The Miller Lab @ MIT

  • Jefferson Roy (Miller Lab Associate Director) is a published author

    Miller Lab

    The Motivated Brain
    Helle Bundgaard, Jefferson Roy
    Buy it at Amazon

    This book is the missing link, connecting motivation and modern brain science. Upon purchasing The Motivated Brain, you get free access to the motivation assessment Motivation Factor™ Indicator. Completing the assessment makes it easier to read the book and gives you a better understanding of your own motivation.

    Motivation can crumble starting with the Energy Drainers that distract from the current goal, clutter the mind, and waste resources. Next, Needs not being met further hinders motivation by invoking the stress response that hijacks the brain. When this occurs, it is almost impossible to live with a greater Purpose in mind and to use our Talents effectively. Together, this makes us less resistant to setbacks while further reducing our motivation. Not to mention the short and long-term effects on physical health and well-being.

    This book reviews the relevant brain areas and circuits thought to be involved in the Hierarchy of Motivation. While not an exhaustive study, our goal is for you to come away with a sense that the four levels in the Hierarchy of Motivation are connected and build on each other, not only in the Motivation Factor Framework, but also in the brain.

    As with many frameworks that require learning and change, the proof is in the trying. We are confident that by tapping into established neural circuits and behaviors; the positive changes of increased personal awareness and personal growth can be attained by anyone who tries. We hope to convince you that not only can the brain be trained; it can be motivated!

  • Frontoparietal Correlation Dynamics Reveal Interplay between Integration and Segregation during Visual Working Memory

    Miller Lab

    Dotson et al recorded neural activity in the prefrontal and parietal cortex during a working memory task.  As previous studies have reported (e.g., Buschman and Miller, 2007) they found long range synchronization of 8-25 Hz oscillations between the areas.  Interestingly, there found both phase synchronization at 0 and 180 degrees suggesting that the 0 deg phase synchrony helped form networks between the areas whereas the 180 deg (anti-phase) synchrony helped segregate different networks.

    For further reading:
    Buschman, T.J. and Miller, E.K. (2007) Top-down versus bottom-up control of attention in the prefrontal and posterior parietal cortices. Science. 315: 1860-1862  View PDF »

  • Burst Firing Synchronizes Prefrontal and Anterior Cingulate Cortex during Attentional Control

    Miller Lab

    Womelsdorf et al found that bursts of neural activity in the prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate synchronize at gamma and beta frequencies during focused attention.  Non-burst activity did not show long-range synchronization.  Burst synchronization may underlie the formation of long-range networks.

  • Gamma Oscillations Underlie the Maintenance of Feature-Specific Information and the Contents of Visual Working Memory

    Miller Lab

    Gamma-band oscillations have been associated with holding information in working memory.  Is it just a general increase in gamma or do gamma oscillations actually maintain and convey specific information?  A new study by Honkanen et al suggests that it does contain information.  The strength and topography of gamma oscillations reflected memorized visual features as well as the amount of information in working memory.

    We’ve also shown that information about  two different objects can be carried in different phases of gamma band oscillations:
    Siegel, M., Warden, M.R., and Miller, E.K. (2009) Phase-dependent neuronal coding of objects in short-term memory. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106: 21341-21346. View PDF »
    Read commentary by Vogel and Fukuda

  • Earl Miller interviewed about consciousness in The Huffington Post

    Miller Lab
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    They got my experiment wrong, but spelled my name right:
    Biology of Consciousness: Bridging the Mind-Body Gap?
    The Huffington Post 10/30/14

  • Attention can either increase or decrease spike count correlations in visual cortex

    Miller Lab

    Ruff and Cohen report evidence that attention can increase or decrease neural correlations depending on whether the neurons have the same or different functions.

  • New review: Goal-direction and top-down control

    Miller Lab
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    Goal-direction and top-down control
    Timothy J. Buschman and Earl K. Miller

    We review the neural mechanisms that support top-down control of behavior.  We suggest that goal-directed behavior utilizes two systems that work in concert.  A basal ganglia-centered system quickly learns simple, fixed goal-directed behaviors while a prefrontal cortex-centered system gradually learns more complex (abstract or long-term) goal-directed behaviors.  Interactions between these two systems allows top-down control mechanisms to learn how to direct behavior towards a goal but also how to guide behavior when faced with a novel situation.

    Read it here

  • Kay Tye named 2014 NYSCF – Robertson Investigator

    Miller Lab

    Our own Kay Tye receives a well-deserved honor:

  • Cortical Neurodynamics of Inhibitory Control

    Miller Lab

    Hwang et al report increased alpha/beta power in the frontal cortex during a fundamental test of cognitive control, the anti-saccade task.  There was increased cross-frequency coupling between alpha and beta bands and alpha, specifically, was predictive of trial-by-trial success.  This adds to the growing body of evidence that beta oscillations are associated with cognition and that alpha is important for inhibitory control.

    For further reading:
    Buschman, T.J. and Miller, E.K. (2007) Top-down versus bottom-up control of attention in the prefrontal and posterior parietal cortices. Science. 315: 1860-1862  The Scientist’s “Hot Paper” for October 2009. View PDF »

    Buschman, T.J. and Miller, E.K. (2009) Serial, covert, shifts of attention during visual search are reflected by the frontal eye fields and correlated with population oscillations. Neuron, 63: 386-396. View PDF »

    Buschman, T.J., Denovellis, E.L., Diogo, C., Bullock, D. and Miller, E.K. (2012) Synchronous oscillatory neural ensembles for rules in the prefrontal cortex.  Neuron. 76: 838-846. View PDF »

  • Frontoparietal Correlation Dynamics Reveal Interplay between Integration and Segregation during Visual Working Memory

    Miller Lab

    Dotson et al report both 0 and 180 deg phase synchrony between the prefrontal and parietal cortices during a working memory task, suggestion both formation and segregation of different functional networks by neural synchrony.