On top of Mt. Nemrut, Turkey Halong Bay, Vietnam

Akira Miyake

Academic Particulars:

University of Colorado at Boulder (1995-2004, 2005-Present)
University of Toronto, St. George (downtown) campus (2004-2005)

Research Interests:

My research examines the nature and organization of working memory and executive functions and their roles in complex cognitive activities (such as language processing and learning, visuospatial thinking, problem solving and reasoning), using a variety of methodologies, including conducting behavioral experiments, performing individual differences analyses, and testing brain-damaged patients. Specific research projects that I am currently undertaking include:

• Experimental and individual differences analyses of working memory performance
• The role of inner speech in thinking, action, and executive control
• Individual differences and behavioral genetic analyses of executive functions (e.g., mental set shifting, inhibition of prepotent responses, updating and monitoring) and their roles in complex cognitive performance
• The role of working memory, attention, and executive control processes in self-regulation and social cognition

Selected Publications:

Books

Miyake, A., & Shah, P. (Eds.) (1999). Models of working memory: Mechanisms of active maintenance and executive control. New York: Cambridge University Press. Synopsis

If you'd like to preview the introductory chapter of the book (Chapter 1, Shah & Miyake, in PDF format), click here.

Shah, P., & Miyake, A. (Eds.) (2005). The Cambridge handbook of visuospatial thinking. New York: Cambridge University Press.

To see the table of contents of this volume, click here.

Conway, A. R. A., Jarrold, C., Kane, M. J., Miyake, A., & Towse, J. N. (Eds.) (2007). Variation in working memory. New York: Oxford University Press.

Representative Journal Articles and Book Chapters (2000-in press)

Friedman, N. P. & Miyake, A. (2000). Differential roles for spatial and verbal working memory in the comprehension of spatial descriptions. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 129, 61-83.

Miyake, A., Friedman, N. P., Emerson, M. J., Witzki, A. H., Howerter, A., & Wager, T. (2000). The unity and diversity of executive functions and their contributions to complex "frontal lobe" tasks: A latent variable analysis. Cognitive Psychology, 41, 49-100

Miyake, A., Friedman, N. P., Rettinger, D. A., Shah, P., & Hegarty, M. (2001). How are visuospatial working memory, executive functioning, and spatial abilities related? A latent variable analysis. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 130, 621-640. (Click here to see the American Psychological Association's press release on this article)

Rende, B., Ramsberger, G., & Miyake, A. (2002). Commonalities and differences in the working memory components underlying letter and category fluency tasks: A dual-task investigation. Neuropsychology, 16, 309-321.

Rawson, K. A., & Miyake, A. (2002). Does relocating information in text depend upon verbal or visuospatial abilities? An individual-differences analysis. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 9, 801-806.

Emerson, M. J., & Miyake, A. (2003). The role of inner speech in task switching: A dual-task investigation. Journal of Memory and Language, 48, 148-168.

Miyake, A., Emerson, M. J., Padilla, F., & Ahn, J. (2004). Inner speech as a retrieval aid for task goals: The effects of cue type and articulatory suppression in the random task cuing paradigm. Acta Psychologica, 115, 123-142.

Friedman, N. P., & Miyake, A. (2004). The relations among inhibition and interference control functions: A latent variable analysis. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 133, 101-135.

Saito, S., & Miyake, A. (2004). On the nature of forgetting and the processing-storage relationship in reading span performance. Journal of Memory and Language, 50, 425-443.

Friedman, N. P., & Miyake, A. (2004). The reading span test and its predictive power for reading comprehension ability. Journal of Memory and Language, 51, 136-158.

Friedman, N. P., & Miyake, A. (2005). Comparison of four scoring methods for the reading span test. Behavior Research Methods, 37, 581-590.

Friedman, N. P., Miyake, A., Corley, R. P., Young, S. E., DeFries, J. C., & Hewitt, J. K. (2006). Not all executive functions are related to intelligence. Psychological Science, 17, 172-179.

Slevc, L. R., & Miyake, A. (2006). Individual differences in second language proficiency: Does musical ability matter? Psychological Science, 17, 675-681.

Friedman, N. P., Haberstick, B. C., Willcutt, E. G., Miyake, A., Young, S. E., Corley, R. P., & Hewitt, J. K. (2007). Greater attention problems during childhood predict poorer executive functions in late adolescence. Psychological Science, 18, 893-900.

Friedman, N. P., Miyake, A., Young, S. E., DeFries, J. C., Corley, R. P., & Hewitt, J. K. (in press). Individual differences in executive functions are almost entirely genetic in origin. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.

Academic Activities:

Associate Editor: Journal of Experimental Psychology: General (2003-2006)
Editorial Board: Journal of Memory and Language (2006-Present)
Editorial Board; Psychological Science (2007-Present)
Editorial Board; Journal of Experimental Psychology: General (2007-Present)

Teaching:

Spring 2008
Cognitive Proseminar in Memory
Tuesdays & Thursdays, 10:00-11:45 a.m.

For a complete list of my publications and information about my academic activities, see my current CV (in PDF format).

Fun Things:

I'm a big fan of The Amazing Race and also love traveling. I'm on a personal mission to visit 50 countries in the world and all 50 states in the U.S. by the end of 2010.

The countries and the U.S. states I've conquered visited so far:

Updated: 19 June 2006

hits since 09/13/01