Professor, Department of Psychology

Cognitive flexibility is core aspect of intelligence that continues to develop well into adolescence. Three-year-olds, for example, find it difficult to switch from sorting cards one way (e.g., by shape) to sorting them in a different way (e.g., by colour). Similarly, when judging the feelings of a speaker, 6-year-olds have difficulty switching from listening to what she is saying and listening instead to how she is speaking. Older children find these tasks relatively easy. Such age-related changes in cognitive flexibility have long been thought to be associated with functional changes in frontal cortex, but at present, there is little direct evidence of this association in human children. We are undertaking a number of research projects that aim to clarify changes in underlying processes that contribute to the emergence of cognitive flexibility and link these developments to age-related changes in brain functioning.

We are beginning to use neuroimaging technologies like functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and evoked response potentials (ERP’s) to learn more about neural correlates of cognitive flexibility and its development. We are particularly interested associating developmental changes in higher-order cognitive processes such as active maintenance and conflict monitoring with age-related changes in prefrontal cortex (PFC) function.

Recent Publications:

Morton, J. B. (in press). Genetic, neurophysiological, and experiential influences on the development of executive functioning: toward a truly developmental model. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews.

Morton, J.B., Bosma, R., & Ansari, D. (2009). Age-related changes in brain activation associated with dimensional shifts of attention: An fMRI study. NeuroImage, 46(1), 249-256.

Banse, R., Gawronski, B., Rebetez, C., Gutt, H., & Morton, J. B. (2010). The development of spontaneous gender stereotyping in childhood: Relations to stereotype knowledge and stereotype flexibility. Developmental Science, 13(2), 298-306.

Morton, J. B. & Harper, S. N. (2007). What did Simon say? Revisiting the bilingual advantage. Developmental Science, 10 (6), 719-726.

Morton, J. B. & Trehub, S. E. (in press). Children’s judgments of emotion in song. Psychology of Music.