James Cavanagh

BIOGRAPHY

James Cavanagh is an Associate Faculty Member who works with Faculty Member Michael Frank to recommend the scientific literature in their field.

ACADEMIC POSITION:
James is currently a Post-Doc at Brown University.

EDUCATION:
• Post-Doc, Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences, 2010, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island
• Visitng Scholar, Dr Richard Ridderinkhof & Dr Mike X Cohen, 2010, ACACia lab, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam
• PhD, Cognition & Neural Systems, August 2010, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
• MA, Psychophysiological Research, 2004, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California
• BA, Sociology, 2000, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan

RESEARCH INTERESTS:
• Oscillations: The brain processes information with oscillations of neuronal populations. I use human EEG to measure these oscillations, particularly when the frontal cortex processes error or conflict information in order to adapt behavior.

• Computations: Oscillations gate the timing, location, and intensity of neuronal calculations. I aim to integrate algorithmic and neural network modeling with EEG to understand the computational functions of fronto-striatal voltage oscillations during adaptive behavior.

• & Implications: These perspectives combine into a powerful approach for understanding brain function, and may reveal the manner of compromised fronto-striatal functioning in psychiatric disorders, especially depression, OCD, Parkinson’s disease & basic aspects of stress and emotion.

HOME PAGE
http://www.brown.edu/Research/Laboratory_of_Neural_Computation_and_Cognition/Jim.html