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Research in my laboratory explores the development and
neurobiological correlates of nondeclarative or implicit learning during
the preschool and school age periods. Our studies examine stimulus and
response factors that constrain learning at different ages and relate
these cognitive changes to ongoing brain development.
Our laboratory (Cognitive Developmental Neuroimaging Lab) employs a
converging methods approach to issues of brain-behavior relations. In
addition to our many behavioral projects, we use several neuroimaging
techniques, including high-density event-related potentials (ERP) and
structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), to address
the interactions among multiple neural systems involved in implicit
learning in children and adults. Currently, our functional MRI studies
focus on the role of frontostriatal brain circuits in sequence learning.
This work includes not only studies of typical development, but also
examines the effects of subtle early neurological insults on later
cognitive and brain function.
I am also interested in the role of implicit or unaware processes in
the domain of emotion. We have begun to study the perception and/or
understanding of facial expressions of emotion in childhood using a
neuroimaging approach. Specifically, we are interested in developmental
differences in the basic amygdala response to various emotional stimuli,
such as fearful or neutral faces.
Recent
publications
Fan, J., Flombaum, J. I., McCandliss, B. D., Thomas, K. M., &
Posner, M. I. (2003). Cognitive and brain consequences of
conflict. Neuroimage, 18(1), 42-57.
Durston, S., Tottenham, N. T., Thomas, K. M., Davidson, M. C.,
Eigsti, I.-M., Yang, Y., Ulug, A. M., & Casey, B. J. (2003).
Differential patterns of striatal activation in young children with
and without ADHD. Biological Psychiatry, 53, 871-878.
Davidson, M. C. Thomas, K. M., & Casey, B. J. (2003). Imaging the
developing brain with fMRI. Mental Retardation and Developmental
Disabilities, 9(3), 161-167.
Thomas, K. M. (2003). Assessing brain development using
neurophysiological and behavioral measures. Journal of
Pediatrics, 143, S46-S53.
Thomas, K. M. & Casey, B. J. (2003). Methods for imaging the
developing brain. In M. de Haan & M. H. Johnson (Eds.), The
Cognitive Neuroscience of Development, pp. 19-41. East Sussex,
UK: Psychology Press.
Posner, M. I., Rothbart, M. K., Vizueta, N., Thomas, K. M., Levy, K.
N., Fossella, J., Silbersweig, D., Stern, E., Clarkin, J., &
Kernberg, O. (2003). An approach to the psychobiology of
personality disorders. Development and Psychopathology, 15,
1093-1106.
Durston, S., Davidson, M. C., Thomas, K. M., Worden, M. S.,
Tottenham, N., Martinez, A., Watts, R., Ulug, A., & Casey, B. J.
(2003). Parametric manipulation of conflict and response
competition using rapid mixed-trial event-related fMRI.
Neuroimage, 20(4), 2135-2141.
Thomas, K.M., Hunt, R.H., Vizueta, N., Sommer, T., Durston, S.,
Yang, Y., & Worden, M. S. (2004). Evidence of developmental
differences in implicit sequence learning: An fMRI study of
children and adults. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 16,
1339-1351.
Casey, B. J., Davidson, M. C., Hara, Y., Thomas, K. M., Martinez,
A., Galvin, A., Halperin, J. M., Rodriguez-Aranda, C. E., &
Tottenham, N. (2004). Early development of subcortical regions
involved in non-cued attention switching. Developmental Science,
7(5), 534-542.
Zhang,
L., Thomas, K. M., Davidson, M. C., Casey, B. J., Heier, L. A., &
Ulug, A. M. (2005). Diffusion and volume changes during brain
development. American Journal of Neuroradiology, 26, 45-49. Revised April 2006 |
