Kent Berridge, a psychologist at the University of Michigan, discusses his research on how the brain generates pleasure and motivation, part of Yale's Experts in Emotion interview series hosted by June Gruber. Berridge explains what drew him to study emotion and walks through the central findings of his lab, including the distinction between wanting and liking and the neural systems, such as dopamine circuits, that drive craving separately from enjoyment. He touches on how these mechanisms relate to addiction and reward-seeking behavior more broadly. The interview closes with his thoughts on promising future directions in affective neuroscience and practical advice for students hoping to enter the field. Structured as a short sit-down conversation with chapter markers, it moves quickly through his career and core discoveries rather than offering a full course lecture, but the content is drawn directly from decades of laboratory work on the brain's reward systems.