Background

I am currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Mind Research Network in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I study attention and visual perception using high density electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). I conducted graduate research at the Human Neuroscience Laboratory (HNL) at the University of California Irvine. I also worked at the UC Davis Center for Mind and Brain as part of the Shamatha Project team. The Shamatha Project (ShP) is a longitudinal study of the effects of attention training (through concentration meditation) on attention and emotional regulation.

Research Interests

Our ability to interact with the environment depends on the ability to maintain focused attention to a single task, while also being able to re-focus attention to relevant unexpected events. These aspects of attention require the dynamic interplay between large-scale brain networks. My current research examines the properties and functional dynamics of these attention networks. I approach this experimentally by measuring cortical responses to an unattended flicker (the steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP)) as the degree of overlap between features at attended and unattended visual locations are varied physically and by different tasks. Neural responses to the flicker allow us to determine how goal-directed attention modulates unattended responses. I am currently applying Bayesian methods to understand the different attentional strategies that individuals may use during different tasks. I am also interested in utilizing simultaneous fMRI/SSVEP recordings in order to examine brain networks at high temporal and spatial resolution. These experiments will help reveal the mechanisms by which the brain integrates our internal goals with the external environment.

Last Update: 01.09.2012