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.

Representative Publications

Hirshorn EA, Li Y, Ward M, Richardson RM, Fiez JA, Guhman AS (2016). Decoding and disrupting left mid-fusiform gyrus activity during word reading. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113:8162-8167.

Tremel JJ, Ortiz DM, Fiez JA (2018). Initial encoding experiences impact the strategies and neural systems that mediate subsequent decision-making. Neuropsychologia, 114:214-230.

Martin L, Hirshorn EA, Durisko C, Moore MW, Schwartz R, Zheng Y, Fiez JA (2018). Do adults acquire a second orthography using their native reading network? Journal of Neurolinguistics, in press.    

Alvarez T, Fiez JA (2018). Current perspectives on the cerebellum and reading development. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 92:55-66.

Liu R, Schunn CD, Fiez JA, Libertus ME (2018). The integration between non-symbolic and symbolic numbers: Evidence from an EEG study. Brain and Behavior, 8:e00938.