Nathan Anderson is a cognitive neuroscientist who studies how the human brain supports episodic memory and mental imagery. His research combines functional MRI with introspective behavioral methods to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying these cognitive processes. Using precision MRI (also known as dense-sampling MRI), his lab collects large amounts of data from individual participants to create detailed, personalized maps of brain function.
Research Interests
As the director of BYU's Cognition and Neuroimaging Lab, I am interested in episodic memory and mental imagery - how we represent the external world inside our mind. My lab uses functional MRI and behavioral methods in order to better understand these cognitive processes. My approach includes precision neuroimaging of individuals, focusing on large-scale brain networks that support memory and imagination.
Publications
Salvo JJ, Anderson NL, Braga RM. 2025. Intrinsic functional connectivity delineates transmodal language functions. Imaging Neuroscience. 3(IMAG.a.25). [Website]
Kwon YH, Salvo JJ, Anderson NL, Edmonds D, Holubecki AM, Lakshman M, Yoo K, Yeo BT, Kay K, Gratton C, et al. 2025. Situating the salience and parietal memory networks in the context of multiple parallel distributed networks using precision functional mapping. Cell Reports. 44(11):115207. [Website]
Edmonds D, Salvo JJ, Anderson NL, Lakshman M, Yang Q, Kay K, Zelano C, Braga RM. 2024. Social cognitive regions of human association cortex are selectively connected to the amygdala. Science Advances. 10(47):eadp0453. [Website]
Kucyi A, Anderson NL, Bounyarith T, Braun D, Shareef-Trudeau L, Treves I, Braga RM, Hsieh P, Hung S. 2024. Individual variability in neural representations of mind-wandering. Network Neuroscience. 8(3):808-836. [Website]
Barbieri E, Salvo JJ, Anderson NL, Simon S, Ables-Torres L, Los MA, Behn J, Bonakdarpour B, Holubecki AM, Braga RM, et al. 2024. Progressive verbal apraxia of reading. Cortex. 178:223-234. [Website]
Shintel H, Anderson NL, Fenn KM. 2014. Talk this way: The effect of prosodically conveyed semantic information on memory for novel words. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. 143(4):1437-1442. [Website]