The McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT is a research and teaching institute committed to advancing human understanding and communications. The goal of the McGovern Institute is to investigate and ultimately understand the biological basis of all higher brain function in humans.
At the McGovern Institute, the brain functions we study fall within three broad themes: perception, cognition, and action. These functions form a sequence from when we first perceive a sensory input, recognize it, evaluate it emotionally, make a decision about it, and finally have a behavioral reaction to it, which might be movement or speech. We seek to understand how these basic functions underlie all normal brain activity and how they go awry in mental disorders, brain diseases, and disabilities.
By determining how the brain works, from the level of gene expression in individual neurons to the interrelationships between complex neural networks, the McGovern Institute's efforts work towards improving human health, discovering the basis of learning and recognition, and enhancing education and communication. Understanding the brain will foster better ways of communicating at all levels of society, both nationally and internationally. The McGovern Institute's work will ultimately contribute to the most basic knowledge of the fundamental mysteries of human awareness, decisions, and actions.
McGovern faculty hold primary appointments in academic departments at MIT, currently in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences or the Department of Biology. When fully developed, the institute will have 16 faculty members. McGovern faculty members teach graduate students from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds, and also contribute to the undergraduate educational programs of their departments.
For further information contact the director, Dr. Robert Desimone, Room 46-3160, 617-324-0141.