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  • 18
    May 2015

    Time.com – You Asked: Are My Devices Messing With My Brain?


    Miller Lab
    In The News, Miller Laboratory, Neuroscience, Psychology

    Earl Miller is quoted in a Time article about the dangers of multitasking:

    You Asked: Are My Devices Messing With My Brain?  Time (May 13, 2015)
    http://time.com/3855911/phone-addiction-digital-distraction/

    ““Every time you switch your focus from one thing to another, there’s something called a switch-cost,” says Dr. Earl Miller, a professor of neuroscience at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “Your brain stumbles a bit, and it requires time to get back to where it was before it was distracted.”  ““You’re not able to think as deeply on something when you’re being distracted every few minutes,” Miller adds. “And thinking deeply is where real insights come from.”

  • 21
    Aug 2014

    The Computational and Neural Basis of Cognitive Control: Charted Territory and New Frontiers


    Miller Lab
    Neuroscience, Psychology

    Botvinick and Cohen provide a very nice overview of where computational modeling of executive control has been and where it is going.

  • 13
    Jun 2014

    You’re Not Busy, You Just Think You Are: 7 Ways To Find More Time


    Miller Lab
    Miller Laboratory, Neuroscience, Psychology

    Huffington Post article about the evils of multitasking.
    You’re Not Busy, You Just Think You Are: 7 Ways To Find More Time  The Huffington Post UK | By Georgia James Posted: 13/06/2014 15:00 BST
    (with quotes from Earl Miller)

  • 20
    Mar 2014

    Attention in the real world: toward understanding its neural basis


    Miller Lab
    Neuroscience, Psychology

    Peelen and Kastner extend studies of attention in the lab (using simple, neutral displays) to the real world (complex, meaningful scenes).  They discuss interactions between what and where templates shaped by object familiarity, scene context, and memory

  • 20
    Sep 2013

    Trade-off between Capacity and Precision in Visuospatial Working Memory


    Miller Lab
    Neuroscience, Psychology

    Everybody knows that we can only hold a limited number of things in mind simultaneously.  Is this capacity limit due to a limited number of “slots” in working memory or due a limited resource pool that is divided among the items held in mind?  We found evidence for both (Buschman et al, 2011).  Now, Roggeman et al  use computational modeling to provide further evidence for a hybrid model for capacity limits of working memory.

    Further reading:
    Buschman,T.J., Siegel, M., Roy, J.E. and Miller, E.K. (2011) Neural substrates of cognitive capacity limitations. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 108(27):11252-5. View PDF »

  • 6
    Aug 2013

    Sensory processing: who’s in (top-down) control?


    Miller Lab
    Neuroscience, Psychology

    Christian Ruff pays tribute to the late, great, Jon Driver by reviewing neural mechanisms of top-down control of attention and memory.

  • 2
    Aug 2013

    A Lifetime Without Memory


    Miller Lab
    In The News, Neuroscience, Psychology

    A review in Science of Sue Corkin’s book on the famous neuropsychology patient H.M., who could no longer form memories after his hippocampus was removed.

    Permanent Present Tense The Unforgettable Life of the Amnesic Patient, H.M. by Suzanne Corkin Basic Books, New York, 2013. 400 pp. $28.99, C$32. ISBN 9780465031597. Allen Lane, London. £20. ISBN 9781846142710.

  • 24
    Jul 2013

    Why Public Dissemination of Science Matters: A Manifesto


    Miller Lab
    In The News, Neuroscience, Psychology

    Dave Eagleman spells it out for us.

  • 24
    Jul 2013

    Interesting and provocative: Bottom-up and top-down attention are independent


    Miller Lab
    Psychology

    Pinto et al, despite enough statistical power, fail to see any correlation between performance of a top-down attention task (search) and a bottom-up attention task (singleton capture). They argue that top-down and bottom-up attention systems operate independently.

    They cite our work, which suggests that top-down vs bottom up attention signals originate from prefrontal vs parietal cortex:
    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 »

  • 22
    Jul 2013

    The Invisible Gorilla Strikes Again – Sustained Inattentional Blindness in Expert Observers


    Miller Lab
    Psychology

    Radiologists looking for lung nodules miss the a gorilla inserted into the images.  Even experts doing their job are subject to inattentional blindness.
    Drew et al

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