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Dr. Read Montague is a Professor in the Department of Physics at Virginia Tech and Director of the Human Neuroimaging Lab at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute

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.

Work in the Montague group also extends into several experimental areas including synaptic physiology, human neuroimaging, and human behavior.

Dr. Montague talks about decision-making and free will. Click here to listen to a layman-level description of his work on choice and its relationship to the brain.

The HNL and Montague lab are part of The Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute (VTCRI), a new public/private partership between Virginia Tech and the Carilion Hospital System.

Recent Interviews

Oprah Radio - Dr. Oz Show - July 15, 2009
SETI Radio Network - Skeptic Check - January 20, 2010

Book Release

Why Choose This Book?: How We Make Decisions
by Read Montague

Book Reviews

Nature - Choose your own reward
AmericanScientist.org - The Bookshelf talks with Read Montague

Recent Publications

Kirk U, Downar J, Montague PR (2011) Interoception drives increased rational decision-making in meditators playing the ultimatum game. Frontiers in Neuroscience 5:49. PDF

Salas R, Baldwin P, de Biasi M, Montague PR (2010) BOLD Responses to Negative Reward Prediction Errors in Human Habenula. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 4:36. PDF

Harvey AH, Kirk U, Denfield GH, Montague PR (2010) Monetary favors and their influence on neural responses and revealed preference. Journal of Neuroscience 30(28):9597-602. PDF

Koshelev M, Lohrenz T, Vannucci M, Montague PR (2010) Biosensor approach to psychopathology classification. PLoS Computational Biology 6(10):e1000966. PDF

Kishida, KT, King-Casas, B, Montague PR (2010) Neuroeconomic approaches to mental disorders. Neuron 67(4):543-54. PDF

Bhatt, M, Lohrenz, T, Camerer, CF, Montague, PR (2010) Neural signatures of strategic types in a two-person bargaining game. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (accepted). PDF

Strathearn L, Fonagy P, Amico J, Montague PR (2009) Adult Attachment Predicts Maternal Brain and Oxytocin Response to Infant Cues. Neuropsychopharmacology. PDF  Commentary

Martin LE, Potts GF, Burton PC, Montague PR (2009) Electrophysiological and hemodynamic responses to reward prediction violation. Neuroreport. 20(13):1140-3 PDF

Cui X, Stetson C, Montague PR, Eagleman DM (2009) Ready...go: Amplitude of the FMRI signal encodes expectation of cue arrival time. PLoS biology. (8):e1000167. E-pub PDF

Li, J, Xiao, E, Houser, D, Montague, PR (2009) Neural responses to sanction threats in 2party economic exchange. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (USA). 106(39): 16835-16840. PDF

Van den Bos, W, Li, J, Lau, T, Maskin, E, Cohen, JD, Montague, PR, McClure, SM (2008) The value of victory: social origins of the winner's curse in common value auctions. Judgment and Decision Making 3: 483-492. PDF

Montague, PR (2008) Free will. Current Biology. 18(4):R584-R585. PDF

King-Casas, B, Sharp, C, Lomax, L, Lohrenz, T, Fonagy, P, Montague, PR (2008) The rupture and repair of cooperation in borderline personality disorder. Science. 321:806-810. PDF SOM Podcast Perspective