Bunge Lab https://bungelab.berkeley.edu Building Blocks of Cognition Mon, 23 Mar 2026 22:53:58 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.9 Explaining fNIRS to kids! https://bungelab.berkeley.edu/explaining-fnirs-to-kids/ https://bungelab.berkeley.edu/explaining-fnirs-to-kids/#comments Thu, 13 Nov 2025 18:57:05 +0000 http://bungelab.berkeley.edu/?p=2390 Check out this video from our team describing fNIRS (functional near-infrared spectroscopy) for kids!

]]> https://bungelab.berkeley.edu/explaining-fnirs-to-kids/feed/ 0 Are groovy brains more efficient? https://bungelab.berkeley.edu/are-groovy-brains-more-efficient/ https://bungelab.berkeley.edu/are-groovy-brains-more-efficient/#comments Tue, 27 May 2025 21:26:38 +0000 http://bungelab.berkeley.edu/?p=2350 Continue reading →]]> Silvia, Kevin Weiner, and former postdoc Suvi Häkkinen recently published a paper discussing the relationship between functional connectivity and individual sulcal morphology in children and adolescents. The findings underscore the relevance of sulcal morphology in understanding how the brain functions. Read the press release here!

Full link to the press release: https://news.berkeley.edu/2025/05/21/are-groovy-brains-more-efficient/

]]> https://bungelab.berkeley.edu/are-groovy-brains-more-efficient/feed/ 0 Breaking the mould of executive function research https://bungelab.berkeley.edu/breaking-the-mould-of-executive-function-research/ https://bungelab.berkeley.edu/breaking-the-mould-of-executive-function-research/#comments Wed, 12 Mar 2025 00:36:12 +0000 http://bungelab.berkeley.edu/?p=2343 Continue reading →]]> Paulo Laurence, a previous collaborator, recently wrote a Journal Club piece discussing Silvia’s published commentary on expanding the field of executive function research. While there is a general understanding of what executive functions are, researchers use different terminology and lack a consensus of what the core executive functions are. Newer approaches such as neural methods and computational modeling may help integrate our understanding of these mental processes.

Read Paulo’s piece here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s44159-025-00437-x

Read Silvia’s commentary here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mbe.12403

]]> https://bungelab.berkeley.edu/breaking-the-mould-of-executive-function-research/feed/ 0 Lateral frontoparietal functional connectivity based on individual sulcal morphology https://bungelab.berkeley.edu/lateral-frontoparietal-functional-connectivity-based-on-individual-sulcal-morphology/ https://bungelab.berkeley.edu/lateral-frontoparietal-functional-connectivity-based-on-individual-sulcal-morphology/#comments Fri, 19 Apr 2024 18:51:26 +0000 http://bungelab.berkeley.edu/?p=2199 Continue reading →]]> Former postdoc Suvi Hakkinen, colleague Kevin Weiner, and Silvia have
submitted a new manuscript that explores fine-grained functional
connectivity in relation to cortical sulci. Sulci are a salient but
understudied feature of the human brain that are related to both
cognition (as Kevin Weiner and Silvia have shown in prior studies, in
relation to reasoning ability).

Lateral frontoparietal functional connectivity based on individual
sulcal morphology
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.04.18.590165v1

]]> https://bungelab.berkeley.edu/lateral-frontoparietal-functional-connectivity-based-on-individual-sulcal-morphology/feed/ 0 Illuminating the Brain Consortium https://bungelab.berkeley.edu/illuminating-the-brain-consortium/ https://bungelab.berkeley.edu/illuminating-the-brain-consortium/#comments Thu, 28 Mar 2024 06:48:02 +0000 http://bungelab.berkeley.edu/?p=2194 Continue reading →]]> Profs. Fei Xu, Keanan Joyner, and Bunge are launching the Illuminating the Brain Consortium – a community of researchers who will be using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to study the neural basis of cognition in early childhood, across diverse populations, and/or in naturalistic settings. 

fNIRS.Simple.Logo

]]> https://bungelab.berkeley.edu/illuminating-the-brain-consortium/feed/ 0 Newly published textbook on developmental cognitive neuroscience! https://bungelab.berkeley.edu/newly-published-textbook-on-developmental-cognitive-neuroscience/ https://bungelab.berkeley.edu/newly-published-textbook-on-developmental-cognitive-neuroscience/#comments Wed, 27 Mar 2024 22:23:07 +0000 http://bungelab.berkeley.edu/?p=2189 Continue reading →]]> This book features learning objectives, review questions, PPT slides, a test bank for instructors, as well as videos of interviews with scientists featured in the book. It is designed for upper-level undergraduates and more advanced trainees, and anyone else who wants a deep dive into this burgeoning field of the brain basis of cognitive and socioemotional development from infancy through adolescence.
It’s available for free online through universities (including UC Berkeley) that subscribe to Cambridge University Press books.
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]]> https://bungelab.berkeley.edu/newly-published-textbook-on-developmental-cognitive-neuroscience/feed/ 0 We are currently hiring! https://bungelab.berkeley.edu/we-are-currently-hiring/ https://bungelab.berkeley.edu/we-are-currently-hiring/#comments Sat, 16 Mar 2024 23:55:04 +0000 http://bungelab.berkeley.edu/?p=2182 We are currently hiring!

]]> https://bungelab.berkeley.edu/we-are-currently-hiring/feed/ 0 Development of human lateral prefrontal sulcal morphology and its relation to reasoning performance https://bungelab.berkeley.edu/development-of-human-lateral-prefrontal-sulcal-morphology-and-its-relation-to-reasoning-performance/ https://bungelab.berkeley.edu/development-of-human-lateral-prefrontal-sulcal-morphology-and-its-relation-to-reasoning-performance/#comments Tue, 25 Oct 2022 00:45:19 +0000 http://bungelab.berkeley.edu/?p=2116 Continue reading →]]> Research assistant Ethan Willbrand published a preprint identifying a relationship between developmental changes in the morphology of sulci in lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) and reasoning performance in childhood and adolescence. Analysis of both cross-sectional and longitudinal data sets revealed differences in cortical thickness between children (ages 6-11) and adolescents (ages 11-18). Further analysis revealed that longitudinal changes in cortical thickness of four rostral LPFC sulci predicted longitudinal changes in reasoning performance. Contrary to previous findings, these results suggest that sulci may flatten either after this time frame or over a longer longitudinal period of time than previously presented. Crucially, these results also suggest that longitudinal changes in the cortex within specific LPFC sulci are behaviorally meaningful—providing targeted structures, and areas of the cortex, for future neuroimaging studies examining the development of cognitive abilities.

You can read the paper here: https://cnl.berkeley.edu/papers/Willbrand_DEVPFC_Preprint_2022.pdf

]]> https://bungelab.berkeley.edu/development-of-human-lateral-prefrontal-sulcal-morphology-and-its-relation-to-reasoning-performance/feed/ 0 Uncovering a tripartite landmark in posterior cingulate cortex https://bungelab.berkeley.edu/uncovering-a-tripartite-landmark-in-posterior-cingulate-cortex/ https://bungelab.berkeley.edu/uncovering-a-tripartite-landmark-in-posterior-cingulate-cortex/#comments Wed, 14 Sep 2022 22:10:36 +0000 http://bungelab.berkeley.edu/?p=2080 Continue reading →]]> Research assistant Ethan Willbrand and PhD student Benjamin Parker of the Cognitive Neuroanatomy Lab published a new study uncovering a sulcus in posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) that is absent from neuroanatomical atlases. Variability in the location and morphology of this novel sulcus, termed the inframarginal sulcus (ifrms), is predictive of individual differences in macroanatomical and microstructural features of PCC, in addition to the location of functional regions of the lateral frontoparietal network implicated in cognitive control. The findings from this study provide support for Sanides’ classic hypothesis that tertiary sulci may serve as landmarks within association cortices.

You can read the paper here: Uncovering a tripartite landmark in posterior cingulate cortex | Science Advances

]]> https://bungelab.berkeley.edu/uncovering-a-tripartite-landmark-in-posterior-cingulate-cortex/feed/ 0 Presence or absence of a prefrontal sulcus is linked to reasoning performance during child development https://bungelab.berkeley.edu/presence-or-absence-of-a-prefrontal-sulcus-is-linked-to-reasoning-performance-during-child-development/ https://bungelab.berkeley.edu/presence-or-absence-of-a-prefrontal-sulcus-is-linked-to-reasoning-performance-during-child-development/#comments Wed, 07 Sep 2022 23:54:36 +0000 http://bungelab.berkeley.edu/?p=2064 Continue reading →]]> A new study published by research assistant Ethan Willbrand and PhD student Willa Voorhies revealed that the presence or absence of the ventral component of the para-intermediate frontal sulcus (pimfs) is associated with reasoning performance in children. The findings from this study highlight the importance of considering individual differences in local morphology when exploring the neurodevelopmental basis of cognition.

You can read the paper here: Presence or absence of a prefrontal sulcus is linked to reasoning performance during child development | SpringerLink

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