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WEF Young Scientist

NSF CAREER Award

Overfitting to ‘predict’suicidal ideation

Competing neural representations of choice shape evidence accumulation in humans

Identifying control ensembles for information processing within the cortico-basal ganglia-thalamic circuit

Multivariate Brain Activity while Viewing and Reappraising Affective Scenes Does Not Predict the Multiyear Progression of Preclinical Atherosclerosis in Otherwise Healthy Midlife Adults

D2 dopamine receptor expression, sensitivity to rewards, and reinforcement learning in a complex value-based decision-making task

Do Zombies Dream of Undead Sheep?: A Neuroscientific View of the Zombie Brain

Timothy Verstynen's research focuses on how our brains allow us to explore our environments and learn from experience, with the goal of translating these findings from neuroscience to artificial intelligence. He is an expert in multiple neuroimaging methods, psychophysics, computational modeling, and experimental design. He has experience running startups (co-founder of NeuroScouting LLC), writing popular science books (Do Zombies Dream of Undead Sheep?), press appearances (featured in the Fastball documentary), as well as building and running neuroimaging centers (as co-director of the CMU-Pitt Brain Imaging Data Generation & Education (BRIDGE) Center).

Cognitive Neuroscience

Cognitive Science

Computational

Learning Science

Carnegie Mellon Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences Profile

Carnegie Mellon College of Engineering Profile

Lab Website

Google Scholar Citations

ResearchGate Citations

High-profile paper that used AI to identify suicide risk from brain scans retracted for flawed methods

The Real Face of Cancel Culture

How nutritious are brains? Scientific answers on how zombies operate

'Fastball' Documentary Explores Classic Showdown Between Pitcher And Batter

New Book Explores the Zombie Brain

Associate Professor and Interim Director, Neuroscience Institute

(Presented in scary COLOR! Prefer to see your zombies in terrifying BLACK & WHITE? Go to http://youtu.be/UjLcKd4j0YE - if you dare!)

Distinguished neuroscientist Timothy Verstynen, professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University, visited Google's Cambridge, MA office on Halloween. He was there to discuss the book he co-authored with equally distinguished neuroscientist Bradley Voytek, "Do Zombies Dream of Undead Sheep? A Neuroscientific Look at the Zombie Brain". 

In this groundbreaking study, the fearless duo dissect the puzzle of what has happened to the zombie brain to make the undead act differently than their human prey. Each chapter draws on zombie popular culture and identifies a characteristic zombie behavior that can be explained using neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, and brain-behavior relationships. Through this exploration they shed light on fundamental neuroscientific questions such as: How does the brain function during sleeping and waking? What neural systems control movement? What is the nature of sensory perception?

The authors are members of the Zombie Research Society and are preparing grant applications to research the coming zombie apocalypse.

Do Zombies Dream of Undead Sheep? | Tim Verstynen | Talks at Google

(Presented in terrifying BLACK & WHITE! Prefer to see your zombies in scary COLOR? Go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4DfENVEuFo - if you dare!)

Distinguished neuroscientist Timothy Verstynen, professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University, visited Google's Cambridge, MA office on Halloween. He was there to discuss the book he co-authored with equally distinguished neuroscientist Bradley Voytek, "Do Zombies Dream of Undead Sheep? A Neuroscientific Look at the Zombie Brain". 

In this groundbreaking study, the fearless duo dissect the puzzle of what has happened to the zombie brain to make the undead act differently than their human prey. Each chapter draws on zombie popular culture and identifies a characteristic zombie behavior that can be explained using neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, and brain-behavior relationships. Through this exploration they shed light on fundamental neuroscientific questions such as: How does the brain function during sleeping and waking? What neural systems control movement? What is the nature of sensory perception?

The authors are members of the Zombie Research Society and are preparing grant applications to research the coming zombie apocalypse.

Timothy Verstynen, assistant professor of psychology, studies how the specific organization of connections in the brain, particularly anatomical connections between the neocortex and subcortical areas, constrains how humans plan, learn and execute actions. He is also involved with launching health neuroscience – a new field of study that explores how environmental, social and physical factors impact the brain and behavior.

Understanding how the brain works is one of the biggest puzzles left for science to solve. Answers to critical questions in neuroscience lie at a pivotal intersection between biology, cognitive psychology, computer science, statistics and engineering – areas where Carnegie Mellon University excels. And the world has taken notice of our excellence, putting CMU at the hub of unique global partnerships in the name of brain research. 

For more, visit: http://www.cmu.edu/brainhub

BrainHub Interview: Tim Verstynen

Media Inquiry