., Ekman, P., Heider, K., & Friesen, W. V. (1992). Emotion and autonomic nervous system activity in the Minangkabau of West Sumatra. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62, 972-988.

Levenson, R. W., Carstensen, L. L., Friesen, W. V., & Ekman, P. (1991). Emotion, physiology, and expression in old age. Psychology and Aging, 6, 28-35.

Levenson, R. W., Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. V. (1990). Voluntary facial action generates emotion-specific autonomic nervous system activity. Psychophysiology, 27, 363-384.