Behavioral Studies
Faculty associated with the Cognitive Neuroscience Concentration Program study cognitive
operations examining attention, perception, and memory. Behavioral research techniques are used
to extend the interpretation of brain-based mechanisms to human behavior and to provide
paradigms for human experimentation. The goal is to test information processing predictions in
paradigms that directly relate to the physiology and anatomy or which can suggest new areas of
data collection. Behavioral manipulations allow decomposition of complex tasks into individual
stages, mapping out the time course and effects of processing complexity on each stage. For
instance, work in Schneider's laboratory measures how fast visual attention moves as a function of
complexity, and how processing rates change with practice. Other areas of study include: how
attention locks onto a location in space and then disengages and influences working memory and
executive function; attentional and word perception behaviors and connectionist models; visual
perception and imagery; visual acuity and how that processing changes as a function of
development.
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