My research interests lie at the intersection of attention and episodic memory. My current project, which forms the basis for my master's proposal, is an fMRI study of task-cueing effects in recognition and semantic-judgement tasks. In addition, I am collaborating with Amy Criss and Jay McClelland on a second fMRI investigation of mirror effects in recognition memory.
My current research on selective attention in episodic memory forms one piece of a broader research agenda shared with my advisor, examining the significance of often-replicated parietal cortex activity in episodic memory. In future projects I hope to examine the neural mechanisms of temporal judgments, which are critical to episodic memory, as well as the significance of an egocentric processing perspective in episodic memory vs. other domains, such as semantic and procedural memory. While I have chiefly been involved in fMRI studies to date, I am piloting an episodic-memory project at UPMCs new MEG facility, the Center for Advanced Brain Magnetic Source Imaging (CABMSI). I intend for my dissertation project to examine some or all of the above research questions using data from multiple imaging methods.
Here are some references pertinent to my current work:
Herron, J. E., & Wilding, E. L. (2006). Brain and Behavioral Indices of Retrieval Mode. NeuroImage 32(2):863-70, 2006 Aug 15.
Wheeler, M. E., Shulman, G. L., Buckner, R. L., Miezin, F. M., Velanova, K., & Petersen, S. E. (2006). Evidence for Separate Perceptual Reactivation and Search Processes during Remembering. Cerebral Cortex 16(7):949-59, 2006 Jul.
Download my curriculum vitae:
PhillipsCV_Jan2007.pdf
Here is a little Matlab script I wrote for plotting ROI timecourses. The help section explains the required input format and parameters.
plotMatrix.m