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Dean Mobbs headshot 2021
Office: 319 Baxter Hall
Mail Code: MC 228-77
Phone: 626-395-4028
Administrative Assistant:
Name: Mary A. Martin
Email: [email protected]
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HSS Home  /  People  /  Dean Mobbs

Dean Mobbs

Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience; Allen V. C. Davis and Lenabelle Davis Leadership Chair, Caltech Brain Imaging Center; Director, Caltech Brain Imaging Center
B.S., University of Birmingham, 1999; Ph.D., University College London, 2008. Assistant Professor, Caltech, 2016-20; Professor, 2020-; Chen Scholar, 2019-21; Davis Leadership Chair, 2021-; Director, 2021-.
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Profile

Dean Mobbs is interested in the intersection of behavioral ecology, economics, emotion, and social psychology. By understanding the neural, computational, and behavioral dynamics of human social and emotional experiences, his lab develops theoretical models that merge those fields. Using brain-imaging, computational modeling and novel behavioral techniques, his lab is probing the neurobiological systems responsible for fear and anxiety, revealing how people learn to control their fears, and how anxiety and psychiatric disorders disrupt those processes. His research also focuses on the interplay between social interaction, protection, and emotion—how fear can depend on whether you're alone or in a group (e.g. fear dilution).

Prior to Caltech, Mobbs was an assistant professor of psychology at Columbia University and a research assistant at Stanford University. His awards include the APS Janet Spence Award for Transformative Early Career Contributions (2015) and the NARSAD Young Investigator Award (2015). He is a life fellow of Clare Hall at the University of Cambridge. In 2019, he was named a Chen Scholar at the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute for Neuroscience at Caltech.

Research Summary
Social, Computational, and Affective Neuroscience; Neuroecology and Neurophilosophy; Social and Decision Neuroscience
Selected Awards
  • Chen Scholar, 2019–present
  • APS Fellow, 2015–present
  • APS Janet Spence Award for Transformative Early Career Contributions, 2015
  • NARSAD Young Investigator Award, 2015
  • Life Fellow of Clare Hall at the University of Cambridge, 2012–present
Caltech Affiliations
  • Caltech Brain Imaging Center (CBIC)
  • T&C Chen Center for Social and Decision Neuroscience
  • Computation and Neural Systems, program organized jointly by the Division of Biology and Biological Engineering and the Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy.

Featured News

Caltech to Study How the Brain Responds to Virtual Environments
September 02, 2022
Alumnus and senior trustee William "Bill" Davidow (MS '59) is providing $1.5 million to fund research into social media and mental health.
Caltech Faculty Receive Named Professorships, Leadership Chairs
January 19, 2022
This year Caltech recognized two faculty members with the Institute's most distinguished award for individual faculty, a named professorship; and three faculty members with leadership chairs.
As Pandemic Progressed, People's Perceived Risks Went Up
September 16, 2020
A recent study documents how personal risk assessment and protective behaviors are linked.
Read more news   >

Selected Publications

  • Mobbs, D., Wise, T., Suthana, N., Guzman, N., Kriegeskorte, N., Leibo, J., (2021). The Promises and Challenges of Human Computational Ethology. Neuron.
  • Silston, B., Wise, T., Qi, S., Sui, X., Dayan, P., and Mobbs, D. (2021). Neural encoding of perceived patch value during competitive and hazardous foraging. Nature Communications.
  • Tashjian, S.M., Zbozinek, T., Mobbs, D. (2021). A Decision Architecture for Safety Computations. Trends in Cognitive Science.
  • Mobbs, D., Headley, D., Ding, W., Dayan, P. (2020). Space, Time, and Fear: Survival Computations Along Defensive Circuits. 24, 228-24; Trends in Cognitive Science. Cover Image.
  • Fung, B., Qi, S., Hassabis, D., Daw, N., Mobbs, D. (2019). Slow escape decisions are swayed by trait anxiety. Nature: Human Behavior. 3, 702-708.
  • Mobbs, D, Adolphs, R., Feldman-Barrett, L. Faneslow, M., LeDoux, J., Ressler, K., and Tye, K. (2019). Approaches to defining and investigating fear. Nature Neuroscience. (Viewpoint article). 22, 1205-1216 (Republished in Scientific American).
  • Mobbs, D, Trimmer, P., Blumstein, D.T., Dayan, P. (2018). Foraging for foundations in decision neuroscience: Insights from ethology. Nature Reviews, Neuroscience.
  • Qi, S., Hassabis, D., Sun, J., Guo, F., Daw, N., and Mobbs, D. (2018). How Cognitive and Reactive Fear Circuits Optimize Escape Decisions in Humans. PNAS. 115 (12), 3186-3191.
  • Qi, S., Footer, O., Camerer, C., and Mobbs, D. (2018). A collaborator's reputation can bias decisions and anxiety under uncertainty. Journal of Neuroscience. 38 (9), 2262-2269.
  • Mobbs, D. (2018). The ethological deconstruction of fear(s). Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences.
  • Camerer, C. and Mobbs, D. (2017). Comparing cognitive and neural processes during hypothetical and real choices. Trends in Cognitive Science. 21, 1, 46-56.
  • Perkins, A., Arnone, D., Smallwood, J., and Mobbs, D. (2015). Thinking too much: Self-generated thought as the engine of neuroticism. Trends in Cognitive Science. 19, 9, 492–498.
  • Mobbs, D. and Kim J. (2015). Neuroethological studies of fear and risky decision-making in rat and humans. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences. 5, 8-15.
  • Mobbs, D., Hassabis, D. Yu, R., Chu, C., Rushworth, M., Boorman, E., Dalgleish, T. (2013). Foraging under competition: The neural basis of input matching in humans. Journal of Neuroscience. 33; 9866-9872.
  • FeldmanHall, O., Dalgleish, T. Thompson, R., Evans, D., Schweizer, S., Mobbs, D. (2012). Differential Neural Circuitry and Self-Interest in Real versus Hypothetical Moral Decisions. Social, Cognitive and Affect Neuroscience. 7 (7), 743-751.
  • Mobbs, D., Yu, R., Rowe, J., Eich, H., Feldmanhall, O., Dalgleish, T. (2010). Neural activity associated with monitoring the oscillating threat value of a Tarantula. PNAS. 107: 20582-6.
  • Mobbs, D., Meyer, M., Yu, R., Passamonti, L., Seymour, B.J., Calder A.J., Schweizer, S., Frith, C.D., Dalgleish, T. (2009). A key role for similarity in vicarious reward. Science. 324, 900.
  • Takahashi, H., Kato, M., Matsuura, M., Mobbs, D., Suhara, T., Okubo, Y. (2009). When Your Gain Is My Pain and Your Pain is My Gain: Neural Correlates of Envy and Schandenfreude. Science. 323, 937-939.
  • Mobbs, D., Petrovic, P., Marchant, J., Hassabis, D., Seymour, B., Weiskopf, N., Dolan, R.J., Frith, C.D (2007). When Fear is Near: Threat Imminence Elicits Prefrontal - Periaqueductal Grey Shifts in Humans. Science. 317; 1079-1083.
2023-24
Psy 120 – Metascience: The Science of Being An Impactful Scientist
Psy 13 – Introduction to Cognitive Neuroscience
Psy/Bi/CNS 255 – Topics in Emotion and Social Cognition
2022-23
Psy 120 – Metascience: The Science of Being An Impactful Scientist
Psy 13 – Introduction to Cognitive Neuroscience
Psy/Bi/CNS 255 – Topics in Emotion and Social Cognition
2021-22
Psy 120 – Metascience: The Science of Being An Impactful Scientist
Psy 13 – Introduction to Cognitive Neuroscience
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