Joshua W. Brown

Joshua W. Brown serves as Professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Indiana University Bloomington's College of Arts & Sciences, where he leads the Cognitive Control Lab and currently does not accept new graduate students for Fall 2026 admissions. His research bridges computational neuroscience and clinical applications through advanced neuroimaging techniques.

His academic training includes a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering summa cum laude from UC San Diego's Revelle College (1996), a Ph.D. in Cognitive & Neural Systems from Boston University (2000), followed by dual postdoctoral fellowships in systems neurophysiology at Vanderbilt University (2001) and fMRI/computational neural modeling at Washington University in St. Louis (2005).

Brown's research centers on frontal lobe mechanisms governing cognitive control, particularly the anterior cingulate cortex's role in predicting errors, assessing behavioral risk, and optimizing goal-directed actions in complex environments. He develops computational models to simulate neural circuitry involved in reinforcement learning, planning, and sequential decision-making, then validates these models using fMRI in both healthy individuals and clinical populations with cognitive impairments. His work uniquely integrates computational theory with empirical neuroscience to decode neural bases of risky decision-making, especially in substance use disorders.

Analysis of his 2014-2022 publications reveals three dominant research trajectories: (1) Computational modeling of anterior cingulate cortex functions in error prediction and risk assessment, (2) fMRI investigations of neural mechanisms during risky decisions with clinical applications in addiction neuroscience, and (3) Hierarchical frameworks for understanding error representation and cognitive control. These studies consistently employ cross-disciplinary methods combining computational modeling, neuroimaging, and clinical psychology to address fundamental questions about human decision architecture.

While specific grant details are not documented in available materials, Brown maintains an active research program evidenced by consistent high-impact publications. His Cognitive Control Lab serves as the operational hub for these investigations, utilizing fMRI and computational approaches to study neural mechanisms of cognitive control, with particular emphasis on translating basic findings to understanding cognitive impairments in clinical populations.