University of Calgary

Julia Kam

  • Assistant Professor

Research Background and Interests

*I will be accepting applications for graduate students for September 2021.

My research program centers on understanding the neurophysiological and functional basis of internal attention. This is a core human experience that occupies up to half of our awake time. Commonly known as mind wandering, it involves attending internally to cognitive processes such as autobiographical memory recall, decision making and future planning.

My lab uses a unique combination of cognitive neuroscience approaches to study internal attention, including behavior, pupillometry, scalp and intracranial EEG. We investigate internal attention in healthy individuals, clinical populations, neuropsychological patients with structural brain damage and neurosurgical patients with medically refractory epilepsy who are evaluated for surgical treatment to control their seizures.

Currently, we are interested in elucidating the causal relevance of brain regions in internal attention as well as the spatiotemporal dynamics supporting internal attention. Having previously established the core scalp EEG signatures of internal attention in healthy and clinical populations, my lab now uses these EEG signatures and machine learning models to predict periods of internal attention. Finally, we are also interested in studying internal attention in naturalistic settings, and understanding the relationship between internal attention and other important aspects of our daily life, including creativity and task performance.

Publications

For an overview of all my publications, please visit my Google Scholar profile:

 https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=JRiQoFgAAAAJ&hl=en

Kam, J.W.Y., Lin, J.J., Solbakk, A.K., Endestad, T., Larsson, P., & Knight, R.T. (2019). Default network and fronto-parietal control network theta connectivity supports internally directed attention. Nature Human Behavior, 3, 1263-1270

Fonken, Y., Kam, J.W.Y., Knight, R.T. (2019). A differential role for human hippocampus in novelty and contextual processing: implications for P300. Psychophysiology, doi: 10.1111/psyp.13400.

Kam, J.W.Y.*, Griffin, S.*, Shen, A., Patel, S., Hinrichs, H., Heinze, H.J., Deouell, L.Y., & Knight, R.T. (2019). Systematic comparison between a wireless EEG system with dry electrodes and a wired EEG system with wet electrodes. Neuroimage, 184, 119-129.

Mutti, S., Samayoa, J.A.G., Kam, J.W.Y., Randles, D., Heine, S.J., Handy, T.C. (2019). The influence of acetaminophen on task related attention. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 13, 444.

Kam, J.W.Y.*, Szczepanski, S.M.*, Canolty, R.T., Flinker, A., Auguste, K.I., Crone, N.E., Kirsch, H.E., Kuperman, R.A., Lin, J.J., Parvizi, J. Knight, R.T. (2018). Differential sources for two neural signatures of target detection: An electrocorticography study. Cerebral Cortex, 28, 9-20

Christoff, K., Mills, C., Andrews-Hanna, J.R., Irving, Z.C., Thompson, E., Fox, K.C.R., & Kam, J.W.Y. (2018). Mind-wandering as a scientific concept: Cutting through the definitional haze. Trends in Cognitive Science, 22, 957-959.

Kam, J.W.Y., Solbakk, A.K., Endestad, T., Meling, T.R., & Knight, R.T. (2018). Lateral prefrontal cortex lesion impairs regulation of internally and externally directed attention. Neuroimage, 175, 91-99.

Kam, J.W.Y., Solbakk, A.K., Funderud, I., Endestad, T., Meling, T.R., & Knight, R.T. (2018). Orbitofrontal damage reduces auditory sensory response in humans. Cortex, 101, 309-312.

Campbell, K.L., Kam, J.W.Y., Neil-Sztramko, S.E., Liu-Ambrose T., Handy T.C., Lim, H.J., Hayden, Hsu, C.L., Kirkham, A.A., Gotay, C.C., McKenzie, D.C., & Boyd, L.A. (2017). Effect of aerobic exercise on cancer-associated cognitive impairment: A proof-of-concept RCT. Psycho-oncology, 27, 53-60.

Kam, J.W.Y.*, Szczepanski, S.M.*, Canolty, R.T., Flinker, A., Auguste, K.I., Crone, N.E., Kirsch, H.E., Kuperman, R.A., Lin, J.J., Parvizi, J. Knight, R.T. (2016). Differential sources for two neural signatures of target detection: An electrocorticography study. Cerebral Cortex, 28, 9-20

Kam, J.W.Y., Boyd, L.A., Hsu, C.L., Liu-Ambrose, T., Handy, T.C., Lim, H.J., Hayden, S., & Campbell, K.L. (2016). Altered regional activation during prepotent response inhibition in breast cancer survivors treated with chemotherapy. Brain Imaging and Behavior, 10(3), 840-848.

Randles, D., Kam, J.W.Y., Heine, S.J., Inzlicht, M., Handy, T.C. (2016). Acetaminophen attenuates error evaluation in cortex. Social, Cognitive, and Neuroscience, 11(6), 899-906.

Kam, J.W.Y., Brenner, C.A., Handy, T.C., Boyd, L.A., Liu-Ambrose, T., Lim, H.J., Hayden, S., & Campbell, K.L. (2016). Sustained attention abnormalities in breast cancer survivors with cancer-associated cognitive deficits post chemotherapy: An electrophysiological study. Clinical Neurophysiology, 127(1), 369-378

Degrees

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