Martin M. Monti, Ph.D
Professor
Chair, Cognitive Area
Department of Psychology &
Department of Neurosurgery, Brain Injury Research Center (BIRC)
See my knightly academic lineage (Neuro-tree) or my CV.
Thoughts:
What is it that makes us uniquely human? The answer lies within the about 100 billion neurons that make up one of the most mysterious objects in the universe: the human brain.
In particular, there are two fundamental questions that underlie my work. First, what does it mean to be conscious? How do we know that an individual is conscious, and how does this affect our understanding of brain function, after severe injury? The second question has to do with human thought. Do we need language to think? Does language make humans special? Is it because we posses language that our mind is capable of sophisticated thinking? While these questions occupy much of my thoughts, I take great pleasure in some distractions, and in particular playing the piano and flying small planes.
Employment
July 2020 — June 2022: Full Professor, University of California Los Angeles, Department of Psychology and Department of Neurosurgery (joint appointment)
July 2016 — June 2020: Associate Professor, University of California Los Angeles, Department of Psychology and Department of Neurosurgery (joint appointment)
Jan 2011 — July 2016: Assistant Professor, University of California Los Angeles, Department of Psychology and Department of Neurosurgery (joint appointment)
Jan 2011 — Dec 2013: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs TBI and Stroke Scientific Merit Review Panel
Sep 2007 — Dec 2010: Post-Doctoral Researcher, MRC Cognition & Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, UK
Education
Ph.D. Psychology & Neuroscience, Princeton University (2007)
M.A. Psychology & Neuroscience, Princeton University (2006)
Laurea Discipline Economiche e Sociali (‘Economics’), Universita’ L. Bocconi (2002)