John P. O'Doherty
Fletcher Jones Professor of Decision Neuroscience
B.A., University of Dublin, Trinity College, 1996; D.Phil., University of Oxford, 2000. Assistant Professor, Caltech, 2004-07; Associate Professor, 2007-09; Professor, 2009-; Fletcher Jones Professor, 2021-; Director, Caltech Brain Imaging Center, 2013-17.
Profile
John P. O'Doherty studies the neural basis of reward-related learning and decision making, complex computational problems that have come to be solved by the brain over the course of evolution. He's interested in how the human brain can learn from experience in order to make decisions that maximize future rewards and minimize future costs.
Research Summary
Neural Basis of Reward and Reward-Related Learning; Neuroimaging; Conditioning and Associative Learning; Taste and Olfaction; Affective Neuroscience
Caltech Affiliations
Featured News
When Does the Brain Process Reward and Risk?
March 20, 2024
Deep brain electrical activity demonstrates that human beings first estimate reward and then use that estimation to evaluate the risk involved when making an economic decision.
Caltech's New Center for Science, Society, and Public Policy Hosts Research Conference on Conspiratorial Thinking
October 10, 2023
A two-day workshop at Caltech featured an international group of speakers bringing different disciplinary methods to the study of conspiratorial thinking.
How the Brain Creates Your Taste in Art
Read more news
February 24, 2023
Researchers in the lab of John O’Doherty have found the neural basis for how brains create aesthetic preferences.