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

»Dr. Jha and Dr. Liz Stanley (of Georgetown University) have their paper accepted in Joint Force Quarterly, a service journal for the Joint Chiefs of Staff!

»Dr. Jha receives Dean’s Innovation in Teaching Award!

» 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

» Jha Lab receives 2 new grants to investigate attention training in military contexts. Dr. Jha and co-investigator Dr. Elizabeth Stanley of Georgetown University have recently been awarded two grants to investigate the impact of mindfulness-based training in military cohorts. The projects will involve investigating the impact of training using ERP, biomarkers, and behavioral studies of attention and working memory.

» 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))