MBB Faculty                        

Research:

George Alvarez uses behavioral, computational, and neuroscience methods to understand how the visual system uses efficient encoding strategies to optimize the allocation of its limited resources. His research on this topic falls into four broad categories: attentional selection, memory storage, fluid resource allocation, and ensemble coding. In particular he is interested in how the visual system extracts regularities (patterns) in the flow of visual information, and uses those regularities to form more efficient representations. Several of the questions he is currently focusing on concern the neural correlates of these efficient encoding capabilities, including: (1) determining whether recall of perceptually detailed visual long-term memory episodes entails reactivation of primary visual cortex during retrieval, (2) whether learning co-variance statistics (which enables the doubling of working memory storage) alters object-representation in the ventral visual cortex, and (3) determining at which stage of visual processing the representation of ensemble statistics first emerges (because these are correlations across space, it is likely beyond v1, but where?).

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Our laboratory utilizes electrophysiological recording techniques in awake, behaving monkeys to explore mechanisms underlying visual perception. The general issue that we have focused on is 'how does what we know influence what we see?'

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My laboratory is a place where individuals gather with the common purpose of understanding social cognition and emotion as it resides outside conscious awareness and control. Our goal is to provide a basic understanding of the mechanics of implicit social cognition
and to explore the applications of the findings to neuroscience, education, and the law.

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Major research interests include cortical mechanisms of object recognition and top-down facilitation in visual processing; contextual analysis and scene perception; and visual representations.

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I am interested in dynamic vision and motion perception. My previous research has focused on the effects that a brain lesion to the associative visual areas has upon the ability to discriminate and integrate visual events. While this neuropsychological work has suggested a hypothesis about the role of the parietal cortex, the general approach is severely limited. For example, brain lesions caused by a stroke usually extend beyond the area of interest in the study, and a damaged brain may have undergone months or years of reorganization and adopted compensatory strategies. Moreover lesion studies may reveal the capability of other cortical areas in the absence of the damaged cortical tissue and not the true functions of that specific area. For these and other reasons, I am now using the virtual-lesion methodology applying TMS to the visual cortex of healthy volunteers and producing reversible functional disruption. TMS has excellent temporal resolution, and can be spatially confined, and this has been useful in mimicking selective brain lesions.

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Our lab is interested in the neural circuitry of the primate visual cortex and how it relates to perception and visually guided behavior. Our current focus is on areas of the brain that make calculations about visual motion.

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Interested in determining brain systems that support human
memory and how these systems change during progressive dementia associated with Alzheimer's disease

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Much of my work is aimed at evaluating the roles of distinct monoamine transporters and receptor subtypes in the psychomotor and abuse-related effects of cocaine and amphetamine. A primary goal is to assess the potential of novel compounds as candidate medications for the treatment of psychosis (e.g., schizophrenia) or as pharmacological adjuncts for the treatment of cocaine abuse and dependence. Behavioral pharmacology is used to evaluate pharmacological mechanisms underlying the psychomotor stimulant, sensorimotor disruptive, discriminative stimulus and reinforcing effects of cocaine and related drugs.

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My research is currently aimed at understanding the functional and neural architecture of the language system. My lab uses several experimental approaches to study the ways in which the brain represents and accesses knowledge about a word's meaning, grammatical role, sound structure and written form.

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Susan Carey studies conceptual development, seeking to characterize both the representational primitives that get cognitive development off the ground and the mechanisms through which new representational resources are created. Her research focuses on case studies of intuitive physics, intuitive psychology, and intuitive biology, and on representations of causality and of number.

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Dr. Caviness' research has two general themes:

1. That of the Laboratory of Developmental Neuroscience is examination of coordinate regulation of neocortical neuronal laminar class specification and the process of progenitor cell proliferation. The central hypothesis being pursued is that transcriptional mechanisms regulatory to specification of neocortical neuronal laminar class are coordinately regulated by a balance of mechanisms involving the notch signal transduction system and the cell cycle inhibitor p27Kip1 in opposition. The investigations depend upon a wide range of histological as well as in vitro and in vivo cell and molecular biological methods.

2. That of the Center for Morphometric Analysis is the development and application of morphometric tools for analysis of image based studies of the human brain. This laboratory is a general resource where its applications have differentially supported quite diverse investigative objectives depending upon the research program of the investigators, who apply where these are typically studies requiring high resolution and knowledge based volumetric studies of the human brain. Examples include but are not limited to direct volumetric studies in psychiatric disorders or stroke, studies of systems of connectivity, anatomic reference for fMRI and normal and pathological development of the human brain.

Research:

Main Interests:

• Natural language semantics and all of its main interfaces

Recent Projects (still unpublished):

• "The Grammatical View of Scalar Implicatures"
  with D. Fox and B. Spector
• "On the role of entailment patterns and scalar implicatures in the processing of numerals"
  with D. Panizza and C. Clifton
• "Mass Nouns and Vagueness"

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Professor Cuddy studies the origins and outcomes of how we perceive and are influenced by other people, investigating the roles of variables such as culture, emotions, nonverbal behaviors, and psychophysiological indicators. Much of her work focuses on social categories (e.g., Asian Americans, elderly people, Latinos, working mothers) – how they are judged by others and by their own members (i.e., stereotyping), and how these judgments set the tone and content of social interactions (i.e., prejudice and discrimination). Cuddy and her collaborators have developed a substantial body of research that focuses on judgments of other people and groups along two core trait dimensions, warmth and competence, which shape and motivate our social emotions, intentions, and behaviors. She examines how these social perception and influence processes play out in domains such as hiring, promotion, and charitable giving, for example. Her most recent work investigates how brief nonverbal expressions of competence/power and warmth/connection actually alter the neuroendocrine levels, emotions, and behaviors of the people making the expressions, even when these expressions are “posed.”

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Our main focus of interest in the functional and anatomic characterization of the neural circuits that underlie stimulus-driven innate behaviors. Given that olfaction is the primary sense used by most animals to communicate with their environment, we focus on characterizing those circuits that enable animals to detect and innately respond to scents from food, predators and mates.. To structurally and functionally dissect olfactory circuits we deploy an interdisciplinary toolkit that includes both well-established techniques - such as mouse genetics and behavioral analysis - and emerging approaches - such as two-photon laser scanning microscopy and optogenetics. We also actively develop new molecular and imaging tools for neural tracing and circuit analysis.

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Dr. Dickerson's research is on brain function and structure.

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Over the years, our group has been concerned with the cells of the retina, their structure, function and synaptic interactions.

Our current interests are focused in two directions; both
employ the zebrafish as a model system. First, we have
developed behavioral tests to isolate visual system specific mutations from chemically-mutagenized zebrafish. Both
recessive and dominant mutations that affect the retina have
been isolated and are currently being analyzed histologically, electrophysiologically and biochemically. Ongoing screening is continually revealing new mutants.

A second interest is the molecular basis of retinal development.
In particular, the effects of retinoic acid on candidate genes involved in early eye and photoreceptor development are being explored as well as detailed examination of early retinal development in zebrafish.

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My research interests are in human reproductive and behavioral endocrinology. I have studies human reproductive ecology in over twenty populations around the world. I am currently studying the effect of strong energetic seasonality on the reproductive life-
course of women in rural Gambia. Other interests include the interaction of reproductive state and behavior in both men
and women.

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My lab focuses on synaptic plasticity: cellular mechanisms, development of functional networks and links to behavior.

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Research interests include neuroscience of emotion, perception of beauty, face perception, and subjective well being.

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One key item is the program in Mind, Brain, and Education, which
I direct and which grew directly from MBB. We have a master's and doctoral program in MBE, with a website that is chock full of information http://gseweb.harvard.edu/~mbe .

In my research, I analyze cognition, emotion, and learning
and their relation to biological development and educational assessment. I discovered a scale that assesses learning and development in all domains, even when the skills created
in each domain are independent. My most recent books include
The Educated Brain (Cambridge University Press, 2008) and
Human Behavior, Learning, and the Developing Brain (2 volumes, Guilford Press, 2007). Leading an international movement to connect biology and cognitive science to education, I am founding president of the International Mind, Brain, and Education Society and founding editor of the journal Mind, Brain, and Education (Blackwell), which received the award for Best New Journal by the Association of American Publishers.

Research:

Deep brain stimulators

The intersection of psychiatry and neurology

Parkinson's disease.

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Our laboratory focuses on developmental cognitive neuroscience. We study cognitive processes such as auditory perception, language processing, music processing or reading and their neurological bases in the developing human brain. The majority
of our studies involve functional magnetic resonance imaging
(fMRI) but we also employ experimental behavioral studies and structural brain measurement techniques.

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My research interests are in human-computer interaction, artificial intelligence and applied machine learning. The phrase "intelligent interactive systems" describes well many of my interests: I am interested in how intelligent technologies can enable novel ways of interacting with computation, and in the new challenges that human abilities, limitations and preferences create for machine learning algorithms embedded in interactive systems.

Research:

Neurobiological foundations of cerebral dominance

Developmental dyslexia and related learning disorders in children and adults

Experimental developmental neuropathology

Neurobiology of language

Cognitive neuroscience

Cerebral architectonics and connectivity

Neurobiology of Williams Syndrome and genetics of behavior

Research:

Gardner is best known in educational circles for his theory of multiple intelligences, a critique of the notion that there exists
but a single human intelligence that can be assessed by
standard psychometric instruments.

For twenty years, he carried out neuropsychological research
at the Boston Veterans Administration Medical Center. He is
also a co-founder of the Mind, Brain, and Education
concentration at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

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Gilbert's research on "affective forecasting" is an attempt to understand how and how well people predict their emotional reactions to future events.

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Research interests include the philosophy of biology,
the philosophy of the mind, and the philosophy of science, metaphysics and epistemology.

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I study moral decision-making using behavioral methods coupled with neuroimaging (fMRI). My research focuses on the interplay between emotional and "cognitive" processes in moral judgment.

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Richard Hackman conducts research on a variety of topics
in social and organizational psychology, including team
dynamics and performance, leadership effectiveness, and the
design of self-managing teams and organizations. He has studied group and organizational factors that shape the behavior and performance of aircraft flightdeck crews; leadership, organizational dynamics, and player engagement in professional symphony and chamber orchestras; and the dynamics and performance of analytic teams in the U.S. intelligence community.

Recent projects include development and validation of methodologies for diagnosing the strengths and weaknesses of
work teams, development and test of a theoretical model of team coaching, a book that explores the special dynamics of senior leadership teams, empirical investigation of the joint impact of neurocognitive processes and social interaction on teamwork,
and development of educational materials for use in enhancing
the leadership of groups that generate creative products or performances in real time.

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Dr. Haig's research interests include Parent-Offspring Conflict, Intragenomic Conflicts, and Plant Life Cycles.

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Dr. Hanna's research focuses on understanding how to improve the provision of public services in developing countries.

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Professor Harrington is currently working on a project that attempts to make historical and cultural sense of the rise of a genre of literature in our own time concerned with the "inner world" of brain disorder. She is also interested in and has published books on the 'placebo effect.'

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Research interests include addiction, animal models of drug self-administration, and choice.

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A major focus of Professor Hooley’s research interests concern psychosocial (especially family) predictors of psychiatric relapse in patients with severe psychopathology such as schizophrenia, depression, and borderline personality disorder. She is also interested in self-harming behavior (cutting, burning) and pain. Currently, Professor Hooley is using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to explore (1) how healthy people and individuals who are vulnerable to depression process emotionally challenging verbal comments from family members and (2) how patients with borderline personality disorder process a variety of affectively challenging auditory and visual stimuli.

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Hoekstra's lab works in the area of evolutionary and ecological
genetics of morphological and behavioral adaptations in mammals.

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Research in the lab is focused on the behavioral and neural mechanisms of social functioning in healthy adults and individuals suffering from psychiatric problems, with a particular emphasis on social functioning in schizophrenia and related disorders.

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Todd's primary research interests are in attention, especially visual search and multiple object tracking, and circadian effects on cognition.

Research:

Syntactic theory

Syntax-semantics interface

Chinese linguistics

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Dr. Hyman is a leading scholar at the intersection of molecular neuroscience, molecular biology, and psychiatry.

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I remain interested in human temperaments and am collaborating with Carl Schwartz of MGH in studying the differences in BOLD profiles between adolescents who had been classified as high or
low reactive infants.

I am also reviewing the literature on "novelty" and
preparing a review paper.

Research:

My research interests are focused on: (a) the social determinants of health – including macro-level determinants (e.g. income inequality, social capital), neighborhood contextual influences on health, and psychosocial predictors of cardiovascular disease (e.g. job stress, social networks/support, anxiety/depression); (b) analyses of socioeconomic and racial disparities in health; (c) prospective studies of healthy aging and quality of life; and (d) smoking and health.

Research:

Kelly's work focuses on various aspects of the philosophical, phenomenological, and cognitive neuroscientific nature of human experience. This gives him a broad forum: recent work has addressed, for example, the experience of time, the possibility of demonstrating that monkeys have blindsighted experience, and the understanding of the sacred in Homer.

Research:

Comparative demography, ecology and economy in traditional forager and horticultural societies

Human biology, reproductive ecology, behavioral ecology and life history

Relationship between demographic and economic transitions

Human growth and development

Children's economic roles in traditional societies

Generational wealth transfers

Transformation of subsistence systems, changes in labor costs and land use patterns

Maya ethnography

Hunter-gatherer ethnography

Native South American ethnography

Research:

Aggression is a nearly universal feature of the behavior of social animals. In the wild, it is used for access to food and shelter, for protection from predation and for selection of mates. Despite its importance, little is known of the neural mechanisms that underlie the behavior. Although not well known, fighting behavior exists in common laboratory strains of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. With the genome sequenced and a wealth of powerful genetic tools available, fruit flies serve as a unique experimental model for the study of aggression. A simple experimental protocol developed in our laboratory allows reliable fighting behavior to be seen between pairs of male and pairs of female flies. The following recent results have been obtained using this system: (i) a quantitative analysis of fighting behavior in male and female flies has been performed; (ii) experiments have been completed demonstrating that learning and memory and changes in gene expression accompany changes in social status; (iii) genetic studies have shown that the same gene (fruitless) specifies who flies court and how they fight; and (iv) a group of 3 neurons expressing male forms of the fruitless gene and the amine octopamine are important in the choice between courtship and aggression in male fruit flies. Current studies continue these lines of investigation and are moving in the direction of mapping and manipulating the brain circuitry important in aggression and courtship behavior.

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The Kreiman lab is interested in understanding how biological networks encode, process and transmit information. There are two main lines of research in the lab: (i) how circuits of neurons represent visual information and (ii) how gene expression is orchestrated, with a particular emphasis on gene expression in the nervous system. The lab uses a combination of mathematical, computational and experimental tools.

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When and where does the build-up of a gestaldt take place in the healthy brain? Is the sequence of brain activity mediating this process abnormal in schizophrenia? Our lab is addressing these questions by using a cognitive neuroscience approach. In order to investigate “when” and “where”, we are using multimodal imaging techniques. Event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) detects brain activity with precise spatial (millimeter) resolution. Event-related potentials (ERPs) and magneto-encephalography (MEG) detects brain activity with precise temporal (millisecond) resolution. We are attempting to integrate these techniques to give new insights into the spatiotemporal dynamics of normal and abnormal brain function.

Research:

I work in the field of psychology and economics. In other words,
I study the ways that psychological and economic factors jointly influence people's choices. I have particular interests in the
following areas: neuroeconomics, genomics, intertemporal choice, bounded rationality, macroeconomics, and finance.

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Interests include electrical and chemical signaling in the thalamus and cortex of the brain.

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Our lab’s current research continues to explore, extend, and refine mindfulness theory across several domains. Most of the work in progress is concerned with the interaction of mindfulness and health, business, and education.

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Lavin's main interests are in ethics and the philosophy of action. His current work includes "Practical Reason and the Possibiltiy of Error," Ethics 114 (April 2004), which he hopes is the first in a series of papers on the conditions of rational agency. He also has teaching interests in the history of ethics and the philosophy of law, especially criminal law.

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My students and I study the mechanisms through which emotional and social factors influence judgment and decision making. We take an interdisciplinary approach to these topics, drawing primarily on psychology and economics to examine emotional, behavioral, cognitive, and biological systems. We are especially interested in ways that discoveries about how the mind works can improve policy formation and reformation.

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I am interested in the mechanisms that underlie synaptic competition between neurons that innervate the same target cell. Such competitive interactions are responsible for sharpening the patterns of neural connections during development and may also be important in learning and memory formation. My laboratory studies synaptic competition by visualizing synaptic rearrangements directly in living animals using modern optical imaging techniques. We have concentrated on neuromuscular junctions in a very accessible neck muscle in mice where new transgenic animals and other labeling strategies allow individual nerve terminals and postsynaptic specializations to be monitored over hours or months. In addition, we have developed several new methods to improve our ability to resolve synaptic structure.

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We are interested in how cells in the visual system process information. Previous emphasis in the lab was on the parallel processing of different kinds of visual information: form, color, depth, and movement. We discovered an interdigitating and highly specific connectivity between functionally distinct regions in V1 and V2 (Livingstone and Hubel, 1984, 1987).

Presently we have become more interested in how each of these variables is coded by cells in visual cortex. We developed a method for high-resolution receptive-field mapping in alert animals, and have used this technique to explore color perception, stereopsis and direction selectivity in primate V1, MT, V4, and IT. We have further developed this method to allow us to to look at interactions between stimuli (second-order interactions). These maps allow us to see how stimuli are integrated by single cells.

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Cognitive deficits in neuropsychiatric disorders are profoundly disabling and effective treatments are lacking. Identifying the neural circuitry that underlies cognitive deficits can guide investigations of neuropathology, genetic mechanisms, and the development of targeted interventions. The aim of my lab's research program is to elucidate the neural bases of cognitive function in health so that we can identify how cognition breaks down in neuropsychiatric disorders. While schizophrenia is our primary focus, we also study individuals with autism spectrum disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

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Katie McLaughlin is a clinical psychologist and psychiatric epidemiologist with interests in the effects of the childhood social environment on brain and behavioral development. Dr. McLaughlin's research examines the impact of childhood exposure to trauma, violence, and social disadvantage on risk for psychiatric disorders across the life course. She has identified psychological, physiological, and neurodevelopmental mechanisms that underlie the relationship between exposure to adverse environments in childhood and the subsequent onset of psychiatric disorders, including elevated emotional and physiological reactivity to stress, poor emotion regulation skills, and poor prefrontal cortex functioning. Dr. McLaughlin’s current research includes a project examining the impact of childhood adversity on the development of physiological stress response systems and the role that these systems play in increasing risk for mental health problems among adolescents exposed to adverse rearing environments as well as a neuroimaging project examining the impact of child maltreatment on brain development and neural functioning in adolescents.

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McNally's research interests include the application of cognitive psychology methods to elucidate information-processing abnormalities in anxiety disorders, especially panic disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. An additional interest concerns the study of memory in people reporting histories of childhood sexual abuse.

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My goal is to understand the function of neuronal circuits.
By "circuit" I mean a brain structure with many neurons that has
some anatomical and functional identity, and exchanges signals with other brain circuits. Most of our work has focused on the retina and the olfactory bulb, with some explorations into the visual cortex and the insect antennal lobe.

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Jason employs functional neuroimaging (fMRI) and behavioral methods to study how perceivers infer the thoughts, feelings,
and opinions of others (i.e., how we mentalize).

Research:

Click here for more info.

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Research in my group focuses on neurocognitive architecture of language, attention and reading processes in typical and atypical development. Research interests include dyslexia, autism and specific language impairment.

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How do we see? What is it about the ever changing structure of light impinging on our mobile eyes that enables us to pick up information about the environment around us? What is it about our brain and its neural activity allows us to see so much and so effortlessly? How is it that we can control our eyes and bodies to seek out information and to act in the physical world? These are just some of the large questions that drive researchers, including myself, to study vision. We find it a fascinating topic because it seems both so accessible and yet so elusive. Vision is immediate and obvious, so much so that it seems not to require any explanation. Yet, if we think of how an imaginary robot might simulate a human or how neural circuits might mediate conscious visual perception, we come to realize how deep the gulf is between what we know about the brain and the everyday facts about visual perception.

Research:

Nelson's research interests are broadly concerned with developmental cognitive neuroscience, an interdisciplinary field that requires expertise in developmental neuroscience and cognitive developmental psychology. His specific interests are concerned
with the effects of early experience on brain and behavioral development, particularly as such experience influences the development of memory and the development of the ability to recognize faces. Nelson studies typically developing children, children at risk for neurodevelopmental disorders (particularly those at risk for developing autism or memory impairments), and children experiencing profound early psychosocial deprivation. He employs a variety of neuroimaging and behavioral tools in his lab, including EEG, MRI, fNIRS, and eye tracking.

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Bernhard Nickel's research centers on the philosophy of language. The general approach is to investigate foundational questions by tracing out the implications of competing positions for relatively specific phenomena. My particular case study is genericity in natural language -- basically the phenomenon that many generalizations we make in ordinary life hold with exceptions.

The program is to defend truth-conditional, quantificational semantics for generics. The specific view I'm working out carries a number of commitments with it about fields adjacent to philosophy of language, especially philosophy of mind (conceptual structure) and science (natural kinds).

Research:

Dr Nowak works on the mathematical description of evolutionary processes including the evolution of cooperation and human language, the dynamics of virus infections and human cancer. His major discoveries include: the mechanism of HIV disease progression (1991), spatial game dynamics (1992), generous tit-for-tat and win-stay,lose-shift (1993), the rapid turnover and evolution of drug resistance in HIV infection (1995), quantifying the dynamics of HBV infection (1996), mechanisms for the evolution of genetic redundancy (1997), the evolution of cooperation by indirect reciprocity (1998), the first mathematical approach for studying the evolution of human language (1999-2002), evolutionary game dynamics in finite populations and the 1/3 rule (2004), evolutionary graph theory (2005), the first quantification of the in vivo kinetics of a human cancer (2005), five rules for the evolution of cooperation (2006), the dynamics of language regularization (2007) and "winners don't punish" (2008). At the moment Dr Nowak is working on 'prelife', which is a formal approach to study the origin of evolution."

Research:

My research addresses a wide variety of fundamental questions in evolutionary anthropology using phylogenetic methods, theoretical modeling and field research. For more information, visit my research website

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We are interested in understanding the principles and mechanisms used by neural circuits to generate complex, learned behaviors. To this end we use both songbird and rodents, concentrating our
efforts on understanding the process of motor sequence learning.

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Alvaro Pascual-Leone is a Professor of Neurology and Director of the Berenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, where he also serves as Program Director of the Harvard-Thorndike Clinical Research Center. His research aims at understanding the mechanisms that control brain plasticity across the lifespan to be able to modify them for the subject’s optimal behavioral outcome. Pascual-Leone combines various brain imaging and brain stimulation methodologies to establish a causal relationship and a precise chronometry between regional brain activation and behavior, and uses noninvasive brain stimulation techniques to modulate brain plasticity, suppressing some changes and enhancing others, to gain a clinical benefit and behavioral advantage for a given individual. Such non-invasive approaches can lead to clinically relevant therapeutic effects in neuropsychiatry and neurorehabilitation, and serve as proof-of-principle prior to more invasive neuromodulatory interventions. A major interest of current work aims at translating insights from cognitive neuroscience into clinical interventions.

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I am interested in behavioral ecology and the evolution of species interactions. My students and I study model genetic systems as well as model ecological ones. In collaboration with Frederick Ausubel's lab at Harvard Medical School, we are analyzing genetic mechanisms and biochemical signaling pathways underlying three-way interactions between plants (Arabidopsis thaliana), pathogens (Pseudomonas syringae) and insects (Trichoplusia ni). At the Museum of Comparative Zoology, we are measuring characters and sequencing genes from butterflies in the family Lycaenidae (blues, coppers and hairstreaks). The caterpillars of the majority of species in this group, which contains more than 6000 species, have complex interactions with ants, and we are using molecular and morphological data to reconstruct their evolutionary history. A long term goal of this research is to clarify the systematics and classification of these insects, and to investigate how host plant and ant associations have shaped their patterns of diversification. In the field, we are also investigating behavioral and ecological mechanisms maintaining species specific interactions between lycaenids and ants. This research has taken us on a regular basis to locations around the world, including Australia, South Africa, Japan and Borneo. Support for this research has come in part from the National Science Foundation, the Macarthur Foundation, the Baker Foundation, the Putnam Expeditionary Fund of the MCZ, and the Milton and Clark Funds of Harvard University.

Research:

Pinker conducts research on language and cognition.
More information on his on-going projects can be found at

http://pinker.wjh.harvard.edu/research/index.html

Research:

Language universals and their explanation

Comparative syntactic theory

The expression of information structure in natural language

Incomplete acquisition (heritage languages)

Austronesian languages (esp. Malagasy, Maori)

Languages of the Caucasus (esp. Tsez, Circassian)

Processing of number and gender under native and near-native attainment

Theory of complementation

Theory of ergativity

Research:

Dr. Pollen is pursuing two primary research interests. In the basic area, he is attempting to further define the neural correlates of conscious visual perception and to try to determine whether such knowledge will help explain conscious perception itself. In particular, he has recently proposed that primary visual perception requires the coupling between the early visual cortices in the occipital lobe subserving image content with specific areas in the parietal lobe subserving selective attention, representations of personal space, the body schema, and the initiation of perceptual ownership (Pollen 2008). He is currently extending this work to consider novel approaches for the emergence and evolutionary origins of conscious experience. In the clinical research area, he is pursuing efforts to determine whether the genetic risk factors for both early and late onset Alzheimer's disease can be modified pharmacologically.

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Post's research focuses on neuroscience of music and music philosophy.

Research:

We study the general question of how visual information is transformed between the lateral geniculate nucleus of the thalamus (LGN) and layer 4 of the primary visual cortex. LGN cells receive visual input from one eye and are not sensitive to an object's orientation or direction of movement. Cortical cells often receive binocular inputs and are usually orientation and direction selective. We use a number of techniques to explore how these transformations come about.

In our electrophysiological studies, we record the activity of many individual neurons simultaneously in both thalamus and cortex. In the cat, we are studying the cortical mechanisms responsible for the selectivity for orientation and direction of motion in simple cells. In the macaque, we concentrate on the first stages of color processing in the cortex. We have found that the wiring of the direct inputs to cortex is extremely precise. Given the visual properties of any single layer 4 cortical neuron, virtually all of the thalamic neurons that would help it perform this function are directly connected to it. In order to study the facilitatory interactions between these multiple inputs to cortical neurons, we are currently using multielectrode arrays to record up to ten neurons in the thalamus along with several of their potential targets.

In related projects we are using optical imaging, a technique for mapping the function of neural populations in vivo. These studies produce maps of the visual cortex that show the clustering of neurons with different receptive field properties. Functional maps allow us to target specific types of neurons (such as color-selective cells in the macaque) for electrophysiological study.

Research:

Rosen has published articles on ballistic missile defense, the American theory of limited war, and on the strategic implications of the AIDS epidemic, and wrote the book, Winning the Next War: Innovation and the Modern Military which won the 1992 Funriss Prize for best first book on national security affairs awarded by the Merchon Center at Ohio State University. His next project is on the non-rational aspects of deterrence entitled "Fear and Dominance in International Politics."

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My research is in game theory, experimental economics, and market design (for which game theory, experimentation, and computation are complementary tools).

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Research includes the molecular evolution of humans and other primates, as well as the genetic bases of human-unique adaptations.

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The Samuel Lab studies brain and behavior in the roundworm C. elegans. We focus specifically on navigational behaviors responding to physical sensory inputs.

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Information processing in the brain occurs at synapses, and defects in synapse formation are likely to underlie many neurological and psychiatric diseases. We are therefore interested in the molecules and structures that regulate synapse formation.

When axons form synapses in embryos, they need to choose appropriate partners from among perhaps thousands of possibilities. This specificity underlies the precise connectivity of the brain. We have chosen to study this remarkable recognition process in the visual system. In particular, we ask how the cells that connect the retina to the brain receive appropriate synapses on their dendrites in the brain and seek out appropriate targets with their axons. These studies rely heavily on genetically engineered mice, both to mark cells so we can image their development and pattens of connectivity, and to manipulate cells so we can test candidate recogntion molecules. We also test the functions of the circuits formed in collaboration with the laboratory of Markus Meister.

Once axons find their targets, they form synapses that can last a lifetime yet change rapidly if needs be. To study processes of synapse formation, maturation and remodeling, we use the skeletal neuromuscular junction, because it is the best studied of all synapses and therefore a good subject for molecular analysis of developmental processes. Our major aim has been to identify components that mediate intercellular interactions: molecules that muscle cells use to trigger presynaptic differentiation of axons, molecules that axons use to organize postsynaptic differentiation of muscle, and receptors than transduce these signals. To learn which of the proteins we find are the functionally critical ones, we combine studies of dissociated nerve and muscle cells in vitro with molecular genetic analysis of knockout mice in vivo.

Finally, we collaborate with the laboratory of Jeff Lichtman to design and generate new transgenic animals to better image neurons and the connections they make.

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Research interests include the 19th-Century British Novel; 20th-Century Drama; Theory of Representation; Language of Physical Pain; Structure of Verbal and Material Making in Art, Science, and the Law.

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Schacter's research has focused on psychological and biological aspects of human memory and amnesia, with a particular emphasis on the distinction between conscious and nonconscious forms of memory and, more recently, on brain mechanisms of memory distortion. He has also studied the effects of aging on memory. His research uses both cognitive testing and brain imaging techniques such as positron emission tomography and functional magnetic resonance imaging.

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Current research interests include aphasia therapy, singing and speaking, tone deafness / congenital amusia, motor recovery, music and emotions, music and autism, children and music making, brain stimulation, adult musician studies, absolute pitch, and acute stroke.

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Jorge Sepulcre is an Assistant Professor at the Division of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School. His research focuses on brain imaging studies aiming at the understanding of large-scale brain networks implicated in human cognition and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease. He uses functional connectivity MRI and network theory techniques to untangle network properties of the human brain.

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Research:

I am an Instructor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School; the focus of my research is to better understand the development of the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that is critical for exhibiting emotional and cognitive control. In the Sheridan Lab we approach this problem in two ways, first, we study atypical development, in particular children with ADHD and other externalizing disorders. Second, we study the effect of experience on brain development, specifically, the effect of adversity on prefrontal cortex function in childhood. Childhood adversity is an umbrella term that encompasses a variety of negative experiences children can have ranging from growing up in poverty, experiences of abuse and neglect, to living in an institution as an infant or child. While my lab is focused on using neuroscience to solve real world problems such as better diagnosing ADHD or creating safer, healthier environments for all children, we pursue these goals using the tools of cognitive neuroscience. We employ rigorous task construction and examination of established concepts such as working memory to examine neural function using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electrocardiogram (EEG). In addition to these measures of brain function we examine brain structure and cognitive performance on experimental and clinical tasks.

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Professor Shieber studies communication: with humans through
natural languages, with computers through programming languages, and with both through graphical languages.

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I am interested in the interaction between visual perception and non-visual aspects of cognition and affect. Potential examples of top-down effects on visual perception include influences on vision from emotion/affect, mood, expertise, and background beliefs or theories. I would like to know whether there are any such effects - ultimately a question for vision science. I have written about the consequences
such effects would have for epistemology in a paper called "Cognitive Penetrability and Perceptual Justification" (available on my website), as well as a series of papers about the interaction between such effects or the felt character of conscious visual experience (also on my website). Much of this material is forthcoming in a book called The Contents of Visual Experience.

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Marisa Silveri works in the Cognitive Neuroimaging Laboratory at McLean Hospital. The lab is dedicated to the examination of cognitive and affective correlates of neural systems, which may mediate symptoms in psychiatric disorders. Techniques used in these investigations include studies of neuropsychological performance, neurological hard signs, and magnetic resonance imaging methods. The aim of these studies has been to identify brain abnormalities, particularly disruptions of the frontally mediated networks, which may represent risk factors for psychiatric illness or may be the site of pathology in these illnesses.

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Simmons research interests lie primarily at the intersection of philosophy and psychology. She works on questions about the nature of mind in general, and the nature of sense perception in particular, as they have treated historically from the ancient through the early modern periods, and also as they are discussed today. She is currently working on the development of theories of unconscious mental life as it develops from the early modern period into the twentieth century.

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Research in my lab investigates how infants and children perceive and reason about the world around them. Our studies are supported by funds from the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Child Health and Development, and they explore such topics as how infants perceive partly hidden objects, how children learn words for new objects, and how infants and children understand number. We have found that babies and young children may know a lot more than people used to believe.

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Origins and nature of human knowledge of objects, number, geometry, and other people.

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Our lab focuses on state-dependent aspects of cognition. Primarily, this involves studies of the role of sleep and dreaming in sleep-dependent offline memory processing. Human behavioral, psychophysiological, and brain imaging studies help us determine the role of sleep and dreams in a range of memory and emotional processes.

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The intersections of psychiatry and law

The intersections of law and medicine

The ethics of forensic psychiatry

The return of psychosurgery

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Jenny Thomson researches and teaches in the field of literacy and literacy difficulties. Her work uses both behavioral and neuroscientific (ERP/tDCS) tools to study the identification and remediation of reading and writing difficulties. Current projects are exploring the impact of new digital technologies upon literacy processes and performance. Dr. Thomson received her Ph.D. in Child Health at University College London, UK, under the supervision of Professor Usha Goswami. She has been a Marie Curie Fellow at the University of Jyvaskyla, Finland and a Junior Research Fellow at Wolfson College, Cambridge, UK. Dr. Thomson is also a clinically certified Speech-Language Pathologist and an Oral and Written Language Specialist at the Learning Disabilities Program, Childrens Hospital Boston.

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Our laboratory is interested in neuronal mechanisms by which sensory information and memory about previous experiences guide behavior of the animal. Our main questions are:

• How is odor information coded and processed by an ensemble of neurons?
• What kinds of circuit dynamics underlie decision-making processes?
• What are the mechanisms for learning based on rewards and punishments?

Research:

A list of research interests and relevant publications can be found by clicking here to view my website.

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Human social life involves complex interactions between individuals working together. For example, even a very simple interaction like holding a door open for another person requires understanding what that person wants, as well as a desire to help them. Other interactions, such as building a monument, requires that larger groups divide their labor and work together to achieve a joint goal. Although these types of helping and collaborative behaviors are common in humans, they are not in other species. How and why do humans cooperate in these various ways—and what cognitive skills allow them to do so? Our research group addresses this broad question in three ways:

• What are the earliest forms of cooperation?
  A major focus of our research concerned the cooperative abilities of very young children. Does human-like cooperation require language or extensive moral education? Research thus far indicates that infants in the second year of life already engage in various forms of altruistic behaviors such as helping others with their problems or sharing resources with them, suggesting that human infants may have a biologically based predisposition for altruism.
• What factors shape cooperation across development?
  Although young infants do cooperate in variety of contexts, their behavior also differs from that of adults in many ways. What allows children to cooperate in more adult-like fashion? This aspect of our research focuses on the impact of factors like moral instruction and understanding of norms on cooperation in childhood.
• What is the evolutionary basis of human cooperation?
  Developmental research by our group is complemented by collaborative projects examining our closest living primate relatives, the great apes. Such research is crucial to disentangle the aspects of human cognition that are unique, and to date few such studies have examined cooperative abilities in other apes. So far, our research suggests that some forms of human-like cooperation—such as helping out others in need—to appear to be shared with chimpanzees.

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Dan Wegner studies how we perceive and control our minds. Why is it that when we try to stop thinking about a white bear, we become obsessed with it? Do our conscious minds control our thoughts and actions?

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Dr. Wolfe is a co-Pi with Todd Horowitz, studying attention, especially visual search and multiple object tracking, and circadian effects on cognition.

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Research interests include behavior, ecology, and physiology of chimpanzees and monkeys, and conservation through habitat preservation, reduction of animal-human conflicts, and eco-tourism.

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Animals in their natural environment interact with different ecological cues and modify their behaviors based on their experiences. A central goal of neurobiology is to understand the function of neural circuits that regulate these dynamic behaviors. Our research focuses on olfactory learning and chemical signaling among different species, and we employ the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as a genetic and genomic model system to address these questions.