Our laboratory\u2019s research investigates the neural substrates and behavioral mechanisms of the cognitive factors \u2013 attention, working memory, and executive control \u2013 that influence the remarkable perceptual abilities of the human mind.<\/p>\n
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We employ functional MRI studies and behavioral psychophysical experiments, along with computational analysis of information processing to perform these investigations.\u00a0 NIH- and NSF-supported projects in the lab are currently investigating: the interactions between visual attention and visual memory systems; multisensory (visual and auditory) attentional networks; functional distinctions between subregions of the parietal lobe and frontal lobes; and the effects of training and experience on perceptual-attentional networks.\u00a0 Much of our work focuses on revealing these mechanisms in healthy young adults, but we are collaborating on research regarding aging individuals, Parkinson\u2019s Disease patients, and individuals with mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI).<\/p>\n
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Attention Networks in the Brain<\/b><\/p>\n
It is well established that portions of the frontal and parietal lobes work together to support attention and working memory.\u00a0 However, much of this prior work has only coarsely defined the location and function of the networks. Work in the laboratory focuses on identifying multiple attentional subnetworks and their components, and on isolating the functional roles of the brain regions that comprise each network.\u00a0 In prior work, we identified two previously unidentified regions in the intraparietal sulcus of the parietal lobe, IPS3 and IPS4, and demonstrated that these regions contain mapped representations of visual space.\u00a0 Current work in the lab: has identified interleaved auditory and visual attentional networks within human frontal lobes; has identified a parietal lobe network that supports retrieval of long-term memories into working memory to support visual perception; and has investigated how meditation experience may alter the interaction between attention networks.\u00a0 We are also data-mining the large Human Connectome Project dataset to investigate the variability in these multiple attention networks across a broad population of healthy individuals.\u00a0 We believe that these characterizations will enable us to extend our attentional network assays to clinical populations.<\/p>\n
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Attention \u2013 Memory Interactions<\/b><\/p>\n
In the realm of perception, the average child outperforms the world\u2019s top supercomputers.\u00a0 Yet, the human mind is profoundly limited in attentional and short-term memory capacity. Our \u201cmental RAM\u201d capacity is roughly four items \u2013 items, not gigabytes or terabytes \u2013 and yet we easily out-perform supercomputers. The human mind\u2019s perceptual strengths largely derive from long-term memory, much of it stored as perceptual knowledge, which we rapidly access with little or no conscious awareness.\u00a0 Human perceptual limitations largely derive from a network of frontal lobe and parietal lobe regions that serve as the backbone of the brain\u2019s attentional network.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Our laboratory\u2019s research investigates the neural substrates and behavioral mechanisms of the cognitive factors \u2013 attention, working memory, and executive control \u2013 that influence the remarkable perceptual abilities of the human mind. We employ functional MRI studies and behavioral psychophysical experiments, along with computational analysis of information processing to perform these investigations.\u00a0 NIH- and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2441,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/fmri\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/fmri\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/fmri\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/fmri\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2441"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/fmri\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/fmri\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":281,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/fmri\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11\/revisions\/281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/fmri\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}