Scientists in the Attention and Working Memory Lab study the nature of individual differences in important cognitive abilities, such as fluid intelligence (the ability to solve new problems), working memory capacity (the ability to recall information and control your thoughts) and attention control (the ability to choose what to pay attention to and what to ignore).

The CoNTRoL lab is focused on the neural mechanisms for vision, attention, memory, learning and cognitive control, or the set of processes by which we direct our actions toward a specific goal. Schumacher and his team are currently using brain imaging to investigate if fluctuations in large-scale brain networks predict performance on complex cognitive tasks.

Scientists in the Cognitive Neuroscience of Aging Lab study how spatial navigation abilities — and the neural mechanisms that support navigation — change with age. The team also studies how hormones such as cortisol, testosterone and insulin affect age-related cognitive and behavioral changes.

Rahnev and his team investigate the brain processes that allow people to perceive the world. In particular, the lab is focused on the high-level brain mechanisms that modulate perceptual decision-making, or the process by which we use sensory information to inform and guide our behavior.

The DNP-ATL Lab is focused on what happens to the developing brain many years after a brain injury or medical condition, and how those events affect cognitive abilities across a person’s lifespan. The lab has studied adolescent and young adult survivors of childhood brain tumors and congenital heart disease, among other conditions, along with a substantial sample of healthy participants.

The Feelings Lab studies why some children become depressed and anxious and other children seem protected, even in the face of considerable risks. The researchers’ goal is to ultimately help clinicians accurately identify of at-risk children and improve prevention and early intervention efforts.

The Georgia State Reading Research Team studies the biological and environmental factors that impact developing cognitive, learning and language systems in both typically developing children and adults and those with atypical development or acquired neurological disorders. Current research focuses on intervention studies, treatment outcomes of children and adults with dyslexia and reading disabilities and related projects.

The Keilholz Mind lab studies how the brain’s structure and activity is organized by mapping functional connectivity, or the correlation of activity in anatomically distinct areas of the brain. The researchers plan to build a multi-scale model of the brain capable of providing insight into the origin and relevance of functional networks.

L-STAR uses behavioral, eye-tracking and neuroimaging methods to study the ways in which anxiety affects interpersonal relationships. Their research focuses on clarifying how anxiety biases our perceptions, thought patterns and behaviors in ways that impede healthy connections with others.

Mechanisms of Individualized Neurorehabilitation Treatment Lab uses magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), noninvasive brain stimulation, neuronavigation, electromyography and behavior to study the brain in both typical and atypical reading and language populations.

The MAP Lab studies the cognitive mechanisms that support memory and goal-directed behavior. Combining neuroimaging and virtual reality, Brown and his team study how people remember the distinct events that happen in our lives, and what mechanisms the brain employs to draw on the past in order to make decisions about the present and plan for the future.

The Wheeler Lab studies the neural and cognitive mechanisms of perceptual decision-making (the process by which we use sensory evidence to guide our decisions) and memory-based decision-making (the process by which we use recalled information to inform our decisions), and how memory, attention and decision-making abilities change as we age.