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Philip David ZelazoNancy M. and John E. Lindahl Professor Ph.D. (distinction), 1993, Yale University Office: 170 Child Development Developmental cognitive neuroscience; executive function; consciousness; rule use; self and social understanding; EEG/ERP; neuroimaging; affective decision making; problem solving; cultural differences in cognitive development; thought and language |
Professor Zelazo studies the development and neural bases of executive function, or the conscious control of thought, action, and emotion. He does so using a variety of approaches, from experimental to cross-cultural to electrophysiological (EEG/ERP), and his work has focussed on a number of influential ideas, including the notion that the executive function depends, in part, on the development of the ability to use increasingly complex, higher-order rules (formulated in self-directed speech)—part of the Cognitive Complexity & Control theory; the notion that consciousness develops through a series of “levels” in which information is reprocessed via thalamo-cortical circuits involving prefrontal cortex (the Levels of Consciousness model)—with consequences for the quality of subjective experience, and the potential for recall, rule complexity, and cognitive control; and the importance of the distinction between more “cool,” cognitive aspects of executive function typically associated with dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DL-PFC) vs. more “hot,” affective aspects associated with more ventral and medial regions of PFC (e.g., orbitofrontal cortex; OFC).
Recent publications
Zelazo, P. D., Moscovitch, M., & Thompson, E. (Eds.). (2007). Cambridge Handbook of Consciousness. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Zelazo, P. D., & Cunningham, W. (2007). Executive function: Mechanisms underlying emotion regulation. In J. Gross (Ed.), Handbook of emotion regulation (pp. 135-158). New York: Guilford.
Cunningham, W., & Zelazo, P. D. (2007). Attitudes and evaluation: A social cognitive neuroscience perspective. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 11, 97-104.
Lamm, C., Zelazo, P. D., & Lewis, M. D. (2006). Neural correlates of cognitive control in childhood and adolescence: Disentangling the contributions of age and executive function. Neuropsychologia, 44, 2139-2148.
Zelazo, P. D. (2006). The dimensional change card sort (DCCS): A method of assessing executive function in children. Nature Protocols, 1, 297-301.
Bunge, S., & Zelazo, P. D. (2006). A brain-based account of the development of rule use in childhood. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 15, 118-121.
Lewis, M., Lamm, C., Segalowitz, S., Stieben, J., & Zelazo, P. D. (2006). Neurophysiological correlates of emotion regulation in children and adolescents. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 18, 430-443.
Hongwanishkul, D., Happaney, K. R., Lee, W., & Zelazo, P. D. (2005). Hot and cool executive function: Age-related changes and individual differences. Developmental Neuropsychology, 28, 617-644.
Prencipe, A., & Zelazo, P. D. (2005). Development of affective decision-making for self and other: Evidence for the integration of first- and third-person perspectives. Psychological Science, 16, 501-505.
Zelazo, P. D., Craik, F. I. M., & Booth, L. (2004). Executive function across the life span. Acta Psychologica, 115, 167-184.
Zelazo, P. D. (2004). The development of conscious control in childhood. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 8, 12-17.
August 2007