Neural Bases of Higher Mental Function
CSBMB research focuses specifically on the brain mechanisms by which memory, thought and action are integrated and controlled by higher level goals, and modulated by states of arousal, motivation, and emotion. These mechanisms of integration, control and modulation are central to higher mental processes, such as our ability to direct attention, hold information in short term memory or retrieve it from long term memory, reason through a problem, make complex decisions, and plan a course of future action.
We have begun to complement the studies on attentional mechanisms in the human brain with studies in non-human primates using newly developed imaging techniques, which utilize fMRI to measure brain activity in awake monkeys performing visual tasks. The long-term goal of these studies is to use fMRI in monkeys in combination with fMRI-guided lesions and single-cell physiology to derive an animal model of visuo-spatial hemineglect, an attentional deficit.
Contact:
Jonathan Cohen
Associated faculty:
B. J. Casey
Phil Johnson-Laird
Daniel Kahneman
Sabine Kastner
Ken Norman
Anne Treisman