Brain, body and behavioral assessment of executive cognitive functioning in children, and young and older adults.

Dr. Berg primary research is on executive functioning processes, especially planning, problem solving, strategy use and working memory in childhood through later life. Brain, behavior and body processes related to executive functioning are assessed with behavioral and with psychophhysiological measures including event ralated potentials, functional MRI, and heart rate changes as well as task performance.

Recent publications:

Berg, W. K., & Byrd, D. L. (2008) Examining cognitive development using psychophysiological correlates: Evidence of a hierarchy of future-oriented processes across measures. In L.A. Schmidt and S.J. Segalowitz (Eds.) Developmental Psychophysiology: Theory, Systems, and Applications. Cambridge University Press.

Balaban, M. T., and Berg, W. K. (2008) Measuring the electromyographic startle response: Developmental issues and findings. In L.A. Schmidt and S.J. Segalowitz (Eds.) Developmental Psychophysiology: Theory, Systems, and Applications. Cambridge University Press.

Berg, W. K., Byrd, D. L. McNamara, J. P, & MacDonald, C. (2006) New Indices of Planning Abilities Using the Tower of London. In A. Poreh (Ed) The Quantified Process Approach to Neuropsychological Assessment. New York City, New York: Taylor & Francis.

Byrd, D. L., van der Veen, T., McNamara, J. P., & Berg, W. K. (2004). Preschoolers Don’t Practice What They Preach: Preschoolers’ Planning Performances with Manual and Spoken Response Requirements Journal of Cognition and Development, 5(4), 427-449.

Berg, W. K. & Byrd, D. L. (2002) The Tower of London Spatial Problem Solving Task: Enhancing Clinical and Research Implementation. Journal of Experimental and Clinical Neuropsychology, 25(5), 586-604.

Byrd, D. L., & Berg, W. K. (2002) The Relationship between Age and the Preparatory Heart Rate Response: Childhood through Adulthood. Biological Psychology, 61 (3), 271-276.

Byrd, D, & Berg, W. K. (1999) Children’s and Adults’ Use of Fixed Foreperiod Planning for the Tower of London Task: Behavioral and Heart Rate Indices. Psychophysiology, 36, S39. (abstract).

Berg, W. K., & Richards, J. 1997. Attention across time in infant development. In P. Lang, R. Simons, & M. Balaban (Eds.), Attention and Orienting: Sensory and Motivational Processes. Hillsdale, NJ:Lawerence Erlbaum, Inc.

Berg, W. K., & Balaban, M. T. (1996). Startle elicitation: Stimulus parameters, recording techniques, and quantification. In M.E. Dawson, A. M. Schell & A. H. Bohmelt, (Eds.), Startle Modification: Implications for Neuroscience, Cognitive Science and Clinical Science, Port Chester, NY:Cambridge Press.