Headshot of Russell Poldrack.

Russell Poldrack

Cognitive neuroscientist
Stanford University

Russell Poldrack is Albert Ray Lang Professor of Psychology at Stanford University in California and director of the Stanford Center for Open and Reproducible Science. His research uses a combination of neuroimaging, behavioral research and computational modeling to understand the brain systems underlying decision-making and cognitive control.

His lab also develops neuroinformatics tools to help improve the reproducibility and transparency of neuroscience, including the Openneuro and Neurovault data sharing projects and the fMRIPrep preprocessing workflow.

He received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and did postdoctoral work at Stanford. He subsequently held faculty positions at Harvard Medical School, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of Texas at Austin before joining the Stanford faculty in 2014. He is the author of several books, including, most recently, “Statistical Thinking: Analyzing Data in an Uncertain World.”

Explore more from The Transmitter

Structural MRI scans of people with Alzheimer’s disease and depression.

Neuropsychiatric MRI brain signatures fail reproducibility test

Small neuroimaging studies are unlikely to capture consistent anatomical changes related to conditions such as autism, schizophrenia and mood disorders, according to a new “wake-up call” study.

By Holly Barker
12 August 2026 | 5 min read
Research image of astrocytes.

Three models, three routes to altered auditory processing, and more

Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 10 August.

By Jill Adams
11 August 2026 | 2 min read

Optimized two-photon microscopy enables voltage imaging at multiple depths

The tool could reveal how information flows within and between cortical layers during neural processing.

By Simon Makin
11 August 2026 | 4 min read