In the realm of cognitive science, I am most fascinated by the study of Attention…
“New knowledge has not diminished our sense of awe but increased it immeasurably.”
My Focus
In 2009-2010, I participated in a research fellowship modeling the effects of trained mindfulness meditation on the Attentional Blink. Since then, I have been enthralled by the ongoing research pertaining to selective attention; how attention manifests in behaviors, how it behaves in both temporal and spatial dimensions, how these behaviors emerge from architectures of interconnected neurons, the evolutionary emergence of selective attention, and how interventions like mindfulness practice impact the dynamics of attention.
I am most curious to learn how and why these documented attentional phenomena emerge from interconnected architectures of simple neurons.
I focus on digesting the mountains of published data and theory concerning all of the above criteria, putting them together like puzzle pieces where they are complimentary and taking note when they are not. My aim is to utilize these puzzle pieces to suggest comprehensive theories explaining the what, why, and how of attention and to validate those theories through the coupling of neural network simulations and human participant behavioral experiments.
Please feel free to reach out with any questions or suggestions you may have. I am always glad to share files containing my neural network models and their output data and will gladly walk you through using them.
You can find my Open Science Foundation profile here
You can find my ResearchGate profile here
Current research interests…
Explanations of perception in terms of complex systems theory.
The integration of temporal and spatial attentional models and theories into a comprehensive and unified theory of attention.
What is the evolutionary origin of attentional dynamics? Are attentional phenomena individual cognitive strategies or artifacts of higher-order evolutionary strategies?
The impact of mindfulness interventions on attentional dynamics and the modeling of those impacts to grasp a deeper understanding of the neurobiological impact of mindfulness practice.
The implementation of simple attentional algorithms into artificial intelligence to improve self-driving vehicles, space exploration, and advanced simulations.
How intertwined are the neural correlates of consciousness (NCC) with the neural correlates of attention (NCA)? In other words, how much do the two overlap?
Neural architectures. I aim to identify simplistic, motif-based neural architectures that, when organized in fractal arrangements, produce diverse and complex behaviors.
What role does attention play in phenomenology and the shaping of consciousness states? (see Yoshimi, 2011, Phenomenology and Connectionism)
Publications and Presentations
Hout, M. C., Papesh, M. H., Stutesman, E., Hernandez, J., Penn, R., & Daggett, E. (2023). Simulated medical image perception training: Insights from perceptual learning, eye movements, and AI-assisted similarity modeling. Paper presented at the 2023 NIH IDeA Western Regional Conference (Albuquerque; August, 2023).
Daggett, E. & Hout, M.C. (2023, April). Neighborhood inhibition in psychological space elicits Lag-1 sparing. Oral presentation at the Rocky Mountain Psychological Association annual conference, Albuquerque, NM.
Daggett, E. & Hout, M.C. (2022, November). Constructing connectionist implementations of n-dimensional psychological spaces. Poster presented at the 63rd annual meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Boston, MA.
Daggett, E. (2020, April). Connectionist implementations of n-dimensional psychological spaces. Oral presentation at the Rocky Mountain Psychological Association Annual Conference, Denver, CO.
Daggett, E. (2018, November). Modeling of essential node coalitions: A membrane theory of attention. Poster presented at the Object Perception, Attention, and Memory Annual Conference, New Orleans, LA.
Daggett, E. (2018, April). Modeling of essential node coalitions: A membrane theory of attention. Poster presented at the Rocky Mountain Psychological Association Annual Conference, Denver, CO.
May, C.J., & Daggett, E. (2011, May). Modeling individual differences in the attentional blink. Poster presented at the 23rd Annual Convention of the Association for Psychological Science, Washington, D.C.
Daggett, E., & May, C.J. (2010, May). A novel neural network model of the attentional blink:Towards a mechanistic understanding of individual differences in attention and the effects of attention training. Poster presented at the Eighty Second Annual Meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.
May, C.J., Burgard, M., Mena, M., Abbasi, I., Bernhardt, N., Clemens, S., Curtis, E., Daggett, E., Hauch, J., Housh, K., Janz, A., Lindstrum, A., Luttropp, K., & Williamson, R. (2011). Short-term practice of loving-kindness meditation produces a state, but not a trait, alteration of attention. Mindfulness, 2, 3, 143-153. doi:10.1007/s12671-011-0053-6.