The University of British Columbia

Core Area(s): Cognitive Science

Biographical Sketch & Research Interests
The cognitive and neural basis of human thought, reasoning and problem solving, including spontaneous thought processes such as mind wandering; real-time fMRI training and its application for the treatment of clinical disorders; prefrontal cortex function and organization; role of the temporal lobes and long-term memory processes for the generation of thought; neural principles of complex cognition, as revealed by functional neuroimaging (fMRI).

Courses Taught
PSYC 260 Experimental Psychology & Laboratory

Representative Publications
Christoff, K., Gordon, A. M., Smallwood, J., Smith, R., & Schooler, J. W.
(2009). Experience sampling during fMRI reveals default network and
executive system contributions to mind wandering. Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences, 106 (21), 8719-8724.

Christoff, K., Keramatian, K., Alan, G.M., Smith, R., Maedler, B. (2009).
Representational topography in lateral prefrontal cortex according to levels
of abstraction. Brain Research, 1286, 94-105.

Christoff, K., Gordon, A., & Smith, R. (in press). The role of spontaneous
thought in human cognition. In: Neuroscience of Decision Making. (Eds: O.
Vartanian and D. R. Mandel) Psychology Press.

Smith, R., Keramatian, K. and Christoff, K. (2007) Functionally localizing the rostrolateral prefrontal cortex. Neuroimage, 36, 1387-96.

Christoff, K. and Keramatian, K (2007) Abstraction of mental
representations: Theoretical considerations and neuroscientific evidence.
In: Perspectives on Rule-Guided Behavior (Eds: S.A.Bunge and J.D.Wallis)
Oxford University Press.

Christoff, K. and Owen, A.M., (2006) Improving reverse neuroimaging
inference: Cognitive domain versus cognitive complexity. Trends in Cognitive
Sciences, 10(8): 352-3.

Smith, R., Keramatian, K., Smallwood, J., Schooler, J., Luus, B. and
Christoff, K. (2006) Mind-wandering with and without awareness: An fMRI
study of spontaneous thought processes. Proceedings of the 28th Annual
Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (Ed. R. Sun): 804-809.
Vancouver: Erlbaum.

Christoff, K., Ream, J.M., Gabrieli, J.D.E. (2004) Cognitive and neural basis of spontaneous thought processes. Cortex, 40: 623-630.

Christoff, K., Ream, J.M., Geddes, L.P.T., Gabrieli, J.D.E. (2003) Evaluating self-generated information: Anterior prefrontal contributions to human cognition. Behavioral Neuroscience, 117(6).

Christoff, K., Prabhakaran, V., Dorfman, J., Zhao, Z., Kroger, J.K., Holyoak, K.J., Gabrieli, J.D.E. (2001). Rostrolateral prefrontal cortex involvement in relational integration during reasoning. NeuroImage 14(5), 1136-1149.

Christoff, K. and Gabrieli, J.D.E. (2000) The frontopolar cortex and human cognition: Evidence for a rostrocaudal hierarchical organization within the human prefrontal cortex. Psychobiology, 28(2), 168-186.

Christoff, K. (1999) Complexity and working memory resources: Task characteristics necessitating the executive control of attention. In: Ed. B. Kokinov, Perspectives on Cognitive Science: Volume 5. New Bulgarian
University, Sofia.