🔍Our Research Focus

The Attention and Working Memory Lab studies cognitive functioning from an individual differences perspective. We assess a wide range of cognitive abilities (working memory capacity, attention control, task switching, updating, discrimination ability, prospective memory, and speed-accuracy tendencies) to:

• Gain theoretical insight into the mechanisms underlying these constructs

• Explore how these abilities relate to each other

• Understand how they predict real-world outcomes such as fluid intelligence, multitasking, language learning, and military performance

Our primary focus is on the nature and measurement of attention control. We define attention control as the ability to focus on task-relevant information and resist distraction or interference. This ability is central to complex cognition; it helps individuals stay on task, avoid mistakes, remember key information, and prioritize what matters most.

Our publications have been cited over 55,000 times on Google Scholar, making us the 10th most cited lab at Georgia Tech. Our work spans a broad range of topics, including:

• Genetic predictors of intelligence

• Using working memory tasks to predict flight simulation errors in sleep-deprived Air Force pilots

• Predicting intelligence from baseline pupil size

• Measuring brain activity during complex tasks using EEG