Research Labs & Institutions

This page tracks emotion research laboratories and institutions around the globe that conduct alexithymia and emotion-related research. These labs are at the forefront of advancing our understanding of emotional awareness, alexithymia, and related conditions.

North America

United States

University of Toronto (Toronto, ON)

Principal Investigators: R. Michael Bagby, Graeme J. Taylor
Focus: Alexithymia assessment, TAS-20 development and validation
Notable Research: Development of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale, cross-cultural validation studies
Website: Clinical Psychology Research

Yale University - Emotion & Cognition Lab (New Haven, CT)

Principal Investigator: Marc Brackett
Focus: Emotion regulation, emotional intelligence, RULER approach
Notable Research: Mood Meter app development, emotion regulation in educational settings
Website: Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence

Harvard Medical School - Affective Neuroscience Lab (Boston, MA)

Principal Investigator: Lisa Feldman Barrett
Focus: Emotion construction theory, interoception, affective neuroscience
Notable Research: Theory of constructed emotion, interoceptive awareness studies
Website: Interdisciplinary Affective Science Laboratory

University of California, Berkeley - Emotion Lab (Berkeley, CA)

Principal Investigator: Dacher Keltner
Focus: Social emotions, compassion, emotion and well-being
Notable Research: Emotion mapping, social emotion studies
Website: Berkeley Social Interaction Lab

Stanford University - Psychophysiology Lab (Stanford, CA)

Principal Investigator: James Gross
Focus: Emotion regulation, cognitive reappraisal, affective neuroscience
Notable Research: Process model of emotion regulation, reappraisal strategies
Website: Stanford Psychophysiology Laboratory

Canada

University of British Columbia - Emotion & Self Lab (Vancouver, BC)

Principal Investigator: Joanne Chung
Focus: Emotional awareness, self-concept, cultural differences in emotion
Notable Research: Cross-cultural emotion studies, emotional granularity
Website: UBC Psychology

Europe

United Kingdom

Principal Investigators: Essi Viding, Eamon McCrory
Focus: Emotional processing, developmental psychopathology, alexithymia in autism
Notable Research: Alexithymia and empathy studies, developmental emotion research
Website: SGDP Centre

University of Cambridge - Autism Research Centre (Cambridge)

Principal Investigator: Simon Baron-Cohen
Focus: Autism, alexithymia, empathy, emotion recognition
Notable Research: Alexithymia in autism spectrum conditions, empathy quotient development
Website: Autism Research Centre

Netherlands

University of Amsterdam - Emotion Regulation Lab (Amsterdam)

Principal Investigator: Sander Koole
Focus: Emotion regulation, mindfulness, self-control
Notable Research: Emotion regulation strategies, mindfulness interventions
Website: UvA Psychology

Tilburg University - Emotion & Cognition Lab (Tilburg)

Principal Investigators: Bob Bermond, Henk Vorst
Focus: BVAQ development, cognitive vs. affective alexithymia
Notable Research: Bermond-Vorst Alexithymia Questionnaire, alexithymia subtypes
Website: Tilburg University Psychology

Germany

Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences (Leipzig)

Principal Investigator: Tania Singer
Focus: Social neuroscience, empathy, compassion training
Notable Research: ReSource Project, empathy and compassion studies
Website: MPI CBS

University of Heidelberg - Clinical Psychology Lab (Heidelberg)

Principal Investigator: Beate Herbert
Focus: Interoception, body awareness, alexithymia
Notable Research: Interoceptive accuracy and alexithymia, body perception studies
Website: Heidelberg University Psychology

France

Université Grenoble Alpes - Laboratory of Psychology and NeuroCognition (Grenoble)

Principal Investigators: Various emotion researchers
Focus: Emotion processing, neuropsychology, affective disorders
Notable Research: Emotion and cognition interactions, clinical applications
Website: LPNC

Italy

University of Pisa - Clinical Psychology Lab (Pisa)

Principal Investigator: Graziella Orrù
Focus: Alexithymia, emotion regulation, clinical applications
Notable Research: Italian validation studies, alexithymia in clinical populations
Website: UniPi Psychology

Asia-Pacific

Australia

University of Melbourne - Emotion in Everyday Life Lab (Melbourne, VIC)

Principal Investigator: Stefan Bode
Focus: Emotion regulation, decision-making, neuroscience
Notable Research: Neural mechanisms of emotion regulation, everyday emotion studies
Website: Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences

Japan

RIKEN Brain Science Institute (Wako, Saitama)

Principal Investigators: Various neuroscience researchers
Focus: Affective neuroscience, emotion processing, brain imaging
Notable Research: Neural basis of emotion, cross-cultural emotion studies
Website: RIKEN CBS

South Korea

Seoul National University - Emotion & Cognition Lab (Seoul)

Principal Investigator: Hackjin Kim
Focus: Cultural neuroscience, emotion processing, social cognition
Notable Research: Cultural differences in emotion, East-West emotion studies
Website: SNU Psychology

Emerging Research Centers

Latin America

University of São Paulo - Emotion Research Group (São Paulo, Brazil)

Focus: Cross-cultural emotion studies, Portuguese-language validation
Notable Research: Brazilian adaptations of emotion measures, cultural emotion studies

Universidad de Chile - Affective Neuroscience Lab (Santiago, Chile)

Focus: Emotion and mental health, Spanish-language research
Notable Research: Emotion regulation in clinical populations, cultural adaptations

Africa

University of Cape Town - Emotion & Mental Health Lab (Cape Town, South Africa)

Focus: Emotion in diverse populations, mental health applications
Notable Research: Cross-cultural emotion studies, community mental health

Research Networks & Consortiums

International Society for Research on Emotion (ISRE)

Description: Global network of emotion researchers
Focus: Facilitating collaboration, conferences, publications
Website: ISRE

European Emotion Research Network

Description: Collaborative network of European emotion labs
Focus: Cross-cultural studies, methodological development

Consortium of European Research on Emotion (CERE)

Description: Annual conference bringing together European emotion researchers
Focus: Cutting-edge emotion research, interdisciplinary collaboration
Website: CERE Conference

Collaborative Research Projects

Multi-Site Studies

Global Alexithymia Validation Project

Participating Labs: University of Toronto, Tilburg University, University of Pisa, others
Focus: Cross-cultural validation of alexithymia measures
Status: Ongoing data collection across 20+ countries

International Emotion Regulation Study

Participating Labs: Stanford, Yale, King's College London, others
Focus: Cultural differences in emotion regulation strategies
Status: Data analysis phase

Autism and Alexithymia Research Consortium

Participating Labs: Cambridge, King's College London, various international sites
Focus: Understanding alexithymia in autism spectrum conditions
Status: Multi-phase longitudinal study

Research Funding & Support

Major Funding Bodies

National Institutes of Health (NIH) - USA

Relevant Institutes: NIMH, NICHD, NCCIH
Focus: Mental health, developmental, complementary health research

European Research Council (ERC)

Focus: Frontier research across Europe
Relevant Programs: Starting Grants, Consolidator Grants, Advanced Grants

Wellcome Trust - UK

Focus: Health and medical research
Relevant Areas: Mental health, neuroscience, population health

Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)

Focus: Health research across Canada
Relevant Institutes: Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction

This directory is continuously updated as new labs emerge and research programs evolve. If you know of additional emotion research labs or would like to suggest updates, please contact us.

Last updated: December 2024

Contributing: To add or update lab information, please provide: lab name, institution, principal investigator(s), research focus, notable publications, and website URL.