S2E16: Understanding Consciousness, Language, and Thought with Professor Martin Monti

Join me as I speak with Professor Martin Monti, Professor of Psychology and Neurosurgery at UCLA and Area Chair of Cognitive Psychology. Professor Monti directs the Monti Lab, bridging psychology and neurosurgery at UCLA's Ronald Reagan Medical Center. His groundbreaking work uses advanced neuroimaging to explore two fundamental aspects of being human: the nature of consciousness and the relationship between language and thought.We unpack the distinction between wakefulness and awareness in vegetative and minimally conscious states. Professor Monti details his famous fMRI tennis-imagery paradigm to detect hidden awareness, his lab's pioneering use of low-intensity focused ultrasound on the thalamus, and the potential of brain-computer interfaces for patient communication. We also examine the ethical challenges surrounding disorders of consciousness, what algebraic studies reveal about the relationship between language and cognition, and his advice for aspiring neuroscientists.