Brooks Casas, Ph.D.
“Our preferences about risks extend to the type of peers who are more likely to influence our choices. This goes beyond negative peer pressure and demonstrates why strong social support systems are effective for encouraging healthy choices.”
Learning how humans make decisions about, among, for one another
How do two people trust each other?
Brooks Casas seeks insight into the neural computations underlying normative social behavior – how learning generated by interactions of neurons within neural networks bolsters social decision-making. His lab addresses two broad areas of inquiry: neural underpinnings of valuation and learning in social settings, and how social and economic preferences influence valuation and learning.
The Casas lab uses a blend of decision neuroscience, behavioral economics, and social psychology – approaches which when jointly brought to bear on complex social phenomena, provide tractable and clear answers about how humans make decisions about, among, and for one another.
The lab’s experiments have focused on four inter-related questions: How do two people trust each other? How do individuals balance their own interests with the interests of others? How do risk preferences change across the lifespan and under social influence?
Casas also pursues understanding of neural computations underlying social decision-making abnormalities of psychopathology. Psychiatric illnesses, from substance abuse to borderline personality disorder, include primary features that can be studied as impaired decision-making in social contexts. In current and planned work, my lab leverages our normative work in these areas to investigate neural substrates that give rise to aberrant behavior.
casas@vtc.vt.edu
540-526-2009
R-1111, Riverside 2
- Professor, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC
- College of Science Faculty Fellow
- Professor, Department of Psychology, College of Science
- Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics, College of Engineering
- Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, School of Medicine
Chung D, Christopoulus GI, King-Casas B, Ball SB, Chiu PH. (2015). Social signals of safety and risk confer utility and have asymmetric effects on observers' choices. Nature Neuroscience 18(6): 912-916.
Christopoulos GI and King-Casas B. (2015). With you or against you: Social orientation dependent learning signals guide actions made for others. NeuroImage 104: 326-35.
Zhu L, Jenkins AC, Set E, Scabini D, Knight RT, Chiu PH, King-Casas B, Hsu M. (2014). Damage to dorsolateral prefrontal cortex affects tradeoffs between honesty and self-interest. Nature Neuroscience 17(10): 1319-21.
Lee MR, Glassman M, King-Casas B, Kelly DL, Stein EA, Schroeder J, Salmeron BJ. (2014). Complexity of oxytocin's effects in a chronic cocaine dependent population. European Neuropsychopharmacology 24(9).
Williams W, Graham DP, McCurry K, Sanders A, Eiseman J, Chiu PH, King-Casas B. (2014). Group psychotherapy's impact on trust in veterans with PTSD: a pilot study. Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic 78(4): 335-348.
- Assistant Professor of Neuroscience and Psychiatry, Baylor College of Medicine
- Baylor College of Medicine: Postdoctoral fellowship
- Harvard University: Ph.D., Psychology
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Article Item
Brooks Casas named College of Science Faculty Fellow , article Date: Sep 26, 2023 -
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Article ItemNew study shows how risk-averse teens sway peers to make safer choices , article
Prior studies have shown adolescents are likely to experiment along with friends who use drugs and alcohol. But do friends who avoid risks have similar influential power? In a new study, Virginia Tech neuroscientists at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC show that observing peers making sound decisions may help teenagers avoid risky situations.
Date: Nov 30, 2020 -
Article ItemScientists find heightened attention to surprise in veterans with PTSD , article
A new study found that people with PTSD have an increased learning response to surprising events compared to people without PTSD.
Date: Jan 10, 2018 -
Article ItemInstitute Scholars' research crosses the globe and disciplines , article
The Scholars Program from the Institute for Society, Culture, and Environment is designed to support faculty in strengthening the proposals for external funding, the collection of preliminary data, and other proposal development activities.
Date: Feb 07, 2017 -
Article ItemNIH’s alcohol addiction research programs leader will speak at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute , article
George Koob, the director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, will discuss the neurocircuitry of alcohol addiction at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute.
Date: Jan 17, 2017 -
Article ItemSummer Scholars program supports interdisciplinary research , article
The Institute for Society, Culture, and Environment funds the summer grant program. This year's recipients will study everything from emotion socialization in Appalachia to food security and sovereignty in Guatemala.
Date: Jul 20, 2016 -
Article ItemBrain scanning reveals that birds of a feather really do flock together , article
In a study using functional magnetic resonance imaging, Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute scientists found that our inherent risk-taking preferences affect how we view and act on information from other people.
Date: May 19, 2015 -
Article ItemScientists find possible neurobiological basis for tradeoff between honesty, self-interest , article
A team of scientists from the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute and the University of California at Berkeley used economic games to study how the brain makes choices about honesty.
Date: Sep 23, 2014 -
Article ItemGraduate student at Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute to attend Lindau Meeting on Economic Sciences , article
Nina Lauharatanahirun, a Virginia Tech doctoral student in psychology who is doing her research at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, was recently selected to attend the Lindau Meeting on Economic Sciences.
Date: Jul 15, 2014 -
Article ItemRisky business: Scientists seek to identify predictors of risky behaviors among teenagers , article
What makes the adolescent brain so susceptible to taking risks? Virginia Tech scientists are recruiting as many as 150 teenagers to help them find out.
Date: May 22, 2014 -
Article ItemPowerful scanners for brain research to be delivered at Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute in Roanoke , article
A magnetic resonance imaging machine (MRI) being delivered on Nov. 17 to the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute
Date: Nov 11, 2010
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