Tor Wager is the Diana L. Taylor Distinguished Professor in Neuroscience at Dartmouth College, and the Director of Dartmouth’s Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience laboratory, the Dartmouth Brain Imaging Center, and the Dartmouth Center for Cognitive Neuroscience. Professor Wager’s research centers on the neurophysiology of affective processes—pain, emotion, stress, and empathy—and how they are shaped by cognitive and social influences. One focus area is the impact of thoughts and beliefs on learning, brain function, and brain-body communication. Another focus is the development of brain biomarkers that track and predict affective experiences including pain, fear, and drug craving. His work uses these neuromarkers to understand and compare the effects of psychological and neurostimulation-based interventions. A third focus is on statistical, machine learning, and computational techniques that provide a foundation for new models of the affective brain. Professor Wager’s laboratory conducts basic research in these focus areas and applies the resulting techniques and models to collaborative, translational research on clinical disorders and interventions. In support of these goals, Professor Wager and his group have developed several publicly available software toolboxes (see http://canlab.github.io). He also teaches courses and workshops on fMRI analysis and has co-authored a book, Principles of fMRI. Awards for his work include the Cognitive Neuroscience Society Young Investigator award and the 2026 Atkinson Prize from the National Academy of Sciences. More information about Dr. Wager and his lab’s activities, publications, and software can be found at http://canlab.science.
