Dr. Silvia Bunge is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of California at Berkeley, and a member of the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute and affiliate of the Institute of Human Development.
Curriculum vitae (as of May 2026)
Dr. Bunge directs the Building Blocks of Cognition Laboratory, which draws from the fields of cognitive neuroscience, developmental psychology, and education research. Researchers in the laboratory examine developmental changes and neural plasticity in cognitive control and reasoning skills in children and adults. The laboratory seeks to better understand both negative and positive environmental influences on brain and cognitive development. Current research emphasizes basic cognitive neuroscience research on the neural underpinnings of relational reasoning, along with the structural and functional organization of prefrontal cortex.
Measures used in the lab include cognitive measures carefully designed in the lab, standardized assessments of cognitive function and academic performance, eyetracking, and various measures of brain structure (cortical thickness, white matter integrity, cortical folding) and brain function (fMRI activation profiles, functional connectivity, and functional near-infrared spectroscopy). Experimental approaches include longitudinal data collection, development and assessment of cognitive interventions, structural equation modeling, etc.