Research
Each of us was once a perseverating baby. How did we go from that,
from reaching over and over again to an old location for a hidden toy,
to flexibly switching among our ever-growing number of multi-tasking
options? In the Cognitive
Development Center, we explore these issues through converging
evidence from behavioral studies (including eye-tracking) with
children and adults, and neural network models, which we use to
investigate how specific neural mechanisms can give rise to
executive functions and their development. In collaboration with
colleagues, we also employ a variety of cognitive neuroscience
methods, including fMRI, ERP, and neuropharmacological manipulation.
Through this research program, we have developed a unified framework
for understanding executive function and its development. Our
framework focuses on the role of developing prefrontal cortical
regions in maintaining abstract information such as goals. Many
aspects of executive function (e.g., global vs. competitive
inhibition) and developmental transitions (e.g., reactive-to-proactive
and exogenous-to-endogenous shifts) can be understood within this
framework. Our ongoing work tests competing predictions from our
framework and others, and investigates environmental influences on
executive function and its development.
Interests
- Executive function and its development
- Working memory, inhibition, and cognitive flexibility
- Neural network models and neural bases of cognitive development
- Origins of knowledge
Publications
My full list of publications is available via my
Curriculum Vita.
(Click here for a pdf version.)
Online papers
Education:
Postdoctoral - Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(Brain and Cognitive Sciences)
PhD, MS - Carnegie Mellon University
(Psychology) and the Center for the Neural Basis of
Cognition (CNBC)
BA, BS - Stanford University 
(
Psychology and Symbolic
Systems)