Dr. Mangun's work on the cognitive neuroscience of attention investigates how we perceive, attend, ignore and become aware of events in our environment. Recordings of event-related brain potentials (ERPs) from healthy persons and special patient groups provide high temporal resolution measures of stimulus processing in the human brain. The goal of this research is to identify the mechanisms of attentional selection by permitting sensory analysis of attended and ignored stimuli to be studied under a wide variety of task circumstances. To identify the brain systems and circuits involved in various attentional processes (i.e., control and selection), tools such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) are used in conjunction with ERPs. fMRI permits the living human brain to be revealed to us as it functions to enable our sensations, thoughts and actions. The information obtained from these combined behavioral, neuropsychological and neurophysiological studies yields insight into the computational and functional neuroanatomical structure of human cognition, and is essential for addressing the deficits in attention and awareness that accompany neurological and psychiatric disease.

Research Interests:
Our research investigates the mechanisms of human cognition and perception using psychophysical, electrophysiological and functional neuroimaging approaches.

Teaching Interests:
Cognitive Neuroscience
Sensation and Perception

Courses Taught:

Psc 290 Topics in Cognitive Neuroscience of Attention - Term(s): Fall,Winter,Spring

Psc 135 Cognitive Neuroscience: Biology of the Mind - Term(s): Variable

Publications:

Hopfinger, J.B., Buonocore, M.H. and Mangun, G.R. (2000). The neural mechanisms of top-down attentional control. Nature Neuroscience, 3, 284-291.

Mangun, G.R., Hinrichs, H., Scholz, M., Mueller-Gaertner, H.W., Herzog, H., Krause, B.J., Tellman, L., Kemna, L. and Heinze, H.J. (2001). Integrating electrophysiology and neuroimaging of spatial selective attention to simple isolated visual stimuli. Vision Research, 41:1423-1435.

Baas, J.M.P, Kenemans, J.L. and Mangun, G.R. (2002). Selective attention to spatial frequency: An ERP and source localization analysis. Clinical Neurophysiology, 113, 1840-1854.

Giesbrecht, B., Woldorff, M. G., Song, A. W., & Mangun, G. R. (2003). Neural mechanisms of top-down control during spatial and feature attention. NeuroImage, 19(3):496-512.

Khoe, W., Freeman, E., Woldorff, M., & Mangun, G.R. (2004). Electrophysiological Correlates of Lateral Interactions in Human Visual Cortex. Vision Research, 44(14):1659-1673.

Khoe, W., Freeman, E., Woldorff, M.G., & Mangun, G.R. (2006). Interactions between attention and perceptual grouping in human visual cortex. Brain Research, 1078(1):101-111.

Geng, J.J. and Mangun, G.R. (in press/2008). The anterior intraparietal sulcus is sensitive to bottom-up attention driven by stimulus salience. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.