Prof. Tom Schonberg

The main interest of the lab is studying the neural basis of value-based decision making in humnas. We focus on the structural and functional plasticity underlying behavior change. We functional MRI, eye tracking and computational learning models to better understand human mental function and its underlying neural substrates.

We are interested in the process of value construction, how values can be perturbed and changed and how these processes are manifested in the human brain. We study the multiple components of this process by designing novel behavioral paradigms and using converging research tools to analyze them. 

Schonberg T., Bakkour A., Hover A. M., Mumford J. A., Nagar L., Perez J., Poldrack, R. A. Changing value through cued approach: An automatic mechanism of behavior change.  Nature Neuroscience, 17: 625-630.

Helfinstein S. M., Schonberg T., Congdon E., Karlsgodt K. H., Sabb F. W., Cannon T. D., London E. D., Bilder R. M., Poldrack R. A. (2014) Predicting risky choices from brain activity patterns. Published online ahead of print, PNAS.

Schonberg T., Bakkour A., Hover A. M., Mumford J. A., Poldrack, R. A. (2014) Influencing food preferences by training: Evidence for modulation of frontoparietal control signals. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 26(2): 247-68.

Galván A.*, Schonberg T.*, Mumford A. J., Kohno M., Poldrack R. A., London E.D. (2013) Greater Risk-Sensitivity of Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex in Young Smokers than in Nonsmokers. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 229(2): 345-55 (*Equal contribution).

Schonberg, T.,  Fox, C. R.,  Mumford, J. A., Congdon, Trepel, C. and Poldrack, R. A. (2012) Decreasing ventromedial prefrontal cortex activity during sequential risk-taking: an fMRI investigation of the balloon analog risk task.

Schonberg T., Fox CR., Poldrack RA. (2011) Mind the Gap:  Bridging economic and naturalistic risk-taking with cognitive neuroscience. Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 15(1):11-9.

Schonberg T., O'Doherty JP, Joel D., Inzelberg R., Segev Y., Daw ND. (2010) Selective impairment of prediction error signaling in human dorsolateral but not ventral striatum in Parkinson's disease patients: evidence from a model-based fMRI study. NeuroImage, 49(1): 772-81.

Schonberg T., Daw N., Joel D., O'Doherty JP. (2007) Reinforcement learning signals in the human striatum distinguish Learners from Non-learners during reward-based decision making. Journal of Neuroscience, 27(47):12860-7.

Schonberg T., Pianka P., Hendler T., Pasternak O., and Assaf Y. (2006) Characterization of displaced white matter by brain tumors using combined DTI and fMRI. NeuroImage, 30(4):1100-11.