David Zald uses functional neuroimaging and neuropsychological techniques to examine and map the cognitive, affective and sensory functions of the orbitofrontal cortex, amygdala and the mesolimbic dopamine system. This work particularly focuses on understanding the manner in which individual differences in the functioning of these systems contributes to personality and risk for psychopathology. In recent years this work has examined the interaction of emotion and attention, and the substrates of economic decision making, particularly as it relates to motivation, the willingness to expend effort and reward processing, both in healthy individuals and people with certain forms of psychopathology. A final area of focus is the examination of the neural substrates of dimensions of psychopathology, specifically factors of psychopathology that cross the boundaries of different psychiatric disorders.