My research at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit at Cambridge University (from 1998) focused on working memory, attention, intelligence, strategic processing and chunking in the normal population, as well as those with focal brain damage, synaesthesia, Asperger Syndrome and savants. I’ve largely explored these issues using a range of neuroimaging techniques, including fMRI, PET and TMS and have been particularly interested in the function of the prefrontal cortex and parietal cortex.
Another strand of research that particularly interests me is that of the science of consciousness. In some ways this has been the locus of my research, since chunking, I believe, is one of the main functions of conscious thought. In addition, working memory and attention are arguably intrinsically conscious processes. I’ve also published a couple of papers, in collaboration with my former boss, Adrian Owen, in assessing residual consciousness in vegetative state patients.
After Cambridge, I was therefore very lucky currently to be in a position to explore this field, in a very interdisciplinary way, at the relatively new dedicated institute, the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, at the University of Sussex, from 2010, where I carried out theoretical and empirical research into consciousness science, and was involved in synaesthesia and cognitive training research.
From 2017 I returned to Cambridge, this time at the Department of Psychology in the University of Cambridge, primarily to research the effects of drowsiness and conscious level (both measured neurally) on cognition, and how this is modulated by age, using MEG, fMRI and structural imaging techniques to examine the neural basis of these effects.
In addition to all of the above, my current main grant, from the Wellcome Trust, explores the neural basis of cognitive resilience in the elderly and Alzheimer’s disease populations, with the ultimate aim to boost cognitive resilience in those that are more mentally vulnerable.
Below is a list of my peer-reviewed academic articles and book chapters reflecting all of the above interests, with direct article downloads where available. For citation data, up to date h-index stats and so on you might also wish to visit my Google Scholar profile here.
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Rosas FE, Mediano PAM, Jensen HJ, Seth AK, Barrett AB, Carhatt-Harris RL, Bor D (2020) Reconciling emergences: An information-theoretic approach to identify causal emergence in multivariate data. PLOS Computational Biology 16(12): e1008289. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008289
Pedro A.M. Mediano, Fernando E. Rosas, Adam B. Barrett, Daniel Bor (2020) Decomposing spectral and phasic differences in non-linear features between datasets. arxiv 2009.10015
Andrea I. Luppi, Pedro A.M. Mediano, Fernando E. Rosas, Judith Allanson, John D. Pickard, Robin L. Carhart-Harris, Guy B. Williams, Michael M Craig, Paola Finoia, Adrian M. Owen, Lorina Naci, David K. Menon, Daniel Bor, Emmanuel A. Stamatakis (2020) A Synergistic Workspace for Human Consciousness Revealed by Integrated Information Decomposition bioRxiv 2020.11.25.398081; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.11.25.398081
Pedro A.M. Mediano, Fernando E. Rosas, Christopher Timmermann, Leor Roseman, David J. Nutt, Amanda Feilding, Mendel Kaelen, Morten L. Kringelbach, Adam B. Barrett, Anil K. Seth, Suresh Muthukumaraswamy, Daniel Bor, Robin L. Carhart-Harris (2020) Effects of external stimulation on psychedelic state neurodynamics bioRxiv 2020.11.01.356071; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.11.01.356071
Andrea I. Luppi, Pedro A.M. Mediano, Fernando E. Rosas, Negin Holland, Tim D. Fryer, John T. O’Brien, James B. Rowe, David K. Menon, Daniel Bor, Emmanuel A. Stamatakis (2020) A synergistic core for human brain evolution and cognition. bioRxiv 2020.09.22.308981; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.09.22.308981
Schwartzman DJ, Oblak A, Rothen N, Bor D, Seth, AK (2020) Extensive Phenomenological Overlap between Induced and Naturally-Occurring Synaesthetic Experiences. bioRxiv 2020.08.03.228692; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.08.03.228692
Schwartzman DJ, Bor D, Rothen N, Seth, AK (2019) Neurophenomenology of induced and natural synaesthesia. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 374(1787)
Bor D, Barrett AB, Schwartzman DJ, Seth AK (2018) Response to Ruby et al: On a ‘failed’ attempt to manipulate conscious perception with transcranial magnetic stimulation to prefrontal cortex. Consciousness and Cognition. 65. 334-41.
Rothen N, Schwartzman DJ, Bor D, Seth AK (2018) Coordinated neural, behavioral, and phenomenological changes in perceptual plasticity through overtraining of synesthetic associations. Neuropsychologia. 111, 151-62.
Fallon SJ, Bor D, Hampshire A, Barker RA, Owen AM (2017) Spatial structure normalises working memory performance in Parkinson’s disease. Cortex 96, 73-82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2017.08.023
Bor D, Schwartzman DJ, Barrett AB, Seth AK (2017) Theta-burst transcranial magnetic stimulation to the prefrontal or parietal cortex does not impair metacognitive visual awareness. PLoS ONE 12(2): e0171793. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0171793
Huntley JD, Hampshire A, Bor D, Owen AM, Howard RJ (2017) The importance of sustained attention in early Alzheimer’s disease. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. 32. 860-7.
Huntley JD, Hampshire A, Bor D, Owen AM, Howard RJ (2016) Adaptive working memory strategy training in early Alzheimer’s disease: randomised controlled trial. The British Journal of Psychiatry. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.116.182048, 1–6.
Gould van Praag CD, Garfinkel S, Ward J, Bor D, Seth AK (2016) Automaticity and localisation of concurrents predicts colour area activity in grapheme-colour synaesthesia. Neuropsychologia. 88, 5-14.
Gruszka A, Bor D, Barker RR, Necka E, Owen AM (2016) The role of executive processes in working memory deficits in Parkinson’s Disease. Polish Psychological Bulletin. 47(1), 123-130.
Bor D (2016). Advances in the Scientific Investigation of Consciousness. In Brain Function and Responsiveness in Disorders of Consciousness, Monti MM, Sannita WG ed, Switzerland: Springer, 13-24.
Bor D, Rothen N, Schwartzman DJ, Clayton S, Seth AK (2014). Adults Can Be Trained to Acquire Synesthetic Experiences. Nature: Scientific Reports. 4(7089).
Scott RB, Dienes Z, Barrett AB, Bor D, Seth AK (2014) Blind Insight: Metacognitive Discrimination Despite Chance Task Performance. Psychological Science. 25 (12), 2199-2208
Woolgar A, Bor D, Duncan J (2013) Global Increase in Task-related Fronto-parietal Activity after Focal Frontal Lobe Lesion. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 25(9). 1542-52
Rudebeck SR, Bor D, Ormond A, O’Reilly JX, Lee ACH (2012) A Potential Spatial Working Memory Training Task to Improve Both Episodic Memory and Fluid Intelligence. PLOS ONE 7(11): e50431. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0050431
Bor D, Seth AK (2012) Consciousness and the prefrontal parietal network: Insights from attention, working memory and chunking. Frontiers in Psychology. 3(article 63). [Also published in Frontiers in Consciousness Research]
Woolgar A, Thompson R, Bor D, Duncan J (2011) Multi-voxel coding of stimuli, rules, and responses in human frontoparietal cortex. Neuroimage. 56(2). 744-752
Huntley JD, Bor D, Hampshire A, Owen AM, Howard R (2011) Working memory task performance and chunking in early Alzheimer’s disease. The British Journal of Psychiatry. 198(5). 398-403.
Billington J, Baron-Cohen S, Bor D (2008) Systemizing influences attention during the Navon task: An fMRI study. Neuropsychologia 46(2). 511-520
Bor D, Billington J, Baron-Cohen S (2008) Savant memory for digits in a case of synaesthesia and Asperger Syndrome is related to hyperactivity in the lateral prefrontal cortex. Neurocase 13(5-6). 311-319
Baron-Cohen S, Bor D, Billington J, Asher J, Wheelwright S, Ashwin C (2007). Savant memory in a man with colour-number synaesthesia and Asperger Syndrome. Journal of Consciousness Studies. 14(9-10). 237-251
Boly M, Coleman MR, Davis MH, Hampshire A, Bor D, Moonen G, Maquet PA, Pickard JD, Laureys S, Owen AM (2007). When thoughts become action: An fMRI paradigm to study volitional brain activity in non-communicative brain injured patients Neuroimage. 36(3): 979-992.
Bor D, Owen AM (2007). A Common Prefrontal-Parietal Network for Mnemonic and Mathematical Recoding Strategies within Working Memory Cerebral Cortex. 17: 778-786
Bor D, Owen AM (2007). Cognitive Training: Neural Correlates of Expert Skills Current Biology. 17(3): R95-R97.
Bor D, Owen AM (2006). Working memory: Linking Capacity with Selectivity Current Biology. 16(4): R136-R138.
Bor D, Duncan J, Lee ACH, Parr A, Owen AM (2006). Frontal lobe involvement in spatial span: Converging studies of normal and impaired function. Neuropsychologia. 44(2): 229-237.
Cusack R, Cumming N, Bor D, Norris D, Lyzenga J (2005). Automated Post-Hoc Noise Cancellation Tool for Audio
Recordings Acquired in an MRI Scanner. Human Brain Mapping. 24(4): 299-304.
Bor D, Cumming N, Scott CEL, Owen AM (2004). Prefrontal cortical involvement in verbal encoding strategies. European Journal of Neuroscience. 19: 3365-3370.
Bor D, Duncan J, Owen AM (2003). Encoding strategies dissociate prefrontal activity from working memory demand. Neuron. 37(2): 361-367.
Owen AM, Menon DK, Johnsrude IS, Bor D, Scott SK, Manly T, Williams EJ, Mummery C, Pickard JD (2002). Detecting Residual Cognitive Function in Persistent Vegetative State. Neurocase. 8(5): 394-403.
Bor D, Duncan J, Owen AM (2001). The Role of Spatial Configuration in Tests of Working Memory Explored with Functional Neuroimaging. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 42(3): 217-224.
Duncan J, Seitz RJ, Kolodny J, Bor D, Herzog H, Ahmed A, Newell FN, Emslie H (2000). A neural basis for general intelligence. Science 289(5478): 457-60.