Aron Barbey
Psychology
Director, Notre Dame Human Neuroimaging Center; Andrew J. McKenna Family Professor of Psychology
- Human Neuroscience
- Neuroscience of Human Intelligence
- Sports-Related Concussion & Traumatic Brain Injury
- Neurorehabilitation & Brain Health Interventions
- Neuroscience-Inspired Artificial Intelligence
Barbey’s Latest News
Barbey in the News
The Academic Minute
Aron Barbey, University of Notre Dame - Intelligence Emerges When the Whole Brain Works As One
Audio
July 28, 2026
We are redefining our view of human intelligence. Aron Barbey, the Andrew J. McKenna Family Professor of Psychology at the University of Notre Dame, looks at how our brain organizes information to do so. Barbey is also the director of the University of Notre Dame Human Neuroimaging Center and the Decision Neuroscience Laboratory.
Inside Indiana Business
Notre Dame launches neuroimaging research center
April 09, 2026
The University of Notre Dame’s College of Arts & Letters is launching the Human Neuroimaging Center, a new research hub led by psychologist Aron Barbey aimed at studying how brain networks shape human intelligence, health and behavior.
The Debrief
New Study Reveals Intelligence Doesn’t Come From One Part of the Brain—It Emerges From the Whole Network
March 10, 2026
“The problem of intelligence is not one of functional localization,” co-author and director of the Notre Dame Human Neuroimaging Center, Dr. Aron Barbey, said in a press release. “But the more fundamental question is how intelligence emerges from the principles that govern global brain function — how distributed networks communicate and collectively process information.”
Wired
Intelligence resides not in specific areas of the brain, but in the connections that connect it all
March 10, 2026
"Neuroscience has had some success in explaining the role of specific networks, but it has not been able to explain how their interactions emerge into a single intelligence," explains Aaron Barbey, a professor of psychology at the University of Notre Dame. "So the fundamental question remains: how do distributed networks communicate and collectively process information?"
Futurity
How brain networks work together is key to human intelligence
March 03, 2026
“Neuroscience has been very successful at explaining what particular networks do, but much less successful at explaining how a single, coherent mind emerges from their interaction,” says Aron Barbey, a professor of psychology in the University of Notre Dame’s psychology department.
Al Jazeera
Scientists answer Al Jazeera Net: Where does intelligence reside in your brain? (in Arabic)
February 20, 2026
A recent study published in the journal Nature Communications, led by researchers from the University of Notre Dame, provides evidence that intelligence is not a trait confined to a specific region, but rather the product of a comprehensive and dynamic architecture that encompasses the entire brain.
PsyPost
Scientists just mapped the brain architecture that underlies human intelligence
February 09, 2026
Ramsey R. Wilcox, a researcher at the University of Notre Dame, led the study to test the specific predictions of this network theory. Working with senior author Aron K. Barbey and colleagues from the University of Illinois and Stony Brook University, Wilcox sought to move beyond localized models. The team aimed to understand how the brain’s physical structure constrains and directs its functional activity.
SciTechDaily
Scientists May Have Found How the Brain Becomes One Intelligent System
January 28, 2026
“Neuroscience has been very successful at explaining what particular networks do, but much less successful at explaining how a single, coherent mind emerges from their interaction,” said Aron Barbey, the Andrew J. McKenna Family Professor of Psychology in Notre Dame’s Department of Psychology.
Medical Xpress
Key to human intelligence lies in how brain networks work together, neuroimaging study suggests
January 27, 2026
"Neuroscience has been very successful at explaining what particular networks do, but much less successful at explaining how a single, coherent mind emerges from their interaction," said Aron Barbey, the Andrew J. McKenna Family Professor of Psychology in Notre Dame's Department of Psychology.