Read Montague, Ph.D.
“People take drugs to manipulate their serotonin when they have such low levels. Now, we can measure a point every 100 milliseconds. It’s a completely different ball game in terms of the time regime that we’re in and the implications for understanding human behavior.”
Decoding the neurobiology of decision-making, learning, and valuation
How can science explain free will? Where do our values come from?
Dr. Montague’s research focuses on computational neuroscience: the connection between physical mechanisms present in real neural tissue and the computational functions that these mechanisms embody. His early theoretical work focused on the hypothesis that dopaminergic systems encode a particular kind of computational process, a reward prediction error signal, similar to those used in areas of artificial intelligence like optimal control. The Montague Lab uses theoretical, computational, and experimental approaches to the problems of mental health and its derangement by disease and injury. They recently pioneered new approaches to measure sub-second fluctuations in dopamine and serotonin levels in the striatum of conscious human subjects.
Over the past decade, he was a member of the MacArthur Foundation Network on Neuroscience and Law with a particular interest in the mental states project(s). Work in the laboratory is supported by the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, The Kane Family Foundation, Autism Speaks, The MacArthur Foundation, The Dana Foundation, and The Wellcome Trust.
read@vtc.vt.edu
540-526-2006
R-1107, Riverside 2
- Virginia Tech Carilion Vernon Mountcastle Research Professor, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC
- Director, Center for Human Neuroscience Research
- Professor, Department of Physics, College of Science
- Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, School of Medicine
Hula, A., Moutoussis, M., Will, G.-J., Kokorikou, D., Reiter, A., Ziegler, G., NSPN Consortium, Bullmore, E., Jones, P., Goodyer, I., Fonagy, P., Montague, P. R., & Dolan, R. J. (2020). Multi-Round Trust Game Quantifies Inter-Individual Differences in Social Exchange from Adolescence to Adulthood. PsyArXiv Preprints, 1-20. [PDF Download]
Euler S, Nolte T, Constantinou M, Griem J, Montague PR, Fonagy P. (2019). Interpersonal Problems in Borderline Personality Disorder: Associations with Mentalizing, Emotion Regulation, and Impulsiveness. Journal of Personality Disorders : 1-17.
Luo Y, Hétu S, Lohrenz T, Hula A, Dayan P, Ramey SL, Sonnier-Netto L, Lisinski J, LaConte S, Nolte T, Fonagy P, Rahmani E, Montague PR, Ramey C. (2018). Early childhood investment impacts social decision-making four decades later. Nature Communications 9(1): 4705.
Hula A, Vilares I, Dayan P, Montague PR. (2018). A Model of Risk and Mental State Shifts During Social Interaction. PLOS Computational Biology 14(2): e1005935.
Baylor College of Medicine
Brown Foundation Professor of Neuroscience and Psychiatry
Director, Human Neuroimaging Lab
Director, Computational Psychiatry Unit
- The Salk Institute: Postdoctoral fellowship
- Rockefeller University: Postdoctoral fellowship
- University of Alabama Birmingham: Ph.D., Biophysics
- William R. and Irene D. Miller Lectureship, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 2011–2012
- Network Member, The MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Law and Neuroscience, 2011-2015
- Walter Gilbert Award, Auburn University, 2011
- Welcome Trust Principal Research Fellowship, 2011-2018
- Kavli Fellow, U.S.-China Frontiers of Science, National Academy of Science, 2010
- Member, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ., 2005–2006
- Michael E. DeBakey Excellence in Research Award, 2005
- Michael E. DeBakey Excellence in Research Award, 1997
CONSCIENCE (Institute for Neural Computation Event)
UAB Green and Told podcast: Finding His Place - Read Montague PhD '88
Science News for Students: Confidence can make you miss important information
VIDEO: Radio Canada - Our Conspiracy Brain
Built for Tomorrow podcast: This Episode Will Change Your Brain
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Article ItemMedical student plays important role in pioneering epilepsy research , article
Abhishek Bhutada worked with researchers at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC to test a new type of equipment that proves to be a reliable guide for treatment options for people with drug-resistant epilepsy and is more comfortable and less invasive than traditional methods.
Date: Mar 07, 2024 -
Article ItemFirst-in-humans discovery reveals brain chemicals working to influence social behavior , article
For the first time, researchers show decisions made in a social context may spring from the dynamic interactions of dopamine and serotonin.
Date: Feb 26, 2024 -
Article ItemResearchers use pioneering new method to unlock brain’s noradrenaline system , article
An international team of researchers has provided valuable insights into the brain’s noradrenaline system, which has been a longtime target for medications to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
Date: Oct 23, 2023 -
Article ItemMachine learning and thought, climate impact on health, Alzheimer’s, children's health among topics for 2023-24 Maury Strauss public lectures , article
The Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC announced its 14th annual Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture Series, which showcases health innovators and thought leaders.
Date: Sep 01, 2023 -
Article ItemRead Montague of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute to share groundbreaking brain research at Nobel symposium , article
Montague is one of seven world leaders in neuroscience invited to present his findings at an event sponsored and hosted by the Nobel Assembly in Stockholm.
Date: Sep 06, 2022 -
Article ItemFralin Biomedical Research Institute expands Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship program , article
More than 30 undergraduate and high school students worked behind the curtain of biomedical research this summer at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC.
Date: Aug 16, 2022 -
Article ItemScientists say active early learning shapes the adult brain , article
Through the Abecedarian Project, an early education, randomized controlled trial that has followed children since 1971, Virginia Tech researchers, including Craig Ramey, Sharon Landesman Ramey, and Read Montague, revealed new discoveries about brain structure that have continued through decades.
Date: May 31, 2021 -
Article ItemVirginia Tech launches ‘next generation’ human brain imaging lab , article
Researchers at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC have received a $2.4 million grant from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, part of the National Institutes of Health, to measure the brain’s subtle magnetic signals in two research volunteers simultaneously as they interact, capturing the rich complexity of the brain’s signaling during face-to-face social interactions in real-time.
Date: May 12, 2021 -
Article ItemScientists find dopamine, serotonin have unexpectedly profound roles in the human brain , article
In first-of-their-kind observations in the human brain, an international team of researchers has revealed two well-known neurochemicals — dopamine and serotonin — are at work at sub-second speeds to shape how people perceive the world and take action based on their perception.
Date: Oct 12, 2020 -
Article ItemFralin Biomedical Research Institute scientists reveal neural basis of confirmation bias , article
An international research team comprising neuroscientists at Virginia Tech and the University of London revealed brain mechanisms and functional regions that underlie confirmation bias — a phenomenon where people strongly favor information that reinforces their existing opinions over contradictory ones.
Date: Dec 17, 2019 -
Article ItemVirginia Tech graduate students selected to join competitive Society for Neuroscience program , article
Amnah Eltahir and Alyssa Brunal-Brown, Virginia Tech graduate students at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, were accepted into the Society for Neuroscience’s fellowship and associate programs, respectively.
Date: Jun 11, 2019 -
Article ItemJudges, neuroscientists consider how science and criminal justice converge at Roanoke neurolaw conference , article
Neuroscientists and addiction experts at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC believe that emerging neuroscientific discoveries could complement criminal justice.
Date: May 02, 2019 -
Article ItemVTCRI researchers find positive effects of early education intervention four decades later , article
New research published in Nature Communications, led by Read Montague, of the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, suggests that participants who received educational interventions in early childhood show positive effects on social decision-making more than four decades later.
Date: Nov 20, 2018 -
Article ItemVTCRI researcher to deliver internationally renowned Dorcas Cummings Memorial Lecture , article
Read Montague will become the 41st person to present the annual Dorcas Cummings Memorial Lecture on June 2 at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Symposium on Quantitative Biology, Brains, and Behavior: Order and Disorder in the Nervous System.
Date: May 30, 2018 -
Article ItemKeep calm and carry on: VTCRI scientists make first serotonin measurements in humans , article
Scientists at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute have begun to unravel how serotonin acts, based on data collected in a first-of-its-kind experiment that utilized electrochemical probes implanted into the brain of awake human beings.
Date: May 01, 2018 -
Article ItemResearchers find that brain imagery shows difference between knowing or reckless behavior in criminal acts , article
Scientists and lawyers speak different languages, but there is common ground. Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute scientists working in a multi-institutional team with legal authorities have discovered that brain imaging can determine whether someone is acting in a state of knowledge about a crime.
Date: Mar 13, 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 ItemUVA, Virginia Tech Carilion partner to fund cross-university neuroscience research , article
The University of Virginia-Virginia Tech Carilion Neuroscience Research Collaboration have announced more than a half million dollars in grant funding will be awarded to nine research teams to tackle pressing problems in brain development and function in health and disease.
Date: Dec 11, 2016 -
Article ItemBeliefs about nicotine influence cigarette craving , article
In a study published in Frontiers in Psychiatry, researchers found that participants failed to satisfy their craving by simply smoking a nicotine cigarette. The participants had to actually believe that the cigarette contained nicotine.
Date: Sep 13, 2016 -
Article ItemNew journal launched for up-and-coming field of computational psychiatry , article
Scientists at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute are teaming up with neuroscientists around the world.
Date: Jun 22, 2016 -
Article ItemEndowed professorships named for Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute scholars , article
Warren Bickel is the first Virginia Tech Carilion Behavioral Science Research Professor, and P. Read Montague is the first Virginia Tech Carilion Vernon Mountcastle Research Professor.
Date: Mar 24, 2016 -
Article ItemVirginia Tech Carilion Research Institute scientists discover beliefs can be just as powerful as nicotine , article
Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute scientists have discovered that beliefs can regulate the effects of nicotine on the human brain.
Date: Feb 26, 2015 -
Article ItemVirginia Tech Carilion Research Institute scientists developing speedy test for autism spectrum disorder , article
Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute scientists have designed a two-minute brain-imaging test that may be able to aid in the diagnosis of children with autism spectrum disorder
Date: Jan 15, 2015 -
Article ItemLiberal or conservative? Brain responses to disgusting images help reveal political leanings , article
On the verge of Election Day, Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute scientists find that biology influences political ideology.
Date: Oct 31, 2014 -
Article ItemHigh earners in a stock market game found to have brain patterns that can predict bubbles and crashes , article
If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich? It may be that, when it comes to stock market success, your brain is heeding the wrong neural signals.
Date: Jul 08, 2014 -
Article ItemScientists discover how Alzheimer's drugs sharpen the brain's performance , article
Researchers at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute have discovered how the leading Alzheimer’s pharmaceuticals might sharpen the brain’s performance.
Date: May 13, 2013 -
Article ItemThe subtle hallmarks of psychiatric illness can reveal themselves even remotely , article
Most people are so attuned to the nuances of social interaction that they can detect clues to mental illness while playing a strategy game with someone they have never met.
Date: Apr 09, 2013 -
Article ItemKirk and Spock joined at the hip: The feeling of computing , article
Kirk and Spock may not need a Vulcan mind meld to share cognition: Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute scientists have found that our cold reasoning and hot feelings may be more intimately connected than previously thought.
Date: Mar 12, 2013 -
Article ItemRead Montague introduced an idea worth spreading at TEDGlobal 2012 , article
Read Montague introduced an idea worth spreading at TEDGlobal 2012: that state-of-the-art computational approaches can enhance the diagnosis and treatment of mental illnesses.
Date: Jul 05, 2012 -
Article ItemGroup settings can diminish expressions of intelligence, especially among women , article
Research led by scientists at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute found that small-group dynamics -- such as jury deliberations, collective bargaining sessions, and cocktail parties -- can alter the expression of IQ in some susceptible people. Women were disproportionately affected.
Date: Jan 25, 2012 -
Article ItemBrain imaging, behavior research reveals physicians learn more by paying attention to failure , article
Research on physicians' decision-making processes has revealed that those who pay attention to failures as well as successes become more adept at selecting the correct treatment.
Date: Nov 23, 2011 -
Article ItemResearchers track brain's dopamine release, its effect on decision-making , article
Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute scientists and their colleagues have developed a biocompatible microsensor that can detect dopamine release in the human brain, and have used it to track decision making.
Date: Nov 01, 2011 -
Article ItemExpertise provides buffer against bias in making judgments , article
Scientists with the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute have demonstrated that monetary favors can influence people's assessments of art works, but not if the viewer is an art expert.
Date: Jun 07, 2011 -
Article ItemFunctional MRI shows how mindfulness meditation changes decision-making process , article
Research shows that Buddhist meditators use different areas of the brain than other people when confronted with unfair choices, enabling them to make decisions rationally rather than emotionally.
Date: Apr 21, 2011 -
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 -
Article ItemLeading neuroscientist to lead human brain imaging research program at Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute , article
Leading brain researcher P. Read Montague will join the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute as a senior professor and will lead programs in human neuroimaging and the new field of computational psychiatry.
Date: Sep 20, 2010
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