Development of Executive Function ​​

Our main research topic is development of executive function. Specifically, we ask how children learn to follow simple rules. To answer this question, we take multiple approaches, ranging from computational modeling to brain imaging. 
  • Perone, S., Simmering, V., & Buss, A. T. (2021). A dynamical reconceptualization of executive function development. ​Perspectives on Psychological Science, 16(6), 1198-1208. [pdf]​
  • Buss, A. T. & Spencer, J. P. (2018). Changes in frontal and posterior cortical activity underlie the early emergence of executive function. Developmental Science, 21(4), e12602. [pdf]
  • Buss, A. T. (2017). Computational models of executive function development. In S. Wiebe and J. Karbach (Eds.), Frontiers in Developmental Science: Lifespan Development and Plasticity of Executive Function. Taylor & Francis: New York, NY.
  • Buss, A. T., Wifall, T. & Hazeltine, E. (2016). The emergence of higher-level cognitive flexibility: Dynamic field theory and executive function. In J. P. Spencer and G. S. Schöner (Eds.), Dynamic Thinking—A Primer on Dynamic Field Theory. Oxford University Press: New York, NY, (pp. 327-352).
  • Perone, S., Molitor, S., Buss, A. T., Spencer, J. P., & Samuelson, L. K. (2015). Inducing dimensional attention in the dimensional change card sort task. Child Development, 86(3), 812-827. [pdf]
  • Buss, A. T. and Spencer, J. P. (2014). The emergent executive: A dynamic field theory of the development of executive function. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 79(2). [pdf]
  • Buss, A. T. and Spencer, J. P. (2012). When seeing is knowing: Visual cues and the dissociation between children’s rule-knowledge and rule-use. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 111, 561-569. [pdf]

Relationship between Dimensional Label Learning and Executive Function 

We have recently started exploring the role of dimensional label learning (e.g., learning "red" refers to a particular color feature) on the development of executive function. 
  • Buss, A. T. & Nikam, B. (2020). Not all labels develop equally: The role of labels in guiding attention to dimensions. Cognitive Development, 53, 100843. [pdf]
  • Buss, A. T. & Kerr-German, A. N. (2016, October). Dimensional label learning drives the development of dimensional attention. Poster presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Near-Infrared Spectroscopy, Paris, FR. [pdf]

Visual Working Memory

Our work has also focused on the neural dynamics of visual working memory. We have taken both a developmental approach as well as an aging approach (see below). Most recently, we have developed a method for simulating hemodynamic responses and statistically comparing models of the hemodynamic response.
  • Buss, A. T., Magnotta, V., Penny, W., Schöner, G. & Spencer, J. P. (2021). How do neural processes give rise to cognition? Simultaneously predicting brain and behavior with a dynamic model of visual working memory. ​Psychological Review, 128(2), 362-395. [pdf]
  • Eddings, R. & Buss, A. T. (March, 2020). Using fNIRS to probe the effects of response type in a visual working memory task. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, Boston, MA. 
  • Buss, A. T., Fox, N., Boas, D. A., & Spencer, J. P. (2014). Probing the early development of visual working memory capacity with functional near-infrared spectroscopy. NeuroImage, 85, 314-325. [pdf]

Response Selection

In another line of research, we investigate the mechanisms behind response selection using behavioral, computational, and brain imaging methods. 

  • Kinder, K. T., Buss, A. T., & Tas, A. C. (2022). Tracking flanker task dynamics: Evidence for continuous attentional selectivity. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance.
  • Buss, A. T., Magnotta, V., Hazeltine, E., Kinder, K. T., & Spencer, J. P (2021). Probing the neural systems underlying flexible dimensional attention. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 33(7), 1365-1380. [pdf]
  • Kinder, K. T. & Buss, A. T. (2021). The effect of motor engagement on memory: Testing a motor-induced encoding account. Memory & Cognition, 49(3), 586-599. ​[pdf]
  • Wifall, T., Buss, A. T., Spencer, J. P., Farmer, T., & Hazeltine, E. (2017). Reaching into response selection: Stimulus and response similarity influence central operations. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 43(3), 555-568. [pdf]
  • Wijeakumar, S., Magnotta, V., Buss, A. T., Ambrose, J., Wifall, T., Hazeltine, E., & Spencer, J. P. (2015). Response control networks are selectively modulated by attention to rare events and memory load regardless of the need for inhibition. NeuroImage, 120(5), 331-344. [pdf]
  • Buss, A. T., Wifall, T., Hazeltine, E., and Spencer, J. P. (2014). Integrating the behavioral and neural dynamics of response selection in a dual-task paradigm: A dynamic neural field model of Dux et al. (2009). Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 26, 334-351. [pdf]

Development of Flexible and Selective Attention

We are also interested in how flexible and selective attention interact, and whether they tap into the same neural mechanisms during development. 
  • Kerr-German, A. N. & Buss, A. T. (2020). Exploring the neural basis of selective and flexible dimensional attention: An fNIRS study. Journal of Cognition and Development, 31(3), 313-325. [pdf]
  • Buss, A. T. & Kerr-German, A. N. (2019). Dimensional attention as a mechanism of executive function: Integrating flexibility, selectivity, and stability. Cognition, 192, 104003. [pdf]

Neural Mechanisms of Speech Perception

In another new line of research, we are investigating the neural mechanisms underlying speech perception in both normal hearing adults and adults with cochlear implants. 
  • Defenderfer, J., Forbes, S., Wijeakumar, S., Hedrick, M., Plyler, P., & Buss, A. T. (2021). Frontotemporal activation differs between perception of simulated cochlear implant speech and speech in background noise: An image-based fNIRS study. NeuroImage, 240, 118385. [pdf]
  • Defenderfer, J., Kerr-German, A., Hedrick, M., & Buss, A. T. (2017) Investigating the role of temporal lobe activation in speech perception accuracy with normal hearing adults: An event-related design. Neuropsychologia, 106, 31-41. [pdf]

The Effect of Aging on Cognition

In collaboration with Matthew Costello at Hartford University and Caglar Tas at the University of Tennessee, we developed a dynamic neural field model to explore the role of aging in cognition.  
  • Tas, C. A., Costello, M. C., & Buss, A. T. (2020). Age-related decline in visual working memory: The effect of non-target objects during a delayed estimation task. Psychology and Aging, 35(4), 565-577. [pdf]
  • Costello, M. C. & Buss, A. T. (2018). Age-related decline of visual working memory: Behavioral results simulated with a dynamic neural field model. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 30(10), 1532-1548. [pdf] Press Coverage. Model Files.