Psychology – The Miller Lab @ MIT

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