Cognitive neuroscience · OSU-CHS · Tulsa

How does the brain turn bodily signals into cravings, choices, and experience?

We study taste, interoception, food cognition, and reward—tracing how the insula and brain-wide networks translate what the body needs into what the mind wants.

Explore our research View publications
Focus
Taste · body · reward
Methods
fMRI · behavior · modeling
Home
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Taste
Interoception
Choice

Research program

Questions that connect brain, body, and behavior.

Our work spans sensory neuroscience, semantic cognition, reward, and addiction—but the common thread is how internal state and context shape what people perceive, value, and do.

Publications

Browse by topic or year, search across titles and authors, or jump into a few representative papers from the lab’s research program.

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People

A growing lab with room for curious minds.

We welcome students and researchers interested in human neuroscience, fMRI methods, interoception, food cognition, addiction, and the many useful spaces between them.

Join the lab

We are recruiting a graduate student.

We are looking for a graduate student to join us through the PhD program in Biomedical Sciences at OSU Center for Health Sciences. Start date and funding details are available on request.

Who we are looking for

  • A bachelor's or master's degree in neuroscience, psychology, cognitive science, biology, computer science, engineering or a related field.
  • Some programming experience (e.g., Python, R or MATLAB), or a willingness to learn.
  • An interest in taste and food, interoception, reward and addiction, neuroimaging methods or computational modeling.
  • Helpful but not required: experience with neuroimaging, statistics or machine learning, or running studies with human participants.
  • The PhD program asks for coursework in the life and physical sciences (e.g., biology and chemistry) and a GPA of at least 3.0.

What you would do

Students learn to design and run fMRI and behavioral studies, to analyze them with multivariate and computational methods, and to share their code and data openly. Current projects cover taste, food cognition, interoception and addiction (see Research above).

How to apply

Email jason.avery@okstate.edu with a CV and a few sentences about your research interests. Formal applications go through the OSU Graduate College (deadline January 15); see the program admissions page. Questions are welcome before you apply.

Contact

Interested in the work?

We’re always glad to hear from prospective trainees, collaborators, and people who simply have a good scientific question.

Email the lab
Visit usThe Avery Lab

Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences

Hardesty Center for Clinical Research and Neuroscience, 1013 E 66th Pl, Tulsa, OK 74136

jason.avery@okstate.edu