Perception, Cognition & Cognitive Neuroscience

Perception, Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience faculty investigate the processes and structures involved in high-level perception and human cognition, including the neural bases of these human attributes.

To do this, they use diverse methods, including psychophysical, behavioral, electrophysiological (EEG/ERP), neuropsychological (patient studies), eye-tracking, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and neuroimaging (fMRI). Research in cognition and cognitive neuroscience include studies of attention, awareness and consciousness, cognitive control and frontal cortex function, learning and memory, working memory, language comprehension and reading, problem solving, reasoning, and music cognition. 

Current research projects in perception include studies of motion and spatial orientation, including how the movement of observers and objects influence motor control such as during reaching and grasping. In addition, a new interdisciplinary emphasis in social cognitive neuroscience is being developed. Studies involve work in healthy adult observers, neurological patients with focal brain damage including amnesia and aphasia, psychiatric patients include schizophrenic populations, and infants and children.