Institution - "Houston, Human Neuroimaging Laboratory", United States

The Human Neuroimaging Laboratory is a new, state-of-the-art facility dedicated to basic research investigations into the physiology and functional anatomy of the human brain using fMRI. Construction of the HNL was completed in February, 2003. It houses two 3 T, head-only, Allegra Siemens fMRI scanners, and supports several full-time neuroscientists, a physicist, computer programmers, technicians, a distinguished visiting scientists program, and administrative support.

The laboratory is part of Baylor College of Medicine, located in the heart of the Texas Medical Center, Houston, TX. Neighboring institutions, such as Rice University and the University of Houston, are also involved in research at the HNL. Research projects cover a wide variety of fields, including neuroscience, psychology, sociology, and economics. Particular areas of interest are hyperscanning (a means of exploring the brain activity that underlies human social interactions, see "Projects" above), neural economics, the role of the dopaminergic system in reward processing, neural circuitry of the aesthetic response, and the brain basis of normal and abusive mother-child interactions. www.hnl.bcm.tmc.edu/index.html

Projects

Hyperscanning Hyperscanning is a method by which multiple subjects, each in a separate MRI scanner, can interact with one another while their brains are simultaneously scanned...

Neural Economics Psychology and economics have successfully demonstrated that human behavior is not endlessly variable, but can be captured and quantified by testable laws. Modern neuroscience techniques can identify and link individual differences in decision-making behavior to differences in brain anatomy, brain responses, genetics, and so on...

People

Director Dr. Read Montague is a Professor in the Division of Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine, Director of the Human Neuroimaging Lab, and Director of the Center for Theoretical Neuroscience. His work focuses on computational neuroscience - the connection between the physical mechanisms present in real neural tissue and the computational functions that these mechanisms embody.

Students

Xu Cui is a graduate student in the Structural and Computational Biology and Molecular Biophysics (SCBMB) Program...

Jian Li is a graduate student in the Neuroscience department; he joined the lab in July 2002..

Damon Tomlin is a graduate student in the Neuroscience department; he joined our lab in July 2002...

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