Cognitive Neuroscience Program
In a group of laboratories at Northwestern, ground-breaking investigations of the functions of the human brain are being accomplished using state-of-the-art methods of monitoring the brain in action. By anchoring these psychological investigations in brain science, future work in these labs promises to produce many new insights into the human mind and various human talents such as creativity, memory, perception, and awareness.
Northwestern researchers are inventing novel ways to creatively apply brain imaging and other methods to attack age-old questions about the mind. Whereas only philosophical approaches were used in the past to ask about the nature of human experience – how we perceive the world, how we attain knowledge and come to understand new ideas, and what underlies the awareness that each of us personally and privately experiences – modern methods of neuroscience can now be applied. We can now study in great detail how various mental feats are accomplished. A partial list of phenomena currently under study by Northwestern Cognitive Neuroscience professors includes:
- how people come up with insights (Aha! experiences)
- how memories are formed in the brain
- how our two hemispheres work cooperatively
- basic steps to seeing visual objects
- become an expert in seeing visual categories
- subliminal perception
- memories we have that don’t become conscious
- recognizing the people we know
- remembering something that never happened
- how a good night’s sleep helps memory and insight
- drawing inferences to understanding language
- and how emotion and attention can alter perception, thinking, and problem-solving.
Director:
Associate Director:
Steering Committee:
Paller, Ken, PhD
Mesulam, Marek-Marsel, MD
Disterhoft, John, PhD
Kraus, Nina, PhD
Reber, Paul, PhD
View list of all Faculty Profiles associated this grant
Associated Faculty:
| Apkarian, Apkar, PhD | Grabowecky, Marcia, PhD | Revelle, William, PhD |
| Ashley, Richard, PhD | Houk, James, PhD | Richeson, Jennifer, PhD |
| Beeman, Mark, PhD | Kording, Konrad, PhD | Rogalski, Emily, PhD |
| Bodenhausen, Galen, PhD | Kraus, Nina, PhD | Rosenfeld, J. Peter, PhD |
| Booth, James, PhD | Kuhnen, Camelia, PhD | Suzuki, Satoru, PhD |
| Bradlow, Ann, PhD | Larson, Charles, PhD | Thompson, Cynthia, PhD |
| Breiter, Hans, MD | Marian, Viorica, PhD | Voss, Joel, PhD |
| Chiao, Joan, PhD | Mesulam, Marek-Marsel, MD | Wang, Lei, PhD |
| Csernansky, John, MD | Mineka, Susan, PhD | Weintraub, Sandra, PhD |
| Disterhoft, John, PhD | Nusslock, Robin, PhD | Wong, Patrick, PhD |
| Franconeri, Steven, PhD | Ortony, Andrew, PhD | Wright, Beverly, PhD |
| Gentner, Dedre, PhD | Paller, Ken, PhD | Zee, Phyllis, MD, PhD |
| Goldrick, Matthew, PhD | Parrish, Todd, PhD | Zinbarg, Richard, PhD |
| Gottfried, Jay, PhD | Reber, Paul, PhD |
PreDoctoral Trainees:
Sara Berger (Advisor: Apkarian, Apkar, PhD)
Chivon Powers (Advisor: Beeman, Mark, PhD)
Matthew Schroeder (Advisor: Wang, Lei PhD)
Pre Doctoral Affiliate Trainees:
Daniel Sanchez (Advisor: Reber, Paul, PhD)
Michael Tennekoon (Advisor: Booth, James, PhD)
PostDoctoral Trainees:
Sabra Abbott, PhD (Advisor: Zee, Phyllis, MD, PhD)
David Brang, PhD (Advisor: Gravowecky, Marcia, PhD)
Anthony Ryals, PhD (Advisor: Voss, Joel, PhD)
For more information, contact: David Schneeweis d-schneeweis@northwestern.edu
