Greg Burgess, Ph.D. Research Associate Institute of Cognitive Science University of Colorado - Boulder

Research Interests

My primary research interests involve understanding how people prevent, control, and / or overcome the cognitive influences of interference. My research is based upon the hypothesis that the cognitive effects of interference can be controlled in two major ways: 1) preventing interference by actively maintaining top-down, goal-directed representations in working memory; and 2) resolving interference as it occurs by initiating, retrieving, or reactivating mechanisms to refocus attention on goal-relevant processes and information

These interference control mechanisms may be important sources of variance in:

• individual differences (i.e., fluid intelligence, WM span, and personality traits such as extraversion and impulsivity)
• group differences (i.e., attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder - ADHD)
• intra-individual variation (i.e., strategic, situational, and emotional influences on executive control processes)

Publications

•  Braver, T.S., Gray, J.R., Burgess, G.C. (in press). Explaining the many varieties of Working Memory Variation: Dual Mechanisms of Cognitive Control. To appear in Variation of Working Memory. Conway, A., Jarrold, C, Kane, M., Miyake, A., Towse, J. (Eds.), Oxford University Press.
•  Schaefer, A., Braver, T. S., Reynolds, J. R. R., Burgess, G. C., Yarkoni, T., & Gray, J. R. (2006). Individual differences in amygdala activity predict response speed during working memory. Journal of Neuroscience, 26 (40), 10120-10128.
•  Burgess, G.C., Braver, T.S., & Gray, J.R. (2006). Exactly how are gF, WM, and EF related? Cognitive neuroscience approaches to investigating the mechanisms of fluid cognition. Commentary to Blair. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 29, 128-129.
•  Gray, J.R., Burgess, G.C., Schaefer, A., Yarkoni, T., Larsen, R.J., & Braver, T.S. (2005). Affective personality differences in neural processing efficiency confirmed using fMRI . Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience: special issue on individual differences, 5, 182-190.
•  Gray, J. R. & Burgess, G. C. (2004). Personality differences in cognitive control? BAS, processing efficiency, and the prefrontal cortex. Journal of Research in Personality, 38, 35-36.
•  Balota, D. A., Burgess, G. C., Cortese, M. J., & Adams, D. R. (2002). The word-frequency mirror effect in young, old, and early-stage Alzheimer's disease: Evidence for two processes in episodic recognition performance. Journal of Memory & Language, 46(1), 199-226.

Manuscripts in Preparation

• Burgess, G.C. & Braver, T.S. (in preparation). Fluid intelligence and interference control in working memory: an event-related fMRI investigation.
• Burgess, G.C., Braver, T.S., Conway, A.R.A., & Gray, J.R. (in preparation). Relationship between WM span and fluid intelligence is partially mediated by interference control abilities.
• Banich, M.T., Burgess, G.C., et al. (in preparation). Differences in functional activity between adults with ADHD and healthy controls during the Stroop Task.
• Burgess, G.C., Banich, M.T., et al. (in preparation). Resolving competition and conflict in the Stroop Task: Patterns of proactive and reactive control.

Presentations

•  Ames, B.J., Claus, E.D., Depue, B.E., Burgess, G.C., Willcutt, E.G., & Banich, M.T. (June, 2006). Gray and White Matter Differences in Young Adults with ADHD. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Human Brain Mapping Organization, Florence, Italy.
•  Burgess, G.C., Ames, B.J., Depue, B.E., Willcutt, E.G., & Banich, M.T. (June, 2006). Hyperactive and Inattentive Symptoms are Correlated with Prefrontal and Parietal Activity in Adults with ADHD. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Human Brain Mapping Organization, Florence, Italy.
• Depue, B.E., Ames, B.J., Burgess, G.C., Willcutt, E.G., & Banich, M.T. (June, 2006). Dysfunction in Maintaining Tonic Aspects of an Attentional Set in Adults with ADHD. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Human Brain Mapping Organization, Florence, Italy.
•  Burgess, G.C., Jacobson, B.L., Depue, B.E., Willcutt, E.G., & Banich, M.T. (April, 2006). Variability in fMRI signal in ADHD and control groups: Implications for Statistical Power. Poster presented at the 13th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, San Francisco, CA.
•  Burgess, G.C., Gray, J.R., Conway, A.R.A., & Braver, T.S. (April, 2005). Relationships Among Fluid Intelligence, Working Memory Span, and Brain Activity During High-Interference Trials. Poster presented at the 12th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, New York, NY.
• Conway, A. R. A., Gray, J. R., Lenartowicz, A., Braver, T. S., Burgess, G. C., Kolarick, D. L., Shamosh, N. A., Schaefer, A., & Engle, R. W. (2005). An fMRI analysis of functional localization and integration in working memory networks: An individual differences approach. Paper presented at the 46th Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Toronto, Canada.
•  Fales, C.L., Burgess, G.C., Schaefer, A., Braver, T.S., Barch, D.M., & Gray, J.R. (2005). Trait and state anxiety differentially modulate sustained and transient neural activity. Poster presented at the meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, Washington, D.C.
• Gray, J. R., Conway, A. R. A., Lenartowicz, A., Braver, T. S., Burgess, G. C., Kolarick, D. L., Shamosh, N. A., Schaefer, A., & Engle, R. W. (2005). Individual differences in working memory systems: functional connectivity, fluid intelligence, and personality. Paper presented at the meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, Washington, D.C.
• Schaefer, A. Braver, T.S. Reynolds, J. R., Burgess, G.C., Yarkoni, T., & Gray, J.R. (2005). Amygdala activity predicts working memory performance. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Human Brain Mapping Organization. Toronto, Canada.
• Yarkoni, T., Braver, T.S., Schaefer, A., Burgess, G.C., & Gray, J.R. (April, 2005). Beyond reward: Neural correlates of extraversion during a cognitive task. Poster presented at the 12th annual meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, New York, New York.
•  Burgess, G.C. & Braver, T.S. (April, 2004). Dual Mechanisms of Cognitive Control Over Interference. Poster presented at the 11th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, San Francisco, CA.
•  Burgess, G.C. & Braver, T.S. (November, 2003). Dual Mechanisms of Cognitive Control: Interference Effects on Working Memory Are Modulated by Expectancy and Fluid Intelligence. Poster presented at the 44th Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Vancouver, B.C., Canada.
•  Burgess, G.C., Gray, J.R., & Braver, T.S. (April, 2003). Individual Differences in Reward Sensitivity Predict Event-Related Brain Activity During a Working Memory Task. Poster presented at the 10th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, New York, NY.
•  Burgess, G.C., Gray, J.R., & Braver, T.S. (November, 2002). Differential Sensitivity of Items in the n-back Task: "Lures" Explain Variance in Executive Control That "Non-lures" Don't. Poster presented at the 43rd Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Kansas City, MO.
• Balota, D.A., Burgess, G.C., Cortese, M.J., & Adams, D.R. (November, 2000). Recognition memory for the infrequent in young, old, and early stage Alzheimer's Disease: Evidence for two types of familiarity. Paper presented at the 41st Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, New Orleans, LA.
• Mordkoff, J. T., Burgess, G.C., & Grosjean, M. (November, 1997). On the null correlation between response force and response time. Paper presented at the 38th Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Philadelphia, PA.