Dr. Woldorff's main research interest is in the cognitive neuroscience of attention. At each and every moment of our lives, we are bombarded by a welter of sensory information coming at us from a myriad of directions and through our various sensory modalities -- much more than we can fully process. We must continuously select and extract the most important information from this welter of sensory inputs. How the human brain accomplishes this is one of the core challenges of modern cognitive neuroscience. Dr. Woldorff uses a combination of electrophysiological (ERP, MEG) and functional neuroimaging (fMRI) methods to study the time course, functional neuroanatomy, and mechanisms of attentional processes. This multimethodological approach is directed along several main lines of research: (1) The influence of attention on sensory and perceptual processing; (2) Cognitive and attentional control mechanisms; (3) The role of attention in multisensory environments; (4) The interactive relationship between attention and reward; and (5) The role of attention in perceptual awareness.
Education and Training
- University of California, Berkeley, B.A. 1978
- University of California, San Diego, Ph.D. 1989
Associated Faculty Labs
Selected Grants and Awards
- Neurobiology Training Program
- Elucidating mechanisms underlying fluctuations of sustained attention and their influence on memory
- Physical Resiliencies: Indicators and Mechanisms in the Elderly Collaborative (PRIME Collaborative)
- A Phase II Study of an ApoE mimetic peptide to reduce Postoperative Delirium, Cognitive Dysfunction after Non-Cardiac Surgery in Older Adults
- Cortical tracking of speech-specific temporal structure in familiar vs. foreign
- Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Memory Reactivation
- The Modulatory Role of Reward on Attentional Brain Processes
- Basic predoctoral training in neuroscience
- Path Toward MRI with Direct Sensitivity to Neuro-Electro-Magnetic Oscillations
- A Compute Cluster for Brain Imaging and Analysis
- Training in Fundamental &Translational Neuroscience
- Improving Math Ability via Primitive Number Sense Training
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Cortical Neuronal Activity
- Studies of Attention Using Combined ERPs and fMRI
- Representation of Number in Infancy
- Precision Targeting of fMRI-Guided TMS Using a Robotic Arm System
- Multisensory Processing and Attention
- Direct MRI of Neuroelectric Activity
- A Linux Cluster Computational Facility for Neuroimaging Research
- Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Emotional Memory Networks
- Neural Correlates of Global and Local Processing
- Brain Attention Mechanisms in Perception and Performance
Department Affiliation
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences