Welcome
Our laboratory investigates brain attention mechanisms from both perceptual and executive control perspectives. We bring to bear a variety of complementary tools to study these processes, including behavioral and psychophysical methods, human electrophysiology and functional neuroimaging, and computational modeling, as well as research in animal models in collaboration with colleagues at UC Davis. Behavioral and psychophysical methods permit us to analyze the properties of the human attention system and how attention influences perception and performance. Recordings of the electroencephalogram (EEG) and evoked responses known as event-related potentials (ERPs) permit a fine-grained view of the temporal properties of attentional control and selection. This is done by placing high density arrays of electrodes on the scalp and recording the electrical activity of populations of neurons as the human subjects participate in carefully controlled attention tasks. Finally, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is used to investigate the functional brain anatomy of the attention system and where in the brain attention influences various information processing transactions during perception and action. Advanced signal processing methods, including oscillatory EEG analyses, machine learning, Granger causality in functional connectivity, graph theoretic methods and deep neural network modeling are being brought to bear in our work.
The laboratory maintains interests in several translational neuroscience topics, including work in schizophrenia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In this work, we are bringing knowledge from our two decades of basic science investigations to bear on issues that represent major mental health problems. Because selective attention is a core cognitive process, elucidating attentional mechanisms in humans remains a high priority in efforts to understand, diagnose and treat psychiatric conditions that involve deficits in attention, including ADHD, autism and schizophrenia. Research in the lab continues with the support of the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).
