Julie A. Fiez, Ph.D.
Professor, Psychology, Neuroscience- Ph.D. Washington University (1992)
- Office: 605 Learning Research Development Center
- Telephone:412-624-7078
- Fax:412-624-9149
- E-mail: fiez+@pitt.edu
- Website: http://www.lrdc.pitt.edu/fiez
Neuroimaging and behavioral studies of language, working memory, motivation, and learning.
Research Summary:
My lab relies upon a broad-based and interdisciplinary cognitive neuroscience approach to address questions that fall within two predominant strands of research. One strand is focused on the neural basis of language processing. Topics of interest include the articulatory and phonological codes involved in verbal working memory, and the ways in which different writing systems influence the representation and processing of orthographic information. A second strand is focused on basic learning systems in the human brain. We are especially interested in how cognition may be optimized by reinforcement learning signals mediated by the basal ganglia and error-correction signals mediated by the cerebellum.
Selected Publications:
Liu, Y., Dunlap, S., Fiez, J., and Perfetti, C. Evidence for neural accommodation to a writing system following learning. Human Brain Mapping, 28:1223-1234, 2007.
Tricomi, E. and Fiez, J.A. Feedback signals in the caudate reflect goal achievement on a declarative memory task. Neuroimage, 41:1154-67, 2008.
Wilson, S.J., Sayette, M.A., Delgado, M.R., and Fiez, J.A. Effect of smoking opportunity on responses to monetary gain and loss in the caudate nucleus. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 117:428-34.
Ben-Yehudah, G. and Fiez, J.A. Impact of cerebellar lesions on reading and phonological processing. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2008, in press.