Welcome

Attention and working memory are two important cognitive systems that interact with each other to allow for fluid behavior. Whereas attention allows for selection between relevant and irrelevant information, working memory allows relevant information to be maintained and manipulated over time. In our lab we use behavioral methods, event-related potentials, and functional MRI to investigate attention and working memory. We are particularly interested in understanding how these systems work together to select and de-select information. In addition, we investigate how core selection processes may be modified with training (including mindfulness-based training techniques) and mental mode manipulations (including mood, self-focus, and creativity).

Our lab is within the Department of Psychology and the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania.

News of Interest

» Summer 2010–Amishi meets with Congressman Tim Ryan (Ohio-D), Congresswoman Lleana Ros-Lehtinen (Florida-R), and US Army Colonel Walter Piatt at the US Capitol to discuss the Jha lab’s research on mindfulness training in education and military contexts.

Below: Amishi and Col Walter Piatt with Congressman Tim Ryan and (below) Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen.

» The Jha Lab is actively conducting a large training and research study at Schofield Barracks Army Post in Hawaii. This project is the first of its kind to investigate the neural and behavioral consequences of resilience training in pre-deployment military cohorts. The project involves ERP (brainwave) and behavioral computer-based testing before and after training. Learn more about the project by clicking here.

» Amishi speaks with Dr. Dan Gottlieb on the National Public Radio program Voices in the Family (WHYY in Philadelphia).

Below, Amishi with Dr. Dan Gottlieb.

» The Jha Lab is moving to Miami! Our lab will be moving to the tropical and sunny campus of the University of Miami, in Coral Gables, Florida in Fall of 2010. Dr. Jha will be spearheading the NIH-funded neuroimaging and health initiative as Associate Professor within the Department of Psychology. Please visit us in the coming months for notices on research and employment opportunities within our lab.

Below, Amishi with University of Miami President, Donna Shalala.

»Jha lab publishes paper in Emotion on the benefits of mindfulness training on working memory capacity.

» Dr. Jha presents research on Mindfulness Training’s Influence on attention and working memory to the Dalai Lama at the Mind and Life 2009 Conference in Dharamsala, India.

» Dr. Jha, together with Drs. Zindel Segal and Adam Anderson co-organized first meeting of the Mindfulness Research Network. A special issue tied to this meeting will be forthcoming in Emotion (February 2010).

(In this photo: Front row: Wayne Ramsey (Fetzer Institute), Zindel Segal (Univ of Toronto), Willoughby Britton (Brown Univ), Norm Farb (Univ of Toronto), Adam Anderson (Univ of Toronto), Kalina Christoff (Univ. British Columbia); Second Row: John Tresh (UPENN), Sona Dimijian (Univ of Colorado), Deborah Hayes (NIH-NCCAM), Richard Davidson (Univ of Wisconsin), Jon Kabat-Zinn (UMASS Center for Mindfulness), John Teasdale (Oxford Univ), Sara Lazar (Harvard), Stuart Eisendrath (UCSF), Evan Thompson (Univ of Toronto), Amishi Jha (UPENN), Mark Williams (Oxford Univ), Cathy Kerr (Harvard), Joshua Grant (Univ of Montreal), Ruth Baer (Univ of Kentucky), Tony King (Univ of Michigan), Cassie Vietten (Pacific Pacific Medical Center), Alan Marlatt (Univ of Washington), Liz Roemer (UMASS), Jud Brewer (Yale), Philippe Goldin (Stanford), David Creswell (Carnegie Mellon), David Addiss (Fetzer Institute); Back row: Kirk Warren Brown (Virginia Commonwealth Univ), Cliff Saron (UC-Davis), Antoine Lutz (Univ of Wisconsin), David Meyer (Univ of Michigan), Charles Raison (Emory))