Most of our experiments revolve around phenomena such as task-switching, negative priming effects, proactive and concurrent interferences, conflict resolution, individual differences in working memory, and the general exploration of attention involved during the performance of complicated tasks. We use behavioral as well as fMRI experiments to find out more about the cognitive and brain mechanisms involved in these tasks.
 
 

Cue vs Task Switching

This study is trying to understand how cue transitions affect task transitions, in an orthogonal design, where both cue and task transitions can occur in any pairing. The goal is to understand how cue transitions may affect the task-switch cost observed in task-switching experiments.

Individual Differences-Working Memory

This study investigates differences in working memory (WM) capacity.  Specifically, we are looking at how an individual's working memory capacity affects his or her performance on cognitive tasks ( e.g. task-switching tasks, Simon task).  Findings indicate that individuals with high working memory capacity tend to exhibit better performance on certain tasks.  We are also interested in examining whether there are certain tasks that are more difficult for high WM capacity individuals.

Proactive and Concurrent Interferences poster abstract

In this series of experiments we look at how the strength of a task influences transitions between tasks, as well as the processing of a relevant target in the face of irrelevant distracters. It seems that simpler tasks allow for lower switch costs, and interfere less with current target processing when they are distracters.

Subliminal Priming

Here we are exploring how subliminal stimuli, stimuli that pass below the threshold for conscious processing, can affect our performance on subsequent tasks, in a task-switching paradigm. We are intersted in both task and response repetition priming.

Voluntary Task-Switching

The voluntary task-switching experiment is a modification of the general task-switching paradigm in that subjects have the option of choosing the task sequence themselves. We are interested in how voluntary control is exerted, and how it affects task performance differently compared to involuntary and non-cued designs.