Psychology Faculty

Gorica Petrovich

Professor

Photo of Gorica Petrovich

Gorica Petrovich

Ph.D.

Contact

McGuinn Hall 344

Telephone: 617-552-0416

Email: gorica.petrovich@bc.edu

Education

  • Ph.D., University of Southern California

Courses

PSYC3385 Neurobiology of Motivation and Emotion

PSYC3388 Neurobiology of Eating and Eating Disorders

PSYC5585 Advanced Brain Systems: Motivation and Emotion

Research Interests

Neurobiology of motivation and feeding behavior: neural circuitry and plasticity mechanisms of cognitive control of feeding, modulation of hunger and satiety by learning and stress; learning and memory processes; sex and age differences.

Lab Site Curriculum Vitae

Department

Psychology

Profile

Professor Petrovich joined the Boston College Department of Psychology and Neuroscience in 2007. Her academic background and expertise are in systems neuroanatomy, learning and memory, and behavioral neuroscience. Professor Petrovich’s research program investigates how cognitive and hedonic processes control the motivation to eat. Her research team utilizes a multidisciplinary approach to manipulate basic hunger mechanisms through learning and stress in order to determine the neural networks that adaptively control feeding behavior. Professor Petrovich teaches courses on the neurobiology of eating and eating disorders and the brain systems of emotion and motivation.

Selected Publications

  • Greiner EM, Witt ME, Moran SJ, and Petrovich GD (2023) Activation patterns in male and female forebrain circuitries during food consumption under novelty. Brain Structure and Function In Press.
  • Parsons W, Greiner E, Buczek L, Miggliacio J, Corbett E, Madden AMK and Petrovich GD (2022) Sex differences in activation of extra-hypothalamic forebrain areas during hedonic eating. Brain Structure and Function 227:2857-2878.
  • Petrovich GD (2021) The function of paraventricular thalamic circuitry in adaptive control of feeding behavior. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 16:671096.
  • Greiner EM & Petrovich GD (2020) The effects of novelty on food consumption in male and female rats. Physiology & Behavior 223:112970
  • Buczek L, Miggliacio J & Petrovich GD (2020) Hedonic eating: Sex differences and characterization of orexin neurons activation and signaling. Neuroscience 436:34-45.
  • Cole S, Keefer SE, Anderson LC & Petrovich GD (2020) Medial prefrontal cortex neural plasticity, orexin receptor 1 signaling, and connectivity with the lateral hypothalamus are necessary in cue-potentiated feeding. Journal of Neuroscience 40:1744-1755.
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