· SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2001
B.S. University of Trier (Germany)
2005
M.S. University of Trier (Germany)
Ph.D. University of Duesseldorf (Germany)
· EDUCATION
· RESEARCH INTERESTS
Benjamin Becker is currently a Full Professor at The University of Hong Kong (HKU,Department of Psychology) and Agreement Professor at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC,School of Life Science and Technology). He received his Master and PhD Degrees at the Universities of Trier and Duesseldorf in Germany and underwent further training in Affective Neuroscience and advanced neuroimaging at the University of Bonn (Germany) before he established independent research teams at the UESTC and HKU.
His research aims to explore how the human brain generates and regulates emotional experiences, how these processes become dysfunctional in mental disorders and how these processes can be modulated by innovative technological and pharmacological means. To this end, his team capitalizes on an entire array of strategies, including advanced neuroimaging, Al-inspired neural decoding, real-time fMRI neurofeedback and pharmacological neuroenhancement (oxytocin,angiotensin l,etc).
The endeavors led to more than 250 publications in scientific journals including Nature, Nature Human Behaviour, Nature Communications, Nature Reviews in Psychology, Advanced Science, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, PNAS, Molecular Psychiatry, American Journal of Psychiatry, Biological Psychiatry, among others (>11000 citations, h-index 57, i10>180), and the findings have been featured in numerous media reports by the New York Times,Forbes,Xinhua,etc.
Prof. Ben Becker has led numerous competitive and talent projects, including projects from the German Research Foundation, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the National Science Foundation. He currently serves on the editorial boards of international journals such as Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Psychopharmacology, and Psychoradiology and was the founding editor-in-chief of Frontiers in Social and Affective Neuroimaging. He is co-director of the Brain Dysfunction Initiative initiated by COVID, the Global Brain Coalition and currently coordinates the Cognitive Science Programme at the HKU.
Deciphering the neural signature of conversion blindness.
American Journal of Psychiatry 170:121-122
Becker B, Scheele D, Moessner R, Maier W, Hurlemann R (2013)
2013
Smaller amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex predict escalating stimulant use.
Brain 138:2074-86
Becker B, Wagner D, Koester P, Tittgemeyer M, Mercer-Chalmers-Bender K, Hurlemann R, Zhang J, Gouzoulis-Mayfrank E, Kendrick KM, Daumann J (2015)
2015
Human extinction learning is accelerated by an angiotensin antagonist via ventromedial prefrontal cortex and its connections with basolateral amygdala.
Biological Psychiatry 86:910-920
Zhou F, Geng Y, Li J, Liu C, Zhao W, Feng T, Guastella A, Ebstein, RP, Kendrick KM, Becker B (2019)
Real-time functional connectivity-based neurofeedback of amygdala-frontal pathways reduces anxiety.
Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics 88:5-15
Zhao Z, Yao S, Li K, Sindermann C, Zhou F, Zhao W, Li J, Luehrs M, Goebel R, 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
Li J, Xu L, Zheng X, Fu M, Zhou F, Xu X, Ma X, Li K, Kendrick KM, Becker B (2019)
2019
Common and disorder-specific neurofunctional markers of dysregulated empathic reactivity in major depression and generalized anxiety disorder.
Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics 89: 114-116
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)
2020
A distributed fMRI-based neuromarker for the subjective experience of fear.
Nature Communications 12:6643
Zhou F, Zhao W, Qi Z, Geng Y, Yao S, Kendrick KM, Wager TD, Becker B (2021)
Advances in the field of oxytocin research: lessons learned and future directions for clinical research.
Molecular Psychiatry 26: 80-91
Quintana D, Lischke A, Grace S, Scheele D, Ma Y, Becker B (2021)
2021
Anxiolytic effects of chronic oxytocin on neural responses to threat are dose-frequency dependent.
Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics 91: 253-264
Kou J, Zhang Y, Zhou F, Gao Z, Yao S, Zhao W, Li H, Lei Y, Gao S, Kendrick KM, Becker B (2022)
2022
Unlocking social media’s brain secrets through neuroscience.
Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 27:1102-1104
Montag C, Marciano L, Schulz PJ, Becker B (2023)
Angiotensin blockade enhances motivational reward learning via enhancing ventral striatal prediction error and frontostriatal communication.
Molecular Psychiatry 28: 1692-1702
Xu T, Zhou X, Kanen JW, Wan L, Chen Z, Zhang R, Jiao G, Zhou F, Zhao W, Yao S, Becker B (2023)
2023
2025
Challenges and opportunities of AI solutions to loneliness.
Trends in Cognitive Sciences 29: 869-871
Montag C, Spape M, Becker B (2025)
Will our social brain inherently shape – and be shaped by – interactions with AI?
Neuron 113: 2037-2041
Becker B (2025)
A neurofunctional signature of affective arousal generalizes across valence domains and distinguishes subjective experience from autonomic reactivity.
Nature Communications 16: 6492
Ran Z, Gan X, Xu T, Yu F, Lan W, Song X, Jiao G, Liu X, Zhou F, 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)
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)
Renin-angiotensin system: a novel target for brain health.
Trends in Molecular Medicine 32: 429-445
Xu T, Fu K, Ma C, Yao D, 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 17:1
Zhou F, Zhang R, Yao S, Dong D, Feng P, Kranz G, Feng T, Becker B (2025)
2026
Common and distinct neurofunctional signatures of dynamic naturalistic emotion regulation strategies
Nature Communications 17: 4272
Jiang H, He J, Zimmermann K, Zhou X, Gan X , Ferraro S, Wang L, Zhou B, Kendrick KM, Zhao W, Yao D, Yuan T, Feng Z, Becker B (2026).
Vasopressin and angiotensin II pathways differentially modulate human fear response dynamics to looming threats.
PLOS Biology 24:e3003668
Han M, Dong W, Fu K, Wang J, Xu Y, Zheng Y, Kendrick K, Ferraro S, Xu T, Yao D, Becker B (2026)
2010
· ACADEMIC JOURNAL EDITORIAL SERVICES
Psychoradiology
Board Member
A neurofunctional signature of subjective core disgust generalizes to oral distaste and socio-moral contexts.
Nature Human Behaviour, 8:1383-1402
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)
Use EU digital act to fund research on social-media harms
Nature 628, 268
Montag C, Becker B (2024)
2024
Safeguarding young users on social media through academic oversight.
Nature Reviews in Psychology 3, 368-369Montag C, Schulz PJ, Marciano L, Roman-Urrestarazu A, Rumpf HJ, 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
Xu T, Chen Z, Zhou X, Wang L, Zhou F, Yao D, Zhou B, Becker B (2024)
A neural signature for the subjective experience of threat anticipation under uncertainty.
Nature Communications 15:1544
Liu X, Jiao G, Zhou F, Kendrick KM, Yao D, Xiang S, Jia T, Zhang X, Zhang J, Feng J, Becker B (2024)
Oxytocin differentially modulates amygdala responses during top-down and bottom-up aversive anticipation.
Advanced Science 2001077
Xin F, Zhou X, Dong D, Zhao Z, Yang X, Wang Q, Gu Y, Kendrick KM, Chen A, Becker B (2020)
For a full publication list see also Google Scholar: https://tinyurl.com/GSbbecker