Dr Daniel Mitchell University positionSenior Investigator Scientist Dr Daniel Mitchell is pleased to consider applications from prospective PhD students. InstitutesMRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit daniel.mitchell@mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk Home pagehttp://www.mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk/people/... Research ThemeInterestsMy research focuses on visual object representations in the human brain. I am interested in the flexible nature of such representations, their limited capacity and resolution in perception, visual working memory, and imagery, and their links with selective attention. These issues are explored in human cognition using a combination of behavioural experiments and neuroimaging (currently fMRI, and MEG).  BOLD signal change associated with the limited number of objects encoded in a visual working memory task. Mean functional activity is overlaid on horizontal sections through a template brain. Positive signal is seen across a bilateral network of regions, peaking towards the posterior end of the intraparietal sulcus, where similar capacity-limited activity is also seen in the absence of a working memory task (Mitchell & Cusack, 2008). Click image to view full-size Research Focus
EquipmentBehavioural analysis Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) Magnetoencephalography (MEG) CollaboratorsNo collaborators listed Associated News ItemsKey publicationsMitchell DJ, Mousley ALS, Shafto MA, Cam-CAN, Duncan J (2023), “Neural contributions to reduced fluid intelligence across the adult lifespan” J Neurosci 43(2):293-307 PDF Wen T, Duncan J, Mitchell DJ (2020), “Hierarchical representation of multi-step tasks in multiple-demand and default mode networks” J Neurosci 40(40):7724-7738 PDF Wen T, Duncan J, Mitchell DJ (2019), “The time-course of component processes of selective attention” NeuroImage 199:396-407 PDF Mitchell DJ, Cam-CAN, Cusack R (2018), “Visual short-term memory through the lifespan: Preserved benefits of context and metacognition” Psychology and Aging 33(5), 841-854 PDF Duncan J, Chylinski D, Mitchell DJ, Bhandari A (2017), “Complexity and compositionality in fluid intelligence” PNAS DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1621147114 PDF Mitchell DJ, Bell AH, Buckley MJ, Mitchell AS, Sallet J, Duncan J (2016), “A Putative Multiple-Demand System in the Macaque Brain” J Neurosci. 36(33):8574-85 PDF Mitchell DJ, Cusack R (2016), “Semantic and emotional content of imagined representations in human occipitotemporal cortex” Scientific Reports 6:20232 PDF Mitchell DJ, Cusack R (2011), “The temporal evolution of electromagnetic markers sensitive to the capacity limits of visual short-term memory.” Front Hum Neurosci 5:18 PDF Details Mitchell DJ, Cusack R (2008), “Flexible, capacity-limited activity of posterior parietal cortex in perceptual as well as visual short-term memory tasks.” Cereb Cortex 18(8):1788-98 PDF Details Publications2023Kadohisa M, Kusunoki M, Mitchell DJ, Bhatia C, Buckley MJ, Duncan J (2023), “Frontal and temporal coding dynamics in successive steps of complex behavior” Neuron 111: 1-14 PDF Lugtmeijer S, Geerligs L, Tsvetanov KA, Mitchell DJ, Cam-CAN, Campbell KL (2023), “Lifespan differences in visual short-term memory load-modulated functional connectivity” NeuroImage https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.119982 2022MacGregor LJ, Gilbert RA, Balewski Z, Mitchell DJ, Erzinclioglu SW, Rodd JM, Duncan J, Fedorenko E, Davis MH (2022), “Causal Contributions of the Domain-General (Multiple Demand) and the Language-Selective Brain Networks to Perceptual and Semantic Challenges in Speech Comprehension” Neurobiology of Language 3 (4): 665-698 O’Brien S, Mitchell DJ, Duncan J, Holmes J (2022), “Cognitive segmentation and fluid reasoning in childhood” Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology https://doi.org/10.1177/17470218221116054 Smith V, Pinasco C, Achterberg J, Mitchell DJ, Das T, Roca M, Duncan J (2022), “Fluid intelligence and naturalistic task impairments after focal brain lesions” Cortex 146: 106-115 2021Smith V, Duncan J, Mitchell DJ (2021), “Roles of the Default Mode and Multiple-Demand Networks in Naturalistic versus Symbolic Decisions” Journal of Neuroscience 41(10): 2214-2228 PDF 2020Pelekanos V, Premereur E, Mitchell DJ, Chakraborty S, Mason S, Lee ACH, Mitchell AS. (2020), “Cortico-cortical and thalamocortical changes in functional connectivity and white matter structural integrity after reward-guided learning of visuospatial discriminations in rhesus monkeys” J Neurosci 41(41):7887-7901 Wen T, Mitchell DJ, Duncan J (2020), “The Functional Convergence and Heterogeneity of Social, Episodic, and Self-Referential Thought in the Default Mode Network” Cerebral Cortex 30(11):5915–5929 PDF 2019Shashidhara S, Mitchell DJ, Erez Y, Duncan J (2019), “Progressive Recruitment of the Frontoparietal Multiple-demand System with Increased Task Complexity, Time Pressure, and Reward” J Cogn Neurosci 31(11):1617-1630 Smith V, Mitchell DJ, Duncan J (2019), “The effect of rule retrieval on activity in the default mode network” NeuroImage 202:116088 PDF 2018Ainsworth M, Browncross H, Mitchell DJ, Mitchell AS, Passingham RE, Buckley MJ, Duncan J, Bell AH (2018), “Functional reorganisation and recovery following cortical lesions: A preliminary study in macaque monkeys” Neuropsychologia 119:382-391 PDF Smith V, Mitchell DJ, Duncan J (2018), “Role of the Default Mode Network in Cognitive Transitions” Cerebral Cortex PDF Wen T, Mitchell DJ, Duncan J (2018), “Response of the multiple-demand network during simple stimulus discriminations” NeuroImage 177:79-87 PDF 2017Tschentscher N, Mitchell DJ, Duncan J (2017), “Fluid intelligence predicts novel rule implementation in a distributed frontoparietal control network” Journal of Neuroscience 37(18): 4841-4847 PDF Veldsman M, Mitchell DJ, Cusack R (2017), “The neural basis of precise visual short-term memory for complex recognisable objects” NeuroImage 159: 131-145 PDF 2016Crittenden BM, Mitchell DJ, Duncan J (2016), “Task Encoding across the Multiple Demand Cortex Is Consistent with a Frontoparietal and Cingulo-Opercular Dual Networks Distinction” J Neurosci 36(23):6147-55 PDF Muhle-Karbe PS, Duncan J, De Baene W, Mitchell DJ, Brass M (2016), “Neural Coding for Instruction-Based Task Sets in Human Frontoparietal and Visual Cortex” Cereb Cortex doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhw032 2015Crittenden BM, Mitchell DJ, Duncan J (2015), “Recruitment of the default mode network during a demanding act of executive control” eLife Sciences 4(4) PDF Cusack R, Vicente-Grabovetsky A, Mitchell DJ, Wild CJ, Auer T, Linke A, Peelle JE (2015), “Automatic analysis (aa): efficient neuroimaging workflows and parallel processing using Matlab and XML” Frontiers in Neuroinformatics 8 Duncan J, Mitchell DJ (2015), “Training refines brain representations for multitasking” PNAS 112(46): 14127-14128 Finoia P, Mitchell DJ, Hauk O, Beste C, Pizzella V, Duncan J (2015), “Concurrent brain responses to separate auditory and visual targets” Journal of Neurophysiology 114(2):1239–1247 PDF 2014Kievit RA, Davis SW, Mitchell DJ, Taylor JR, Duncan J, Cam-CAN Research team, Henson RN, Cam-CAN Research team (2014), “Distinct aspects of frontal lobe structure mediate age-related differences in fluid intelligence and multitasking.” Nat Commun 5:5658 Details 2012Farooqui AA, Mitchell D, Thompson R, Duncan J (2012), “Hierarchical organization of cognition reflected in distributed frontoparietal activity.” J Neurosci 32(48):17373-81 Details 2011Cusack R, Veldsman M, Naci L, Mitchell DJ, Linke AC (2011), “Seeing different objects in different ways: Measuring ventral visual tuning to sensory and semantic features with dynamically adaptive imaging.” Hum Brain Mapp Details 2010Linke AC, Vicente-Grabovetsky A, Mitchell DJ, Cusack R (2010), “Encoding strategy accounts for individual differences in change detection measures of VSTM.” Neuropsychologia Details 2009Cusack R, Lehmann M, Veldsman M, Mitchell DJ (2009), “Encoding strategy and not visual working memory capacity correlates with intelligence.” Psychon Bull Rev 16(4):641-7 Details Cusack R, Mitchell DJ, Duncan J (2009), “Discrete Object Representation, Attention Switching, and Task Difficulty in the Parietal Lobe.” J Cogn Neurosci Details |