Ed Awh comes to the University of Chicago from the University of Oregon where he spent his first 16 years as a professor in the Department of Psychology and the Institute of Neuroscience. Awh’s research program focuses on the cognitive neuroscience of memory and attention. His lab uses a combination of behavioral measures, functional MRI, and EEG to understand how the brain supports our ability to hold relevant thoughts in mind while suppressing the influence of distracting stimuli or thoughts. These basic abilities are strong predictors of broad measures of intellectual function such as fluid intelligence and scholastic achievement. Thus, Awh is interested in the factors that determine individual differences in these abilities, and the neural processes that support these basic mental functions.

Recent work in the Awh lab has employed fMRI and EEG to decode the content of mental representations during storage in short term memory or while observers are actively attending the environment around them. These new methods provide new opportunities to understand the neural circuits that enable core cognitive functions, as well as enhance our understanding of the role of memory and attention in human thinking. Awh is excited to join a thriving community of psychologists and neuroscientists within the Psychology Department, the Institute for Mind and Biology, and the Grossman Institute for Neuroscience, Quantitative Biology and Human Behavior.

Ed Vogel joined the Psychology Department after spending 14 years as a Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Oregon. He completed his postdoctoral training at UCSD’s Institute for Neural Computation after receiving his PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Iowa. His research program examines the neural mechanisms of Attention and Memory. His lab has expertise in EEG, psychophysical, and neuroimaging approaches to examining the capacity limits of attention and working memory in humans. Much of this work involves investigating how individual differences in these factors determine how people vary in their fluid intelligence and overall cognitive ability.

Recent work in the Vogel lab has centered on characterizing neural mechanisms that underlie brief lapses of attention, in which task performance fails because attentional control appears to “coast on auto-pilot.” Lapses of attention are frequent, often go unnoticed by the individual, and have consequences that can range from mere nuisance (e.g., mindless reading) to catastrophic events (e.g., mindless driving). Vogel’s lab has recently discovered neural markers that appear to detect the mind entering into one of these lapse states, even before a performance failure has occurred. They are hopeful that these tools could be developed to detect lapses in real time so that an observer can be alerted and regain control of attention to minimize performance failures and accidents. Vogel is very pleased to join the community of psychologists and neuroscientists in the Department of Psychology, the Institute for Mind and Biology, and the Grossman Institute for Neuroscience, Quantitative Biology and Human Behavior.