Amishi P. Jha, PhD
Associate Professor of Psychology
University of Miami

ajha AT psy.miami.edu

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 at the University of Miami, in Florida.




Upcoming Events

  • Feb 4-5, 2012—UC-San Diego: “From Dazed and Distracted to Attentive and Calm: What the Neuroscience of Mindfulness Reveals”
  • March 16-18, 2012—Mindfulness in Education Network, Bryn Mawr College (PA): Keynote Address: “Improving Attention and Working Memory with Mindfulness Training”
  • March 28-April 1, 2012—Center for Mindfulness Scientific Conference, Norwood, MA: Co-chair, “Embodiment of Mindfulness: Neuroscience and Clinical Perspectives”
  • April 26-29, 2012—International Symposia for Contemplative Studies, Denver, CO: Master Lecture: “Meditation, Attention, and Neuroscience in the Military”
    Panel: “Impact of Mindfulness on Brain Resting State Connectivity”
   

News of Interest

Fall 2010—Amishi speaks at Pop!Tech

Amishi was selected as a Pop!Tech Science and Public Leadership Fellow, and recently spoke at the Pop!Tech conference in Camden, Maine.

Amishi Jha speaks at PopTech 2010

Click to watch the video.

Summer 2010—Amishi discusses mindfulness research with Members of Congress

Amishi meets with Congressman Tim Ryan (Ohio-D), Congresswoman Ileana 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.

Amishi and Col Walter Piatt with Congressman Tim Ryan (left) and Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen (right).

Spring 2010—Amishi on WHYY

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

The Jha Lab has moved to Miami!

Our lab moved to the tropical and sunny campus of the University of Miami, in Coral Gables, Florida in the Fall of 2010. Dr. Jha is 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.

Amishi with University of Miami President, Donna Shalala.

Two new Jha lab publications

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

Jha lab publishes paper in JEP:LMC on dynamic control and working memory.

Spring 2009—Amishi presents research to the Dalai Lama

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. Click here to watch their conversation.

Mindfulness Research Network Meeting

Dr. Jha, together with Drs. Zindel Segal and Adam Anderson, co-organized the first meeting of the Mindfulness Research Network. A special issue tied to this meeting was in a 2010 issue of Emotion.

Mindfulness Research Working Group, Toronto, Dec 4-5 2008

(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))

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