The Cognitive Neuroimaging Lab
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The Latest
Cognitive Imaging Lab Publications
New Science Breakthrough
RECENT BOOKS
Julian Paul Keenan (In Press: Cambridge University Press). Neuroscience on a Budget: The Essential Guide to Running a Lab, Securing Funding and Publishing your Research when Resources are Limited. Due out Late 2026 or Early 2027.
Self-Face Recognition and the Brain: How the Neuroscience of Mirror Recognition Has Changed Psychology, Psychiatry, and Evolution (2023). Edited By Julian Paul Keenan, Karina Quevedo, William D. Hopkins. Routledge. Click Here
When Animals Die: Examining Justifications and Envisioning Justice. (2024). Edited by Katja Guenther and Julian Paul Keenan. NYU Press. Click Here
SELECTED RECENT PUBLICATIONS
-Keenan, J. P., Gili-Olivares, A., Albedawe, M. (In Press). The Neuroscience of The Great Hunger: Depression and the Role of Tryptophan and Serotonin. In Kinealy, C., & Moran, G. (Eds.), Handbook of the Irish Famine, New York, NY: Routledge.
-Keenan, J. P., Brenya, J., Cifuentes, N., & Albedawe, M.(2026). Self-Deception Must Remain Beyond Detection: The Effectiveness of Multimodal Deception. Behavioral and Brain Sciences
-Platek, S., Keenan, J. P., Hughes, S., & Harison, M. (2026). In Memoriam: Gordon G. Gallup, Jr.. Reflections on the Man with the Mirror. Evolution and Human Behavior.
-Skowron, M., Morante, A., Alvarex, A;, & Keenan, J. P. (2025). A Pilot Study of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and the Right Teaching Parietal Junction
(bioRxiv): https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.09.15.676361
-Greenwood, D., Archer, Q., Ash, S., & Keenan, J. P. (2025). Connecting the Dots Between Narcissism and Fame Appeal:The Role of Imaginary Audience Fantasies. Current Issues in Personality Psychology.
-Archer, Q., Brenya, J., Chavaria, K., Friest, A., Ahmad, N., Zorns, S., Vaidya, S., Shelanskey, T., Sierra, S., Ash, S., Balugus, B., Alvarez, A., Pardillo, M., Hamilton, R., & Keenan, J. P. (2024). The Sol Braiding Method for Handling Thick Hair During Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation: An Address for Potential Bias in Brain Stimulation. Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE, (210), 10.3791/66001. https://doi.org/10.3791/66001
-Elias, S., Spivak, S., Alvarez, A., Ferrol, M., Olivares, A., & Keenan, J. P. (In Press=Due put 2023). Self-perception and self-recognition while looking in the mirror on psilocybin. Psychedelic Medicine.
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Alum of the Month
We celebrate our 25 years featuring some of the hundreds of graduates from The Cognitive Neuroimaging Lab.
Dr. Janet Brenya, M.D.
Dr. Brenya was Co-Lab Director for 3 years and was on 15 publications and abstracts. She mentored numerous students and oversaw countless projects. She has just received her Medical Degree from Wayne State.
Julian Keenan Biography
Julian Paul Keenan is a professor of psychology and biology at Montclair State University and director of the Cognitive Neuroimaging Laboratory. He was previously at Harvard Medical School and the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Julian Keenan was born in New York City. He was educated at State University of New York at New Paltz, The Pennsylvania State University, Ealing College, The College of West London, The University at Albany, and Harvard Medical School.
Keenan joined the faculty at Montclair State University in 2001 where he established the Cognitive Neuroimaging Laboratory.[1] In 2012, NJ.com named him one of the 20 most impactful intellects in New Jersey. He is the founding editor of the journal Social Neuroscience and has published his work in Science and Nature.
Julian Keenan discovered that the brain correlates of self-face recognition are mediated in the right hemisphere. His lab further determined the critical role the medial prefrontal cortex plays in deception and self-deception.
He was an early adopter of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) for use in cognitive neuroscience and continues to employ it in his current research.
His work has reached the public through major media outlets including Radio Lab and Hulu.
In graduate school, Keenan established himself as an ardent supporter of equal rights in neuroscience with his very first publication discrediting The Bell Curve, a racially-charged popular press book. His work in with Keith Whitfield, president of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, inspired Keenan to create the Erase Racism in Neuroscience project. This work has led to the first publication on how to effectively provide TMS in hair typified by minority populations. Julian Keenan also served as the President of the AFT 1904, a union representing Montclair State University.
