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Kathleen Thomas
Associate professor Cognitive development, implicit learning, pediatric neuroimaging, functional magnetic resonance imaging |
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.