Research Interests

Prof. Diamond’s lab integrates developmental, cognitive science, neuroscience, and molecular genetic methods to study prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the most complex cognitive abilities ('executive functions' [EFs]) that rely on PFC and interrelated brain regions. EFs include being able to 'think outside the box' and see things from other perspectives (cognitive flexibility), mentally relating different ideas and facts to one another (working memory), and giving a considered response rather than an impulsive one, resisting temptations, and staying focused (inhibitory control, including selective attention). These abilities are crucial for problem-solving, creativity, and reasoning, and for success in all life's aspects.

One goal of the lab is to examine fundamental questions about how PFC and EFs are influenced by biological factors (such as genes and neurochemistry) and by environmental factors (including detrimental influences such as poverty or stress and facilitative ones such as interventions). For example, the lab examines ways in which unusual properties of the PFC dopamine system contribute to the exceptional sensitivity and vulnerability of PFC and EFs to environmental and genetic variations that have little effect elsewhere in the brain, and how at least some of these effects are different in men and women. The lab is also interested in diverse activities that have been shown to improve children’s EFs, including traditional martial arts, yoga, mindfulness, and certain school curricula.

The importance of social, emotional, and physical health for cognitive health is nowhere more evident than with PFC and EFs. PFC and EFs are the first to suffer, and suffer disproportionately, if anyone is sad, stressed, lonely, sleep-deprived, or not physically fit. One's intellect, emotions, social needs, and body are interrelated. Traditional activities that have been part of all cultures throughout time (e.g., dance, music-making, play and sports) address all these aspects of a person -- they challenge our EFs (requiring focus, concentration, and working memory), make us happy and proud, provide a sense of belonging, and help our bodies develop. Most recently Prof. Diamond has turned her attention to the possible roles of music, dance, storytelling, and physical activity (even circus) in improving executive functions, academic outcomes and mental health.

[up] [home]

Significant Contributions

1. In the 1980s, Adele Diamond’s work opened up a new field of inquiry, Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, and marked a milestone in the integration of developmental psychology, cognitive science, and neuroscience.

Developmental psychologists and neuroscientists used to know little of one another’s work. As a graduate student, Diamond realized that for 50 years developmental psychologists and neuroscientists had been using essentially the same behavioral task without knowing it. Developmental psychologists called it “A-not-B” and used it to study cognitive development in infants; neuroscientists called it “delayed response” and used it to study the functions of prefrontal cortex (PFC) in monkeys.

Building on that insight, she undertook a systematic program of research to chart the developmental progression of human infants on A-not-B and delayed response plus a transparent barrier task (to obtain converging evidence from a very different paradigm), the developmental progression of infant monkeys on the 3 tasks, the effect of lesions on adult monkeys' performance of those tasks, and the effect of lesions on infant monkeys' performance of the tasks (see Table below).

This established the first strong link between early cognitive development and the functions of a specific brain region. That gave encouragement to others that rigorous experimental work addressing brain-behavior relations was possible in infants. It also fundamentally altered the scientific understanding of PFC early in development; clearly it was not silent as accepted wisdom had held. Even though PFC is very immature early in life and takes a very long time to develop, it can already subserve elementary versions of the highest cognitive functions during the first year of life. Diamond went on to facilitate many of the earliest collaborations between developmental and cognitive scientists, on the one hand, and neuroscientists on the other.

2. In the 1990s, Diamond’s team made two discoveries that led to worldwide improvements in the medical treatment for phenylketonuria (PKU), improving the lives of thousands of children. Dr. Diamond identified the biological mechanism causing EF deficits in children treated for PKU. She provided the first demonstration of a visual deficit in treated PKU children (which changed international guidelines for the age of treatment onset).

After demonstrating that maturation of PFC played a role in early cognitive development, a natural next question was, “What’s changing in PFC to make these cognitive advances possible?” Diamond hypothesized that at least part of the answer was increasing levels of dopamine in PFC. But how to study the role of dopamine in modulating PFC cognitive functions (“executive functions [EFs]) in humans early in life? No one had ever done anything like that. Again, the answer lay in integrating two fields. Researchers and clinicians working on inborn errors of metabolism had noticed that children ‘well-treated’ for phenylketonuria (PKU) seemed to show selective EF deficits, but no one could imagine a mechanism that could explain that, so reports of such deficits were largely ignored. Neuropharmacologists studying the mesocortical dopamine system in rats had shown that if there is only a modest reduction in the dopamine precursor, tyrosine, PFC is selectively affected. Diamond realized that the latter might provide a mechanism to account for the former because children ‘well-treated’ for PKU typically had slightly elevated blood levels of phenylalanine (Phe) and slightly reduced blood levels of tyrosine. Since Phe and tyrosine compete to enter the brain, a modest elevation in the Phe to tyrosine ratio in blood would result in a modest reduction in the amount of tyrosine reaching the brain – a reduction sufficient to impact PFC but too small to impact other brain regions.

To test that hypothesis, Diamond again turned to work in both humans and animals. Diamond’s team studied children and animal models, combining neurochemical and behavioral work in animals --creating the first animal model of treated PKU along the way -- with longitudinal testing of an extensive battery of neurocognitive tasks in infants and children. They were thereby able to demonstrate the mechanism causing the deficits that had so confounded those working in inborn errors of metabolism, and to demonstrate that the deficits could be prevented by stricter dietary restrictons.

Midway through, Diamond learned that the dopamine system in the retina shares the same unusual properties as those that cause PFC to be sensitive to reductions in available tyrosine too small to affect other brain regions. To be consistent, she had to predict that retinal function would also be adversely impacted in children treated for PKU, so she ventured into vision science to investigate that. Sure enough, her team identified the first visual deficit reported in children treated for PKU – impaired contrast sensitivity. Two superficially unrelated behavioral effects (a selective cognitive deficit and a selective visual deficit) were found to have same underlying cause. Diamond’s team went on to discover a long-lasting visual deficit if children with PKU are not started on diet within days of birth (the norm had been to start them within 2 weeks of birth).

Diamond, A., Ciaramitaro, V., Donner, E., Djali, S., & Robinson, M. (1994). An animal model of early-treated PKU. Journal of Neuroscience, 14, 3072-3082

Diamond, A. & Herzberg, C. (1996). Impaired sensitivity to visual contrast in children treated early and continuously for PKU. Brain, 119, 523-538.

Diamond, A., Prevor, M., Callender, G., & Druin, D.P. (1997). Prefrontal cortex cognitive deficits in children treated early and continuously for PKU. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development (Monograph #252), 62 (4), 1-207.

Zagreda, L., Goodman, J., Druin, D.P., McDonald, D., & Diamond, A. (1999). Cognitive deficits in a genetic mouse model of the most common biochemical cause of human mental retardation. Journal of Neuroscience, 19, 6175-6182.

Diamond, A. (2000). Recent research findings on the effects of age at diet initiation on the visual system. Invited presentation at the NIH Consensus Development Conference on “Phenylketonuria (PKU): Screening and Management,” Bethesda, MD, 16 October 2000.

On the basis of this presentation, US national guidelines for when dietary treatment for PKU should begin
changed from by 14-21 days of age to "as soon as possible, and no later than 7-10 days after birth."

Diamond, A. (2001). A model system for studying the role of dopamine in prefrontal cortex during early development in humans. In C. Nelson & M. Luciana (eds.), Handbook of developmental cognitive neuroscience (p. 433-472). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Reprinted (2002) in Reader in brain development and cognition. Blackwell Press.

see also: www.apa.org/research/action/pku.aspx

3. In the 2000s, Diamond’s team made two discoveries that are changing our understanding of the dopamine system in PFC.

Her team obtained the first evidence of the relation of polymorphisms of the catechol-o-methyltransferase (COMT) gene to EF performance in children, providing an existence proof that differences in genotype can be related to differences in cognition in normal children. Their set of results challenged accepted notions that since dopamine is important for some PFC-dependent cognitive functions, it is important for all. The differential sensitivity of distinct cognitive abilities to specific neurotransmitters opened up possibilities for targeted pharmacological interventions

Diamond’s team obtained evidence of a gender difference in which polymorphism of the COMT gene is more beneficial for EF. Dr. Diamond and her team hypothesize that women may have higher baseline levels of dopamine in prefrontal cortex (an optimum level) and males may have slightly too little dopamine in prefrontal cortex at baseline. If so, that would have important implications for gender differences in the effective dosages of medications that affect PFC dopamine levels.

Even mild stress selectively increases PFC dopamine levels. Male animals perform better on PFC-dependent tasks when mildly stressed than when un-stressed. That would be consistent with males having slightly too little dopamine in PFC, hence slight stress brings their PFC dopamine levels up to optimal. Female animals perform worse on PFC-dependent tasks when even mildly stressed compared with no stress (consistent with females’ dopamine levels in PFC being optimal at baseline and with slight stress raising their DA levels past optimum). Higher baseline PFC dopamine levels in females than males (i.e., PFC dopamine levels optimal in females but slightly too low in males) had never been considered before but would be consistent with evidence that estrogen down-regulates human COMT transcription and therefore COMT activity is 30% lower in women than men (the less or slower COMT works, the higher PFC DA levels would be). Their results with older adults showed: Elderly women with the Val-Val version of the COMT gene perform better on the Wisconsin Card Sort than elderly women with the Met-Met variant of COMT, while elderly men with the Met-Met variant of the COMT gene perform better than elderly Val-Val men. Thus there was a gender difference in older adults in which variant of the COMT gene was more beneficial for EF.

If Dr. Diamond’s hypothesis about why her team found that gender X COMT gene interaction in older adults was correct (i.e., that estrogen is mediating it), one should see an even stronger interaction in younger adults, since those women have estrogen circulating in their bodies. Diamond’s team tested young adults (ages 19-35) homozygous for the Met or Val version of COMT. Within genotype, half the women were tested first when their estrogen levels were high (midluteal menstrual phase) and then when their estrogen levels were low (follicular phase), and half with the reverse order. Men were tested at comparable intervals. Groups were matched for demographics and IQ. As predicted, when estrogen levels were high, women homozygous for the Val version of COMT showed better EF than females homozygous for Met; men showed the standard result (better EF with the Met-Met version of COMT). During the menstrual phase when estrogen levels are low, females showed the male pattern of better EF by those with the Met-Met COMT genotype. The effect of COMT genotype on EF was found for EF tasks sensitive to the level of dopamine in PFC, but NOT for self-ordered pointing, a task previously shown to be insensitive to the level of dopamine in PFC.

The significance of these findings include: (1) The potential for direct practical applications: It has implications for gender and menstrual-phase differences in the optimal dosage levels of drugs that affect PFC dopamine. Women might need lower dosages than men, at least when their estrogen levels are high. (2) The long-revered Yerkes-Dodson curve (that performance on difficult cognitive tasks is better if one is slightly aroused, slightly stressed) may apply more to males than females, and the advisability of intentionally imposing mild stress to improve performance might need to be reconsidered. (Women in general do not need stress to perform optimally, while mild stress [as per Yerkes-Dodson] is often beneficial to men’s performance.)

Diamond, A., Briand, L., Fossella, J., & Gehlbach, L. (2004). Genetic and neurochemical modulation of prefrontal cognitive functions in children. American Journal of Psychiatry, 161, 125-132.

Diamond, A. (2007). Consequences of variations in genes that affect dopamine in prefrontal cortex. Cerebral Cortex, 17, 161-170.

Evans, J. W., Fossella, J., Hampson, E., Kirschbaum, C., & Diamond, A. (2009, May). Gender differences in the cognitive functions sensitive to the level of dopamine in prefrontal cortex. Presented at the Association for Psychological Science (APS) annual meeting, San Francisco, CA.

4. Diamond (2005) demonstrated that ADHD with & without hyperactivity appear to be different disorders, with different genetic & neural bases, cognitive profiles, responses to medication, & patterns of comorbidity, resonated deeply; websites on ADHD-inattentive soared from 4 to 1,000’s. Founder & Head of the Dutch ADD Assoc., Karin Windt, wrote: Dr. Diamond changed millions of lives…For the first time we were heard & finally understood…. Through [her] work we are now able to explain to others why ADD is so different from ADHD. This question remained unanswered until her article appeared in 2005.
Clinical practice was affected worldwide.

5. Dr. Diamond demonstrated that ADHD that includes hyperactive and ADHD that is exclusively inattentive are fundamentally different disorders, with different genetic and neural bases, cognitive profiles, and responses to medication, and patterns of comorbidity. This has resonated deeply with clinicians and patients, who emailed in droves. The number of websites devoted to ADHD-inattentive rapidly rose from four to thousands.

It looks like the upcoming revision of the DSM will separate ADD (previously the inattentive subtype of ADHD) from the other forms of ADHD, listing them in separate categories.

The Founder and Head of the Dutch ADD Assoc. (Stichting ADD Nederland), Karin Windt, wrote:

“Dr. Diamond changed millions of lives by giving this quiet, invisible group the acknowledgement they had been waiting for so long. For the first time we were heard and finally understood. In the past 5 years, the number of websites on ADD has increased from 4 to thousands. Dr. Diamond has touched many lives by writing her article…. Many people with attention deficits have great talents, often a high IQ, and are innovative and creative. How-ever, they are seen as daydreamers who cannot concentrate well. In the old days we would be called stupid or lazy….Through her work we are now able to explain to others why ADD is so different from ADHD. This question remained unanswered until her article appeared in 2005."

Diamond, A. (2005). ADD (ADHD without hyperactivity), a neurobiologically and behaviorally distinct disorder from ADHD (with hyperactivity). Development and Psychopathology, 17, 807-825.

6. Diamond’s team obtained findings with direct and important implications for early childhood education.

Her team’s findings here are significant because they indicate that: (1) EFs can be improved in 4-5 year olds Some had thought that too early to try to improve EFs. (2) EFs can be improved in regular public-school classes, without expensive, high-tech equipment or 1:1 attention and by regular public-school teachers. (3) A program that emphasized dramatic play produced better EFs (and others showed better academic outcomes) than one that devoted more time to direct academic instruction (indicating that play may aid academic goals rather than take time away from achieving them). (4) If throughout the school-day EFs are supported and progressively challenged, benefits generalize and transfer to new activities, such as our EF measures, which were different from anything the children had ever done before. Daily EF ‘exercise’ may aid EF development and thus be beneficial for our mental health, much as physical exercise improves our bodies and is beneficial for our bodily health.

Dr. Diamond’s 2007 Science paper ignited major interest in the specific program studied, early EF interventions in general, and the importance of play. It has affected early education worldwide. In an article by Laura Eggertson to appear shortly in the online magazine of CFI (InnovationCanada.ca), one of the developers of Tools is quoted as saying, “We were very small before Adele started. After she did the study and people started to find out about it, we’ve had incredible interest. Thanks to Adele’s study, there are now about 20,000 children in Tools classrooms in nine U.S. states.” James Griffin, Chief of the Child Development and Behavior Branch of NICHD, said at a conference this year that their study was responsible for an explosion of interest both by funders and researchers in the possibility of intervening early to improve EFs to head off mental health problems and school failure.

Diamond, A., Barnett, W.S., Thomas, J., & Munro, S. (2007). Preschool program improves cognitive control, Science, 318, 1387-1388.

Diamond, A. (2010). The evidence base for improving school outcomes by addressing the whole child and by addressing skills and attitudes, not just content. Early Education and Development, 21, 780-793. NIHMS249662
UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has circulated this to all its members.
Margaret Nkrumah of Ghana has circulated it among African leaders

Diamond, A., & Lee, K. (2011). Interventions shown to aid executive function development in children 4-12 years old. Science, 333, 959-964. PMID:21852486

Diamond, A. (2012). Activities and programs that improve children’s executive functions. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21, 335-341.

Diamond, A. (in press). Why improving and assessing executive functions early in life is critical. In L. Cardle, L. Freund, & J. A. Griffin (Eds.), Executive Function in Preschool Age Children: Integrating Measurement, Neurodevelopment and Translational Research. Wash., DC: American Psychological Association.

7. Diamond’s team has demonstrated ways to help children succeed at tasks long thought beyond their ability.

We have tried to demonstrate the principles that (a) sometimes we declare a child as failing to grasp something because of our own error in the way we queried the child (we did not ask in a way the child could understand or that allowed the child to demonstrate the mastery he or she has) and (b) sometimes a child who cannot grasp something when it is taught one way can readily grasp it when it is presented a different way (thus we as educators need to be awry about giving up and need to have faith in the potential of each child to succeed), E.g.:

Diamond, A. & Gilbert, J. (1989). Development as progressive inhibitory control of action: Retrieval of a contiguous
object. Cognitive Development, 4, 223-249.

Diamond, A. (1995). Evidence of robust recognition memory early in life even when assessed by reaching behavior. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 59, 419-456.

Diamond, A. & Lee, E.-Y. (2000). Inability of 5-month-old infants to retrieve a contiguous object: A failure of conceptual understanding or of control of action? Child Development, 71, 1477-1494.

Diamond, A., Kirkham, N.Z., & Amso, D. (2002). Conditions under which young children CAN hold two rules in mind and inhibit a prepotent response. Developmental Psychology, 38, 352–362.

Kirkham, N.Z., Cruess, L. & Diamond, A. (2003). Helping children apply their knowledge to their behavior on a dimension-switching task. Developmental Science, 6, 449-467.

Diamond, A., Carlson, S.M., & Beck, D.M. (2005). Preschool children’s performance in task switching on the dimensional change card sort task: Separating the dimensions aids the ability to switch. Developmental Neuropsychology, 28, 689-729.

8. Diamond’s team cut by more than half the age at which infants can demonstrate the ability to deduce abstract rules with important implications for improving outcomes for children with autism:

Diamond, A., Churchland, A., Cruess, L., & Kirkham, N. (1999). Early developments in the ability to understand the relation between stimulus and reward. Developmental Psychology, 35, 1507-1517.

Diamond, A., Lee, E-Y., & Hayden, M. (2003). Early success in using the relation between stimulus and reward to deduce an abstract rule: Perceived physical connectedness is key. Developmental Psychology, 39, 825-847.

Diamond, A (2006). Bootstrapping conceptual deduction using physical connection: Rethinking frontal cortex. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 10, 212-218.

Her team obtained very encouraging results with children with autism that are now being followed up. Most behavioral training with children with developmental delays, or with children with disorders such as autism, has not considered whether symbol and referent are physically connected. It would be wonderful if making such a simple change could enable these children to grasp concepts previously thought to be beyond their ability.

9. Adele Diamond’s work has fundamentally changed the way people think about cognitive development. Before, all the focus had been on how new skills and insights are acquired during development. Diamond demonstrated that development proceeds not only by the acquisition of new skills and knowledge but also by the increasing ability to inhibit habitual reactions that get in the way of demonstrating what is already known. It is not enough to know the right thing to do, you must do it, and sometimes an inability to inhibit inappropriate reactions gets in the way. It had been widely assumed that naturally if you knew what you should do you would do it. Diamond demonstrated that between knowing the correct response and implementing it, another step, long ignored, is often required. When a strong competing response is present, inhibition of that response is required. Diamond demonstrated that the biggest challenge for young children is not memory (they have excellent memories) but inhibitory control (resisting temptations and not acting impulsively). Adults tend not to appreciate how much of challenge this is for children because it is so much less of a challenge for us.

We tend to think cognition is ‘higher’ and later-maturing and that motor is ‘lower’ and earlier-maturing. However, motor development shows as long a period of development as cognitive skills. Often the motor skills are the limiting factors and the later to mature, rather than the cognitive skills, as Diamond has demonstrated. People had not realized until her work that motor development and cognitive development, far from being independent, are fundamentally intertwined. Her work served to build bridges between two fields that had rarely talked, cognitive science and motor science.

Diamond, A. & Gilbert, J. (1989). Development as progressive inhibitory control of action: Retrieval of a contiguous object. Cognitive Development, 4, 223-249.

Gerstadt, C., Hong, Y., & Diamond, A. (1994). The relationship between cognition and action: Performance of 3½-7 year old children on a Stroop-like day-night test. Cognition, 53, 129-153.

Diamond, A. & Lee, E.-Y. (2000). Inability of 5-month-old infants to retrieve a contiguous object: A failure of conceptual understanding or of control of action? Child Development, 71, 1477-1494.

Diamond, A. (2000). Close interrelation of motor development and cognitive development and of the cerebellum and prefrontal cortex. Child Development, 71, 44-56 (Special issue: New directions for Child Development in the 21st Century.)

Diamond, A. & Lee, E.-Y. (2000). Inability of 5-month-old infants to retrieve a contiguous object: A failure of conceptual understanding or of control of action? Child Development, 71, 1477-1494.

Diamond, A. (2009). When in competition against engrained habits, is conscious representation sufficient or is inhibition of the habit also needed? Developmental Science, 12, 20-22.

Shing, Y.L., Lindenberger, U., Diamond, A., Li, S-C., & Davidson, M.C. (2010). Memory maintenance and inhibitory control differentiate from early childhood to adolescence. Developmental Neuropsychology, 35, 679-697.

Simpson, A., Riggs, K.J., Beck, S.R., Gorniak, S.L., Wu, Y., Abbott, D., & Diamond, A. (2012). Refining the understanding of inhibitory processes: how response prepotency is created and overcome. Developmental Science, 15, 62-73. Epub 2011 Nov 28.

10. Dr. Diamond demonstrated that the cognitive biases we think so odd in children are still present in adults:

Diamond, A. & Kirkham, N.Z. (2005). Not quite as grown-up as we like to think: Parallels between cognition in childhood and adulthood. Psychological Science, 16, 291-297.

11. The biennial conference series Prof. Diamond runs in Vancouver is significant in educating the public about scientific findings and providing evidence to help people make informed decisions in caring for children. The series clearly taps a national need. People find these conferences extremely valuable, and come from ALL over BC, almost every Canadian province, almost half of the US states, and many other countries. For comments from participants, click here

The purpose of the conference series (called Brain Development and Learning) is to be of service to the community -- to present important scientific findings in neuroscience and child development in ways that parents, doctors, teachers, social workers, and others can understand, see the immediate relevance of, and USE. It has a ripple effect, as those attending the meeting bring what they learned back to their communities and organizations and educate others. Comments from participants include: “This conference is better than the best that I can imagine.” “The speakers are exceptional, the organization of the conference is supreme, the spirit of the whole conference is great; this is the best conference I ever attended.” Attendance doubled in 2008 and doubled again in 2010; 99% of the 638 attendees in 2010 said the conference was outstanding and they hoped to attend another in the series.

12. As a committed teacher, Prof. Diamond contributes through teaching and dedication to her students, and continues to teach at UBC though it is not required of her and she does not get paid for it. Students always rate her course as the very best in their university experience. They also say the course has changed their lives. For example,

For example, “This course profoundly shaped my experience and I would recommend it to absolutely every person, regardless of year, faculty, or degree of interest in psychology. I can affirm that I am not only a better, more well-rounded student after taking this course, but an enriched human being. This was a life-altering course.”

13. As a research mentor, Dr. Diamond contributes through the trainees who have gone on to their own independent accomplishments, such as

Amber Story, PhD - Program Director, Program Director, Social Psychology, Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences, Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Science, National Science Foundation (NSF)

Ruth Litovsky, PhD - Associate Professor, Communicative Disorders, Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison. (Ruth has made a major discovery in the assessment children’s auditory attention, for which a patent is pending.)

Susan Rivera, PhD - Associate Professor, Center for Mind and Brain, Univ. of California-Davis

Elizabeth Donner, MD - Assistant Professor of Neurology, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto

Natasha Kirkham, PhD - Lecturer in Psychology & RCUK Fellow in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, Dept. of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck College, Univ. of London

Dima Amso, PhD - Assistant Professor, Brown Univ

Melissa Goldberg, PhD - Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins Univ. School of Medicine

Matt Davidson, PhD - Assistant Professor, Dept. of Psychology, Univ. of Massachusetts-Amherst

Kristin Shutts, PhD - Assistant Professor, Dept. of Psychology, Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison

[up] [home]

Current Research Projects - click here.

[up] [home]

Publications

Wright, A & Diamond, A. (submitted). Dissociating working memory and inhibition: An effect of inhibitory load in children while keeping working memory load constant.

Ciesielski, K.T., Fischl, B., Goldsmith, T.E., Busa, E.A., Kerwin, A.A., Diamond, A., Levin, E., van der Kouwe, A., Rosen, B.R. (submitted). Multivalent development of cortical thickness in dorsal and ventral visual networks. Neuropsychologia.

Schonert-Reichl, K. A., Oberle, E., Diamond, A., Lawlor, M. S., Abbott, D., Thompson, K., & Oberlander, T. (submitted). Accelerating cognitive and social emotional development through a simple-to-administer school program. Science.

Diamond, A. (submitted). Developmental progression in learning, and executing from memory, sequential hand movements: Children's performance on Luria's "Flat-Fist-Edge" motor sequence task.

Diamond, A. (accepted). Want to optimize executive functions and academic outcomes? Simple, just nourish the human spirit. Minnesota Symposia on Child Psychology: Developing cognitive control processes: Mechanisms, implications, and interventions, 37. (Volume is entitled "Developing cognitive control processes: Mechanisms, implications, and interventions." M. D. Sera & P. D. Zelazo [eds.]).
This paper, not the whole volume, to be reprinted in 2013 in a book in Portuguese.

Diamond, A. (in press). Why improving and assessing executive functions early in life is critical. In L. Cardle, L. Freund, & J. A. Griffin (Eds.), Executive Function in Preschool Age Children: Integrating Measurement, Neurodevelopment and Translational Research. Wash., DC: American Psychological Association.

Diamond, A. (2013). Executive Functions. Annual Review of Psychology, 64, 135-168. [Epub Sept 27, 2012 ahead of print] PMID:23020641 (abstract) (pdf)

Diamond, A. (2012). Activities and programs that improve children’s executive functions. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21, 335-341. (abstract) (pdf)
- selected to appear in Psychology Progress (Dec. 9) (which alerts the scientific community to breaking journal articles considered to represent the best in psychology research)

Diamond, A. (2012). How I came full circle from the social end of psychology, to neuroscience, and back again, in an effort to understand the development of cognitive control. In R. F. Subotnik, A. Robinson, C. M. Callahan, & P. Johnson (Eds.), Malleable Minds: Translating Insights from Psychology and Neuroscience to Gifted Education. (p.55-84). Storrs, CT: The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented, U. of Conn. (pdf)

Simpson, A., Riggs, K.J., Beck, S.R., Gorniak, S.L., Wu, Y., Abbott, D., & Diamond, A. (2012). Refining the understanding of inhibitory processes: how response prepotency is created and overcome. Developmental Science, 15, 62-73. Epub 2011 Nov 28. PMID:22251293 NIHMS393793 (abstract) (pdf)

Green, T., Weinberger, R., Diamond, A., Berant, M., Hirschfeld, L., Frisch, A., Zarchi, O., Weizman, A., Gothelf, D. (2011). The effect of methylphenidate on prefrontal cognitive functioning, inattention, and hyperactivity in velocardiofacial syndrome. Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology, 21, 589-595. PMID:22149470 (abstract) (pdf)

Diamond, A. & Lee, K. (2011). Martial Arts Research: Weak Evidence—Response [Letter]. Science, 334, 311. (pdf)

Diamond, A. & Lee, K. (2011). Interventions shown to Aid Executive Function Development in Children 4-12 Years Old. Science, 333, 959-964. PMID:21852486 (abstract) (pdf)
see also: Supplemental material
Being reprinted in German in: M. Spitzer & S. Kubesch (eds.) (publication date: October 2013). Executive functions - International research and transfer into the pedagogical practice. to be published by Hans Huber Hogrefe AG.

Diamond, A. (2011). Biological and social influences on cognitive control processes dependent on prefrontal cortex. Progress in Brain Research, 89, 317-337. (special issue entitled “Gene Expression to Neurobiology and Behavior: Human Brain Development and Developmental Disorders”) PMID:21489397 (abstract) (pdf)

Shing, Y.L.T, Lindenberger, U., Diamond, A., Li, S-C., & Davidson, M.C. (2010). Memory maintenance and inhibitory control differentiate from early childhood to adolescence. Developmental Neuropsychology, 35, 679-697. NIHMS249666 (abstract) (pdf)

Diamond, A. (2010). The evidence base for improving school outcomes by addressing the whole child and by addressing skills and attitudes, not just content. Early Education and Development, 21, 780-793. PMID:21274420 NIHMS249662 (abstract) (pdf)
     - UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has circulated this to all its members.
     - Margaret Nkrumah of Ghana has circulated it among African leaders.

Diamond, A. (2009). Apprendre à apprendre, Dossier de La Recherche, 34, 88-92. (pdf)

Diamond, A. (2009). The interplay of biology and the environment broadly defined. Developmental Psychology, 45, 1-8. NIHMS89168 (abstract) (pdf)

Diamond, A. (2009). All or none hypothesis: A global-default mode that characterizes the brain and mind. Developmental Psychology, 45, 130-138. NIHMS89169 (abstract) (pdf)

Diamond, A. (2009). When in competition against engrained habits, is conscious representation sufficient or is inhibition of the habit also needed? Developmental Science, 12, 20-22. NIHMS85959 (abstract) (pdf)

Blair, C. & Diamond, A. (2008).  Biological processes in prevention and intervention: Promotion of self-regulation and the prevention of early school failure. Development and Psychopathology, 20, 899-911. NIHMS77373 (abstract) (pdf)

Diamond, A. & Amso, D. (2008). Contributions of neuroscience to our understanding of cognitive development. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 17, 136-141. NIHMS46856 (abstract) (pdf)
Reprinted in (2010), MDExplorer, a new Serbian journal focusing on biomedicine.

Diamond, A. Minding controls in curriculum study [Response to letter]. Science. 319 (2008): 1185 - 1186. (pdf)

Diamond, A., Barnett, W.S., Thomas, J., & Munro, S. (2007). Preschool program improves cognitive control, Science, 318, 1387-1388. PMID:18048670 (abstract) (pdf)
see also: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/magazine/27tools-t.html & also: http://www.devcogneuro.com/images/Pubs/National_Scientific_Council_on_the_Developing_Child2009.pdf

Diamond, A. (2007). Consequences of variations in genes that affect dopamine in prefrontal cortex.  Cerebral Cortex 17, 161-170. NIHMS38403 (abstract) (pdf)

Diamond, A. (2007). Interrelated and interdependent. Developmental Science, 10, 152-158. NIHMS16727 (abstract) (pdf)

Diamond, A. (2006). Bootstrapping conceptual deduction using physical connection: Rethinking frontal cortex. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 10, 212-218. NIHMS10332 (abstract) (pdf)

Davidson, M.C., Amso, D., Anderson, L.C., & Diamond, A. (2006). Development of cognitive control and executive functions from 4-13 years: Evidence from manipulations of memory, inhibition, and task switching. Neuropsychologia, 44, 2037 - 2078. NIHMS9720 (abstract) (pdf)

Diamond, A. (2006). The early development of executive functions. Lifespan Cognition: Mechanisms of Change. pp. 70-95.(E. Bialystok & F. Craik [(eds.]). NYC, NY: Oxford University Press. (pdf)

Diamond, A., Carlson, S.M., & Beck, D.M. (2005). Preschool children's performance in task switching on the dimensional change card sort task: Separating the dimensions aids the ability to switch. Developmental Neuropsychology, 28, 689-729. NIHMS9706 (abstract) (pdf)

Diamond, A. (2005). ADD (ADHD without hyperactivity), a neurobiologically and behaviorally distinct disorder from ADHD (with hyperactivity). Development and Psychopathology, 17, 807-825. NIHMS9705 (abstract) (pdf)
The Founder and Head of the Dutch ADD Assoc. (Stichting ADD Nederland), Karin Windt, wrote: “Dr. Diamond changed millions of lives [by writing her article]…. For the first time we were heard and finally understood… The number of websites on ADD has increased from 4 to thousands…. Many people with attention deficits have great talents, often a high IQ, and are innovative and creative. However, they are seen as daydreamers who cannot concentrate well. In the old days we would be called stupid or lazy….Through her work we are now able to explain to others why ADD is so different from ADHD. This question remained unanswered until her article appeared in 2005.”

Prevor, M.B. & Diamond, A. (2005). Color-object interference in young children: A Stroop effect in children 3½-6½ years old. Cognitive Development, 20, 256-278. NIHMS16819 (abstract) (pdf)

Diamond, A. & Kirkham, N.Z. (2005). Not quite as grown-up as we like to think: Parallels between cognition in childhood and adulthood. Psychological Science, 16, 291-297. NIHMS16818 (abstract) (pdf)

Rennie, D., Bull, R. & Diamond, A. (2004). Executive functioning in preschoolers: Reducing the inhibitory demands of the dimensional change card sort task. Developmental Neuropsychology, 26, 423-443. PMID:15276903 (abstract) (pdf)

Munakata, Y., Casey, B.J., & Diamond, A. (2004). Developmental cognitive neuroscience: Progress and potential. Trends in Cognitive Science, 8, 122-128. PMID:15301752 (abstract) (pdf)

Diamond, A., Briand , L., Fossella , J., & Gehlbach, L. (2004). Genetic and neurochemical modulation of prefrontal cognitive functions in children. American Journal of Psychiatry, 161, 125-132. PMID:14702260 (abstract) (pdf)
     - Highlighted by the journal in its “In this Issue” page.
     - Rated as “Exceptional” by the Faculty of 1000.
     - Ranked No. 2 in the Hidden Jewels Top 10 in Neuroscience  by the Faculty of 1000.

Wilkinson, K.M., Ross , E., & Diamond, A. (2003). Fast mapping of multiple words: Insights into when “the information provided” does and does not equal “the information perceived.” Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 24, 739-762. (abstract) (pdf)

Kirkham, N.Z. & Diamond, A. (2003). Sorting between theories of perseveration: Performance in conflict tasks requires memory, attention, and inhibition [Response]. Developmental Science , 6, 474-476. (pdf)

Kirkham , N.Z., Cruess , L. & Diamond, A. (2003). Helping children apply their knowledge to their behavior on a dimension-switching task. Developmental Science , 6, 449-467. (pdf)

Diamond, A., Lee, E-Y., & Hayden, M. (2003). Early success in using the relation between stimulus and reward to deduce an abstract rule: Perceived physical connectedness is key. Developmental Psychology, 39, 825-847. PMID:12952397 (abstract) (pdf)

Diamond, A., Kirkham , N.Z., & Amso, D. (2002). Conditions under which young children CAN hold two rules in mind and inhibit a prepotent response. Developmental Psychology, 38, 352–362. PMID:12005379 (abstract) (pdf)

Diamond, A. (2002). Normal development of prefrontal cortex from birth to young adulthood: Cognitive functions, anatomy, and biochemistry. In D.T. Stuss & R.T. Knight (eds.), Principles of frontal lobe function (p. 466-503). London, UK: Oxford University Press. (pdf)

Diamond, A. (2002). A model system for studying the role of dopamine in prefrontal cortex during early development in humans. In M.H. Johnson, Y. Munakata, & R.O. Gilmore (eds.), Brain Development and Cognition: A Reader. (p 441-493). Blackwell Publishers. (pdf)

Diamond, A. (2001). Looking closely at infants’ performance, and experimental procedures, in the A-not-B task. The Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 24, 38-41. (abstract) (pdf)

Diamond, A. (2001). A model system for studying the role of dopamine in prefrontal cortex during early development in humans. In C. Nelson & M. Luciana (eds.), Handbook of developmental cognitive neuroscience (p. 433-472). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. (pdf)
     Reprinted in M.H. Johnson, Y. Munakata, & R.O. Gilmore (eds.). (2002).  Reader in brain development and cognition. London, UK: Blackwell Press.

Diamond, A. (2001). Prefrontal cortex development and development of cognitive functions. In Neil J. Smelser and Paul B. Baltes (Editors),  International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences (pages 11976-11982). Oxford, UK: Pergamon. 

Diamond, A. & Lee, E.-Y. (2000). Inability of 5-month-old infants to retrieve a contiguous object: A failure of conceptual understanding or of control of action? Child Development, 71, 1477-1494. (abstract) (pdf)

Diamond, A. (2000). Towards an understanding of the human frontal lobes [Review]. Contemporary Psychology, 45, 564-565. (abstract) (pdf)

Diamond, A. (2000). Close interrelation of motor development and cognitive development and of the cerebellum and prefrontal cortex. Child Development, 71, 44-56. PMID10836557 (Special issue: New directions for Child Development in the 21st Century). (abstract) (pdf)

Johnson, M.H., Aslin, R., Diamond, A., Hood, B., & Spelke, L. (2000). Human brain development: Perception, attention, and memory. Report for the Sackler Institute, commissioned by the McDonnell Foundation.

Diamond, A., Churchland, A., Cruess , L., & Kirkham , N. (1999). Early developments in the ability to understand the relation between stimulus and reward. Developmental Psychology, 35, 1507-1517. (abstract) (pdf)

Zagreda, L., Goodman, J., Druin, D.P., McDonald, D., & Diamond, A. (1999). Cognitive deficits in a genetic mouse model of the most common biochemical cause of human mental retardation. Journal of Neuroscience, 19, 6175-6182. (abstract) (pdf)

Diamond, A. (1999). Developmental psychology in its social and cultural context. Society for Research in Child Development Newsletter, 42, 5-8. (abstract) (pdf)

Diamond, A. (1999). Development of cognitive functions linked to prefrontal cortex. In N.A. Fox, L.A. Leavit, & J.G. Warhol (eds.), The Role of Early Experience in Infant Development. Johnson & Johnson: New Brunswik, NJ. (pdf)

Diamond, A. (1999). Review of "Comparative Neuropsychology. ed. A. David Milner, Oxford UP". Trends in Neurosciences. 22:283 - 284. (pdf)

Diamond, A., S. Badali, L. Cruess, D. Amso, M. Davidson and S. Oross. (1999). Long-lasting, selective visual deficits from short-term exposure to high neonatal phenylalanine levels in humans. Society for Neuroscience Abstracts. 25:501 - 501

O'Craven, K. M., A. Diamond, L. Cruess, R. Bergida, R. L. Savoy and M. Davidson (1999). Further fMRI-based studies of memory and inhibition in prefrontal cortex of adults. Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting Abstracts. (abstract)

Diamond, A. (1998). Understanding the A-not-B error: Working memory vs. reinforced response, or active vs. latent trace. Developmental Science, 1, 185-189. (abstract) (pdf)

Albert, M., Diamond, A., Fitch, H., Neville, H., Rapp, P., and Tallal, P. (1998). Cognitive Development. In F.E. Bloom, S.C. Landis, J.L. Roberts, L.R.Squire, & M.J. Zigmond (ed.s). Fundamental Neuroscience (p. 1313-1338). San Diego: Academic Press.

Savoy, R. L. I., A. Diamond and K. M. O'Craven (1998). Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex contributions to working memory and inhibition as revealed by fMRI. Society for Neuroscience Abstracts. 24:1251.

Diamond, A., Prevor, M., Callender, G., & Druin, D.P. (1997). Prefrontal cortex cognitive deficits in children treated early and continuously for PKU. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development (Monograph #252), 62 (4), 1-207. PMID:9421921 (abstract) (pdf)

see: Research in action: Lessening PKU's damaging effects on children

Diamond, A. (1996). Evidence for the importance of dopamine for prefrontal cortex functions early in life. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (London) Series B, 351, 1483-1494. (abstract) (pdf)

Diamond, A. & Herzberg, C. (1996). Impaired sensitivity to visual contrast in children treated early and continuously for PKU. Brain, 119, 523-538. (abstract) (pdf)

Diamond, A. & Taylor, C. (1996). Development of an aspect of executive control: Development of the abilities to remember what I said and to "Do as I say, not as I do." Developmental Psychobiology, 29, 315-334. (abstract) (pdf)

Strupp, B. & Diamond, A. (1996). Assessing cognitive function in animal models of mental retardation. Mental Retardation Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews, 2, 216-226. (pdf)

Diamond, A. (1995). Evidence of robust recognition memory early in life even when assessed by reaching behavior. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology (Special Issue [Guest Editor, Nora Newcombe]), 59, 419-456. (abstract) (pdf)

Diamond, A. (1994). Phenylalanine levels of 6-10 mg/dl may not be as benign as once thought. Acta Pædiatrica, 83 (Supplement 407), 89-91. (pdf)

Diamond, A., Ciaramitaro, V., Donner, E., Djali , S., & Robinson, M. (1994). An animal model of early-treated PKU. Journal of Neuroscience, 14, 3072-3082. (abstract) (pdf)

Diamond, A., Cruttenden, L., & Neiderman, D. (1994). A-not-B with multiple wells: I. Why multiple wells are sometimes easier than two wells. II. Memory or memory + inhibition? Developmental Psychology, 30, 192-205. (pdf)

Diamond, A., Towle, C., & Boyer, K. (1994). Young children's performance on a task sensitive to the memory functions of the medial temporal lobe in adults, the delayed nonmatching to sample task, reveals problems that are due to non-memory related task demands. Behavioral Neuroscience, 108, 659-680. (abstract) (pdf)

Gerstadt, C., Hong, Y., & Diamond, A. (1994). The relationship between cognition and action: Performance of 3½-7 year old children on a Stroop-like day-night test. Cognition, 53, 129-153. (abstract) (pdf)

Diamond, A., Werker, J., & Lalonde, C. (1993). Toward understanding commonalities in the development of object search, detour navigation, categorization, and speech perception. In G. Dawson & K. Fischer (Eds.), Human Behavior and the Developing Brain (p. 380-426). Guilford Press: NY. (abstract)

Diamond, A. (1992). Recognition memory assessed by looking versus reaching: Infants' performance on the visual paired comparison and delayed non-matching to sample tasks. Technical Report IRCS-92-11, University of Pennsylvania, Institute for Research in Cognitive Science.

Diamond, A., Ciaramitaro, V., Donner, E., Hurwitz, W., Lee, E., Grover, W., Minarcik, C. (1992). Prefrontal cortex cognitive deficits in early-treated PKU: Results of a longititudinal study in children and of an animal model. Society for Neuroscience Abstracts. 18.

Diamond, A. (1991). Frontal lobe involvement in cognitive changes during the first year of life. In K. R. Gibson & A. C. Petersen (Eds.), Brain maturation and cognitive development: Comparative and cross-cultural perspectives (pp. 127-180). NY: Aldine de Gruyter. (pdf)

Diamond, A. (1991). Neuropsychological insights into the meaning of object concept development. In S. Carey & R. Gelman (Eds.), The epigenesis of mind: Essays on biology and knowledge (pp. 67-110). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. (pdf)
        Reprinted in M. H. Johnson (Ed.) (1993), Brain Development and
        Cognition: A Reader, Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell.

Diamond, A. (1991). Some guidelines for the study of brain-behavior relationships during development. In H. Levin, H. Eisenberg, & A. Benton (Eds.), Frontal lobe function and dysfunction (pp. 189-211). NY: Oxford U. Press. (Google Books) (abstract)

Diamond, A. (1990) (ed.), The development and neural bases of higher cognitive functions. NY: New York Academy of Sciences.

Diamond, A. (1990). The development and neural bases of memory functions, as indexed by the A-not-B and delayed response tasks, in human infants and infant monkeys. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 608, 267-317. (abstract) (pdf)

Diamond, A. (1990). Rate of maturation of the hippocampus and the developmental progression of children's performance on the delayed non-matching to sample and visual paired comparison tasks. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 608, 394-426. (abstract) (pdf)

Diamond, A. (1990). Developmental time course in human infants and infant monkeys, and the neural bases, of inhibitory control in reaching. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 608, 637-676. (abstract) (pdf)

Diamond, A. (1989). Limbic-dependent memory: Early or late developing? Society for Neuroscience Abstracts. 15 : 343 - 343.

Diamond, A. & Doar, B. (1989). The performance of human infants on a measure of frontal cortex function, the delayed response task. Developmental Psychobiology, 22, 271-294. (abstract) (pdf)

Diamond, A. & Gilbert, J. (1989). Development as progressive inhibitory control of action: Retrieval of a contiguous object. Cognitive Development, 4, 223-249. (abstract) (pdf)

Diamond, A. & Goldman-Rakic, P. S. (1989). Comparison of human infants and rhesus monkeys on Piaget's A-not-B task: Evidence for dependence on dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Experimental Brain Research, 74, 24-40. (abstract) (pdf)

Diamond, A., Zola-Morgan, S., & Squire, L. R. (1989). Successful performance by monkeys with lesions of the hippocampal formation on A-not-B and object retrieval, two tasks that mark developmental changes in human infants. Behavioral Neuroscience, 103, 526-537. (abstract) (pdf)

Diamond, A. and K. Boyer (1989). A version of the Wisconsin Card Sort Test for use with preschool children, and an exploration of their sources of error. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 11 : 83 - 83.

Diamond, A. (1988). Differences between adult and infant cognition: Is the crucial variable presence or absence of language? In L. Weiskrantz (Ed.), Thought without language (p. 337-370). Oxford U. Press: Oxford. (pdf)

Diamond, A. (1988). Abilities and neural mechanisms underlying A-not-B performance. Child Development, 59, 523-527. (pdf)

Goldman-Rakic, P. S. and A. Diamond (1986). Comparative development in human infants and infant rhesus monkeys of cognitive functions that depend on prefrontal cortex. Society for Neuroscience Abstracts. 12 : 742 - 742.

Diamond, A. (1985). The development of the ability to use recall to guide action, as indicated by infants' performance on A-not-B. Child Development, 56, 868-883. (abstract) (pdf)

Goldman-Rakic, P. S. and A. Diamond (1985). Evidence for involvement of prefrontal cortex in cognitive changes during the first year of life: Comparison of performance of human infant and rhesus monkeys on a detour task with transparent barrier. Society for Neuroscience Abstracts. 11 : 832 - 832.

Diamond, A. (1983). Behavior changes between 6 to 12 months of age: What can they tell us about how the mind of the infant is changing? Dissertation Abstracts International. 44(01B) : 337. (pdf)

Diamond, A. (1981). Retrieval of an object from an open box: The development of visual-tactile control of reaching in the first year of life. Society for Research in Child Development Abstracts. 3 : 78 - 78.

[up] [home]

Education and Training

[up] [home]

Personal

     Dancing

I love to be active and outdoors in nature with others. Love to hike, play tennis, and canoe.

Most of all I love to dance -- any kind of dancing as long as you get to interact with your partner -- swing dance, waltz, contradancing, tango, hambo, vintage, zwiefacher, and more.

Was a member of a contradance troupe that toured the Soviet Union in the Spring following the fall of the Berlin wall. Here is a picture of me dancing on the Arabat, a main street in Moscow.

Our band set up a little platform and people gathered around to see what we might be doing. Little did they know that each of us would invite one of them to dance with us as our partners. What a wonderful way to meet people! We went on to Odessa, Leningrad (not yet re-named St. Petersburg), and Riga. The Soviets allowed us only 36 hours in Riga, but we made the most of them.

 

 

Had such a good time, I organized and led another group of 40 dancers

and a band of terrific musicians (BLT: Peter Barnes, Mary Lea, and Bill Tomczak) to tour Czechoslovakia (České Budějovice in southern Bohemia, Zlin in the Moravian-Silesian Beskids, & Prague) two years later (June, 1992). Here they are clowning with caller, Larry Edelman, on mandolin.

 

some photos of those we met along the way:

 

Instead of staying in hotels, we stayed with local families and made close friends in southern Bohemia (České Budĕjovice), Moravia (Zlin), and Prague.

Here, Adele and Mary Lea are pictured with the family they stayed with in Zlin.

Of course, both the USSR and Czechoslovakia ceased to exist very soon after I visited, but I think it is safe to have me visit as a scholar or scientist. It is only as a dancer that my visits appear to coincide with regime change.

I got to bring together my academic and dance interests when I hosted a meeting on the “The Development and Neural Basis of Higher Cognitive Functions” and arranged for another incredibly wonderful band (Wild Asparagus: Becky Tracy, Stuart Kenney, George Marshall, Ann Percival, & David Cantien) to play for an evening of dance at the meeting.

[up] [home]

Brain Development and Learning Conference

For more information about the Brain Development and Learning Conference, visit the websites:

2010 Brain Development and Learning Meeting: www.interprofessional.ubc.ca/bdl.html
                                In Utero Effects; Parent-Infant Interaction
                                Learning & Memory; Math and Reading
                                Respecting Cultural Differences
                                Mental Health; Promoting Joy, Resilience, and Creativity

2010 Conference Feedback: www.interprofessional.ubc.ca/BDL_subpages_2010/feedback_big_2010.html

2010 Online Resources: www.braindevelopmentandlearning.com/Resources2010

2008 Brain Development and Learning Meeting: www.interprofessional.ubc.ca/bdl2008.html
                               Stress
                               Prefrontal Cortex

2008 Conference Feedback: www.interprofessional.ubc.ca/BDL_subpages_2008/sponsorsfeedback.html

2006 Brain Development and Learning Meeting: www.interprofessional.ubc.ca/bdl2006.html
                               Plasticity
                               Interventions

[up] [home]

Grant Support - 2005 to present
(continuous NIH /NSF support since 1975; continuous NIH support since 1983)

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) EG #1502: “Neurochemical and Environmental Influences on the Cognitive Functions dependent on Prefrontal Cortex”
PI: Adele Diamond
Project period: 04/31/2012 - 03/31/2013
Total costs: $25,000 CAN

     To better understand the causes and consequences of stress reactivity in PFC, including gender differences in that and practical implications of that for education, parenting, labor force involvement, and personal well-being.

BC Ministry of Health and BC Mental Health Foundation: “Seed Funds to Introduce a Pilot Program of Tools of the Mind to the Lower Mainland”
PI: Adele Diamond (15% effort)
Project period: 8/01/2013 - 09/01/2015
Total costs: $200,000 CAN

     For the first introduction of the evidence-based early-childhood program, Tools of the Mind, anywhere in Canada. Funds implementing a pilot introduction of Tools into randomly selected kindergartens in Vancouver, Surrey, & Coquitlam. Tools curriculum improves EFs & academics, at least short-term - at least in the US. We will address the next important questions: Are those benefits also seen in Canada? Are they ephemeral? Or, might they not only last but increase over time?

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) R01 #DA019685: “Development of Cognitive Functions Linked to Frontal Lobe”
PI: Adele Diamond (25% effort)
Project period: 9/10/2004 - 3/09/2011
Total direct costs: $1,352,614 US

     The focus throughout all periods of this award has been to explore the cognitive requirements of tasks thought to depend on prefrontal cortex. This award forms the bedrock for Dr. Diamond’s larger endeavor to systematically investigate and dissect executive control functions, studying their development, neural bases, genetic and neurochemical modulation, and involvement in brain disorders -- from infancy through old age.
     The comprehensive and careful task manipulations here should yield important new information about the conditions under which children and adults of different ages succeed and fail at different types of executive functions. A notable strength is the parsing of inhibitory control into subtypes (such as inhibition at the level of attention and inhibition at the level of action; inhibition in the context of task-switching and inhibition in steady-state.)

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) R01 #MH071893: "Autism and the Development of Relational Awareness"
PI: Adele Diamond (15% effort)
co-PI: Rebecca Landa at Kennedy Krieger Institute (KKI)
Project period: 1/01/2007 - 12/31/2013
Total costs: $2,104,016 US

     This project investigates the hypothesis that some young children with autism may need to see a physical connection to help them grasp an abstract conceptual connection. Preschool children with autism, even if mildly developmentally delayed, may well be able to learn abstract rules, but the way materials have been presented to them has not enabled them to demonstrate and use that ability. They can grasp relations between things (i.e., the conceptual connection between items), I hypothesize, if those things are physical connected.

Canada Research Chair (CRC) Tier 1: “Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience”
PI: Adele Diamond
Project period: 9/01/2004. Renewd: 10/01/2011 for seven years.
Total costs: $1,400,000 CAN

     Exploring how genetics, neurochemistry and the environment affect prefrontal cortex, and what early-childhood practices and interventions lead to the best mental and physical health results. This research should lessen the costly public health burden of executive-function disorders, and improve the chances for all children to achieve their full potential.

Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) Award: “Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory”
PI: Adele Diamond (no % effort)
9/01/2004 - 8/31/2012
Total costs with matching funds: $500,220 CAN

     For equipping PI’s laboratory at UBC.

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) R01 #HD039783:  “Pain in Preterm Infants: Development and Effects"
PI: Ruth Grunau           Collaborator: Adele Diamond (2% effort) with many other collaborators
Project Period:  04/05/2008 - 11/30/2012
Total costs:  $1,062,496 US 

     This research addresses the effects of cumulative neonatal pain/stress on stress regulation and neuro-development attention, visual memory, EFs, & behavior in children born very prematurely.

UBC Hampton Research Endowment Fund #FAS F10-01301: “Using Social & Emotional Learning Interventions to Promote Resiliency & Positive Mental Health in Children & Teachers: Considering Psychological, Biological, & Contextual Processes”
PI: Kimberly Schonert-Reichl
Co-PI: Adele Diamond (5% effort) and Rob Roeser
Project period: 03/2011- 03/2013
Total direct costs: $25,000 CAN

     This research is looking at the possible benefits for students and for teachers of two different social-emotional school programs (MindUp & SMART) with children in grades 4-7 randomly assigned to one of four conditions.

Institute of Education Sciences [IES] / National Center for Education Research [NCER] / Cognition and Student Learning Research Grant Program [CASL] #R305B070240:
“Evaluating the Efficacy of Preschool Curricula in Improving Executive Functions and Self-Regulation”
PI: Adele Diamond (10% effort)
7/01/2007 - 05/19/2008
Total direct costs: $2,887,292 US
AD terminated the grant early (it had been originally awarded for 4 years) and returned 80% of the funds to IES when a change in conditions on the ground made it impossible for her to do the study in a scientifically valid way.
     with co-funding from:

Spencer Foundation: “Can Self-Regulation be Taught to Preschoolers? If so, does it help?”
PI: Adele Diamond (10% effort)
Project period: 11/01/2006-6/31/2011
Total direct costs: $410,396 US

     Building on the ground-breaking work on the early development of executive functions and self-regulation from developmental cognitive neuroscience labs, we are using those research tools to investigate pre- and post-intervention levels of self-regulation and executive function and tracking the relation of those to academic achievement and behavior problems over time in at-risk children enrolled in evidence-based preschool programs with varying degrees and types of training in self-regulation and executive functions.
     What produces the best outcomes: Preschool teaching practices that emphasize academic skills or that emphasize that plus executive function (EF)? Can EF training be effective as a module added onto the curriculum or does it need to be interwoven throughout daily activities? Which interventions are most beneficial for which aspects of EF and academic performance? Are there longterm benefits to training preschoolers in how to exercise EF for academic performance and/or for averting behavioral, psychological, and/or learning problems? Objective, proven, neurocognitive pre- and post-intervention EF measures will be used to examine the effect of different preschool programs on academic outcomes in literacy and math. It includes roughly 2,000 children in 2 States (NM & MA) and involves randomized field trial with 4 levels of EF training, emphasizes painstakingly careful data collection and analysis, and includes state-of-the-art academic measures and procedures for tracing special education placement. The innovations being studied are evidence-based, easy to implement in under-funded classrooms, and readily transferable across cultures.

National Institutes of Health (NIH) R01 #HD044796: "Neurocognitive Development in Children Living in Poverty"
PI: Linda Mayes, M.D., Yale Univ. Med. Sch.
co-PI: Adele Diamond (5% effort)
Project period: 3/01/2005 - 6/28/2010
Total direct costs: $2,350,000 US

     While many studies have shown an association between economic deprivation and impaired cognitive development in childhood, no studies have explored the impact of economic and environmental disadvantage on component neurocognitive capacities within executive control functions. We propose that one mechanism for the impact of poverty on cognitive development may be through delayed or impaired executive control functions (e.g., working memory & selective attention, more specifically through an impairment in inhibitory executive control functions), and we will investigate this bringing together five disciplines—behavioral neuroscience, epidemiology, child development, neuropsychology, and economics.

UBC Dept. of Psychiatry: “Children at Elevated Risk for Developing Depression during Adolescence (Children of Mothers with Bipolar 1 Disorder): Might Impaired Executive Functions Precede and Predict the Onset of Depression?”
PIs: Adele Diamond (5% effort) + Jane Garland & Allan Young
Project period: 06/01/2006 - 12/31/2009
Total direct costs: $ 172,000 CAN

     Children of mothers with confirmed diagnoses of bipolar I depression will receive extensive evaluations yearly from 7 through 17 years of age, if continued funding can be obtained.

Current & Recent Grant support - click here.

[up] [home]

Teaching

In Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia:

• Graduate Seminar (EPSE 604): Social, Emotional and Cognitive Development in Social, Cultural and Biological Context
  - see reading list

  Comments from students at UBC

• Graduate Seminar (PSYT 550): Prefrontal Cortex and Executive Functions

• Undergraduate Course (PSYC 205-006): The Lifespan Social, Emotional, and Cognitive Development of the Person in its Social, Cultural, and Biological Context

  Comments from students at UBC

In other departments, University of British Columbia:

• Graduate seminar in Dept. of Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (EPSE 604: Social, Emotional, and Cognitive Development in Social, Cultural, and Biological Context)
• Annual lecture in Neuroscience Graduate Seminar (Neuroscience 501: Systems Neuroscience)
• Biennial lecture in Faculty of Education Graduate Courses on Theories of Cognitive Abilities or Assessment of Young Children
• Guest lecture in Cognitive Systems undergraduate course (Cogs 401)
• Invited lecture on developmental cognitive neuroscience, at the request of the students, for 4th year Biomedical students at UBC

In the Department of Brain & Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT):

• Graduate Seminar: Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
• Developmental Psychology

Undergrad course: Developmental Psychology
Comments from students at MIT the one year this course was taught there

In Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania:

• Developmental Psychology
• Developmental Psychology: The Social and Emotional Growth of the Person
• Undergraduate Seminar: Developmental Psychology throughout the Life Cycle
• Graduate Proseminar: Cognitive Development
• Graduate Proseminar: Socio-Emotional Development
• Graduate Proseminar: Cognitive Neuroscience
• Graduate Seminar: Development and Neural Bases of Higher Cognitive Functions
• Graduate Seminar: Systems Neuroscience (co-taught with other Neuroscience faculty)

Yearly-long undergrad course: Developmental Psychology: The Social and Emotional Growth of the Person
Comments from students at the University of Pennsylvania during the 7 years (1988 – 2004) this course was taught there

In Department of Psychology, Washington University:

• Developmental Psychology: The Social and Emotional Growth of the Person
• Developmental Psychology throughout the Life Cycle
• Research Methods in Experimental Psychology
• Seminar: Cognitive Development and its Relation to Maturation of the Brain (co-taught with Michael Posner in 1987)

In Department of Psychology and Social Relations, Harvard University:

• Cog. Dev. in the Second Half of the First Year of Life: The Object Retrieval Experiment
• Directed Reading and Research: Socioemotional Development during Infancy
• Head Teaching Fellow, Psychology of the Human Life Cycle (Prof. George Goethals)
• Teaching Fellow, Research Methods in Social Psychology
  Certified to teach secondary school social studies

Certified to teach secondary school social studies

• Student teacher, Nether Providence High School, Wallingford, PA 1974-75

Graduate Students Supervised and/or Co-Supervised

at UBC:

• Graduate Advisor (to start 2012), Angela Low, transferring from a M.Ed. program to an M.A. program
• Graduate Advisor (to start 2012), Jacqueline Davis, accepted into Interdisciplinary Ph.D. program
• Graduate Advisor (2011 - present), Hadas Av-Gay, Ph.D. Candidate in Special Education
• Graduate Advisor (2011), Nicole Sanford, Ph.D. Candidate in Neuroscience
• Graduate Advisor (2011), Kathleen Lee, Ph.D. Candidate in Neuroscience
• Graduate Advisor (2006 - 2010), Jeanette Evans, Ph.D. Candidate in Neuroscience
• Adjunct Graduate Advisor (2005 - present), Michelle Kozey, Ph.D. Candidate in Educational & Counseling Psychology
• Graduate Advisor (2008 – 2010), Lisa Barker, M.A. Candidate in Neuroscience
• University examiner (2012), Ph.D. thesis defence, Megan Gray
• Member (2011 - present), Co-thesis advisor, Mona Have Sørensen
• Member (2010 - present), Ph.D. Committee, Jay Hosking
• Member (2008 - present), Master’s Committee, Tamara Crozier
• Member (2006 - present), Ph.D. Committee, Jonathan Epp
• Member (2006 - present), Master’s Committee, Kamyar Keramatian
• Member (2005 - 2008), Master’s Committee, Orsolya Magyar
• Member (2004 - 2005), Dissertation Committee, Heike Dumke, Ph.D. Candidate in Neuroscience
• Member (2007 - 2009), Membership Committee, Green College, UBC
• Promoted the work of neuroscience Ph.D. student, Andy Shih (advisor: Tim Murphy) and tried to spearhead multi-site clinical trials based on the implications of Andy’s work for minimizing the consequences of perinatal hypoxia/ischemia for the infant’s brain:
  • Organized & cooked a lunch at BC Children’s Hospital for a discussion between Andy, Mary Connolly (Head, Child Neurology), Philippe Chessex ( Head, Div. of Neonatology), & David Holtzman (Head, Neurology, Washington University Medical School)
  • Arranged for Andy to present at the Combined Perinatal Rounds at BC Children’s & Women’s

[up] [home]

Past Trainees

Many who've worked with me have gone on to careers in science & education. Examples:

Undergraduate Independent Studies & Honor Theses Advised - click here.

[up] [home]

Awards

[up] [home]

Media Coverage

[up] [home]

Service

Service to the University

Organizer

Organizer, yearly Colloquium Series for the Institute of Mental Health (2006-2009)

• 2008-2009 Colloquium Series Schedule
• 2007-2008 Colloquium Series Schedule
• 2006-2007 Colloquium Series Schedule

Co-Organizer, Mental Health and Neurobiology Cluster, Child & Family Research Institute, Get-Acquainted Day (2006)

Co-Organizer of the Peter Wall Institute of Advanced Studies Workshop on “Executive and Prefrontal Functions: Exploring Supervision and Volition in the Brain” (2005-2006)

Membership on committees

Member, Departmental Advisory Committee, UBC (2008 – present)

Member, the Canada Research Chair (CRC) Internal Review Committee of UBC (2006 - present)

Member-at-Large, Executive Committee, UBC Faculty Association (2008-2010)

Member. Membership Committee, Green College, UBC (2007-2009)

Member, Research Administration Committee, Div. of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Dept. of Psychiatry (2005 - 2009)

Member, Search Committee for Leadership Chair in Child Psychiatry (2009)

Member, Search Committee for Leadership Chair in Child Psychiatry (2006)

Member, Canada Research Chair Tier II Review Committee, Faculty of Medicine, UBC (2005)

Member, Faculty Search Committee, Brain Research Centre, for a CRC Professor in Neuroimaging (2004 - 2005)

Other service to the University

for service as a Faculty Mentor see MENTOR category below - click here

Chair, Student Presentations at UBC Psychiatry Department’s Annual Research Day (June 24, 2010)

Gave invited short seminar: Conceptual and strategic issues related to NIH success. NIH workshop for UBC faculty, The Health Research Resource Office, UBC (Mar. 30, 2009)

Invited judge at the First Vancouver Brain Bee: a competition for Vancouver high school students grades 10 – 12 (March 28, 2009)

Wrote research grant for Dr. Margaret Weiss (Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, UBC & BC Children’s) that got funded on ” Do children with ADHD, who respond well to amphetamine medication but not to methylphenidate, have allelic variants of the SNAP 25 gene?”

Internal Reviewer, CIHR operating grant application by Linda Siegel (in Education Faculty): “Long-Term Cognitive, Educational, Neuropsychological, and Behavioural Outcomes for Survivors of Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Treated with Chemotherapy" (2007)

Internal Reviewer, applications from Psychiatry faculty for MSFHR Career

Investigator award: Mark Lau: “Using Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy to reduce ‘cognitive reactivity’ – A psychological risk factor of depressive relapse" and Jeremy Seamans: “Dopamine modulation of prefrontal cortex network dynamics” (2006)

Host of Brain Research Centre neuroscience colloquium speakers, e.g. Sheila Innis & Steve Miller,MD

Press Conference Speaker at BCRICWH together with PM Paul Martin concerning the CRC Program

Interviewer for BCRICWH, Candidates for the SFU Leadership Chair in MEG (2005)

Judge, Student Presentations at the Psychiatry Department’s Annual Research Day (April, 2005)

Service to the Field and to the Community

Organizer, International Biennial Conference Series “Brain Development & Learning.” This is a service to the larger community of parents, policymakers, educators, physicians, psychologists, and allied health professions (2005-present)

• 2010 Brain Development and Learning Meeting: www.interprofessional.ubc.ca/bdl.html
                                  In Utero Effects; Parent-Infant Interaction
                                  Learning & Memory; Math and Reading
                                  Respecting Cultural Differences
                                  Mental Health; Promoting Joy, Resilience, and Creativity

2010 Conference Feedback: www.interprofessional.ubc.ca/BDL_subpages_2010/feedback_big_2010.html

2010 Online Resources: www.braindevelopmentandlearning.com/Resources2010

• 2008 Brain Development and Learning Meeting: www.interprofessional.ubc.ca/bdl2008.html
                                 Stress
                                 Prefrontal Cortex

2008 Conference Feedback: www.interprofessional.ubc.ca/BDL_subpages_2008/sponsorsfeedback.html

• 2006 Brain Development and Learning Meeting:www.interprofessional.ubc.ca/bdl2006.html
                                 Plasticity
                                 Interventions

Memberships on scholarly Boards

Current

• Member, Bronfenbrenner and Hall award committee (2013 – present)
• Member, Editorial Board. Cognitive Development (2012 - present)
• Member, External evaluator of Chandan J. Vaidya who is seeking promotion to full professor, Georgetown University, Washington, DC (2012)
• Member, Scientific Advisory Group for Start2Finish, Burlington, ON (2012 - present)
• Member, External Advisory Board, Neuroimaging Institute, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX (2012 - present)
• Member, NeuroDevNet, a a Canadian Network of Centres of Excellence (NCE), is dedicated to helping children overcome neurodevelopmental disorders (2011 - present)
• Member, global working group on Early Childhood Interventions led by Professor James Heckman, Seong Moon and Rodrigo Pinto which is part of a larger project, the Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group, led by James Heckman and Robert Dugger (2011 - present)
• Member, Scientific Advisory Committee for L-­rn (2011 - present)
• Member, Content Review Panel (CRP) for Phase II of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, reviewing and providing guidance on the EF measures proposed for the first and second grade data collections. National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) (2011 - present)
• Member, External Advisory Board, Project proposal on “the neural and cognitive effects of poverty on very young children,” PI: Hallam Hurt, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, PA (2010 - present)
• Member, Distinguished Scientific Advisory Board, The Ultimate Block Party, NYC, NY (2010 - present)
  The Ultimate Block Party is “a non-profit organization founded and designed by a coalition of leading educators, scientists and cultural leaders to put play at the forefront of children’s lives as a critical factor in the development of 21st century skills.”
• Member, Advisory Board, the Sage School, Hailey, Idaho (2010 - present)
• Member, Honorary Board, KidCareCanada Society, Victoria, BC (2010 - present)
• Member, Advisory Board, NeuroDevNet within Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE). University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC (2010 - present)
• Member, Advisory Board, Child Guidance Clinic, Pune, India (2010 - present)
• Member, Advisory Board, Centre for Interdisciplinary Research and Collaboration in Autism (CIRCA), University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC (2010 - present )
• Member, Child Neurosciences Research Group (CNRG) within the Neurons to Neighbourhoods Cluster of the Child & Family Research Institute (CFRI) (2009 - present)
• Member, NSF Outside Advisory Board member for a 3-year $950,000 NSF award directed toward using the ECLS-K and ECLS-B to explore the role of factors present prior to school entry that might predict math and science scores at 3rd, 5th and 8th grade. PI: David Grissmer (2009 - present )
• Member, Research Management Committee of the Down Syndrome Research Foundation (2007 - present)
• Member, International Research Network on Imagination and Education (2006 - present )
• Member, Leadership Council, Contemplative Teaching and Learning Initiative, Garrison Institute (2006 - present )
• Nominator, MacArthur Fellows Program (2004 - present)
• Member, Senior Advisory Bd., National Center for Developmental Science in the Public Interest, (2001 - present)
• Member, ‘Faculty of 1000’, Its principal aim is to organize and evaluate the vast life sciences literature. In the Faculty of 1000 the entire field of biology is divided into 17 Faculties. I am in the Cognitive Neuroscience section headed by Richard Morris and Leslie Ungerleider, which is within the Neuroscience Faculty headed by Martin Raff, Chuck Stevens, Bill Newsome, and Carla Shatz. (2001 - present)
• Member, College of Reviewers for the Canada Research Chairs program (a tri-granting-council program of the Government of Canada), (2001 - present )
• Member, National Scientific Advisory Committee, Program Project Grant on "Somatic Cell Genetic Studies of Down Syndrome, "Denver University & Univ. of Colorado, (1997 - present)
• Member, External Advisory Committee, Learning Disabilities Research Center, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Johns Hopkins University, (1995 - present)

Recent Past

• Member, Board of Governors of the International Neuropsychological Society (INS) (2005-2008)
• Member, Executive Governing Board, Cognitive Development Society (2003-2010)
• Member, Local organizing committee for Canadian Association for Neuroscience Annual Meeting in Vancouver (2008 - 2009)
• Member, Fellows Committee of Division 7 (Developmental Psychology) of the American Psychological Association (2004 - 2008)
• Member, Selection Committee for the Eleanor Maccoby Book Award (2005)
• Program Advisor, PBS series proposal on the emotional lives of girls (2004 - 2005)
• Member, Selection Committee for winner of the McGuigan Prize of APA (2004)
• Member, External Advisory Committee, Program Project Grant on "Development of Arousal & Attention Regulation,” PI: Judith Gardner, NYS Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities
• Member, NSF Grant Advisory Panel for Human Cognition and Perception, (2000)
• Member, Panel on "Perception, Attention, and Memory" for the McDonnell Foundation, Sackler
• Member, Foundation Initiative on Centers on Human Brain Development, (1998-2000)
• Member, NIH Site Visit Teams, (1996, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2004)
• Member, international scientific committee that planned the Congress in Geneva on "The Growing Mind: Interdisciplinary Approaches" on the centennial of Piaget's birth in 1996.
• Member, NIH Study Section, Human Development & Aging-1 (AHR), (1991 )

Editorships

• Associate Editor, Developmental Science (2001- )
• Associate Editor, Developmental Psychology (2004-2010)
• Editor, special issue of Developmental Psychology on the Interplay of Biology and Environment broadly defined, targeting papers with the potential to change or challenge how developmental psychologists think. Topics include: How Experience affects Mind, Brain, and Gene Expression throughout Development; Genetic Mediation of Environmental Effects on Mind and Body during Development; Interrelations between Physical Health and Mental Health during Development; How Emotions Affect Brain Function (and hence Cognition and Perception) during Development (issue appeared in Jan., 2009)

Member of Editorial Boards:

• Child Development
• Developmental Neuropsychology
• Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology
• Journal of the International Neuropsychological Soc
• Neurocase
• Neuropsychologia
• Research on Early Education and Child Health
• Trends in Neuroscience and Education

Past Member of Editorial Boards:

• Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, served 2005-2009
• Developmental Neuropsychology, served 2003-2008
• Trends in Cognitive Sciences, served 2003-2006
• Infant Behavior and Development, served 1994-2004
• Developmental Psychobiology, served 1994-2000
• Infancy, served from its inception - 2003
• Brain and Mind, served from its inception - 2003

Ad Hoc Reviewer for Journals - click here.

Reviewer of grant applications - click here.

External examiner

• External Examiner, Dissertation of Marianna Staroselsky, Ph.D. candidate, Comparative Human Development program, U. of Chicago, IL (2012)
• External Examiner, Dissertation of Sissela Nutley Berman, Ph.D. candidate, Dept. Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Stokholm, Sweden (2011)
• External Examiner, Dissertation of Afra Foroud, Ph.D. candidate, U. of Lethbridge, AB (2008)
• External Examiner, Dissertation of Michelle Martin, Ph.D. candidate, York U., Toronto, ON (2005)
• External Examiner, Dissertation of Toni Jones, Ph. D. candidate, U. of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia (2004)
• External Examiner, Dissertation of Daniela Kloo, Ph.D. candidate, U. of Salzburg, Austria (2003)
• External Examiner. Dissertation of Stephan Huijbregts, Ph.D. candidate at Vrije U., Amsterdam, Netherlands (2002)

Mentor

• External admissions interviewer (2010 – present), Harvard University.
• External admissions interviewer (2010 – present, Swarthmore College.
• Faculty Mentor (2012 - present) to Assistant Prof. Ziba Vaghri, Food, Nutrition and Health program, & Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP).
• Faculty Mentor (2010 - present) to Assistant Prof. Naznin Virji-Babul, Dept. of Physical Therapy, UBC.
• Faculty Mentor (2010 - present) to Assistant Prof. Claudia Jacova, Div. of Neurology, UBC.
• Mentor (2013) to Sneha Sheth, a master's student in MEDI 502 lab rotation.
• Mentor (2012 – present) to Alessandra Gotuzo Seabra, PhD, Professor in Graduate Program - Developmental Disorders, Universidade Mackenzie, São Paulo, Brazil.
• Mentor (2011 - present) to Assistant Professor Kimberley Lakes, PhD, Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine: & Co-Director, Community Engagement Unit, Institute for Clinical and Translational Science; University of California, Irvine on her research on the benefits of traditional Taekwondo for executive functions and academic performance of school children.
• Mentor (2011 - present) to Monica Tsethlikai, , PhD, Lecturer, University of Utah, Salt Lake City.
• Mentor (2011 - present) to Sarah J. Short, PhD, Dept of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, on her NIMH K01 award, on comparing working memory development in children at genetic hight risk for schizophrenia and to examine the structural plasticity of associated brain regions and white matter tracts.
• Mentor (2011-2012) to Laura Ricci, MA student, Harvard University Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA “Perhaps you are, as you say, a professor from the University of British Columbia - but to me, you are an angel sent from the very finest research laboratory in heaven. I truly cannot thank you enough for your generous help. Enormous appreciation.”
• Met with aspiring Developmental Science PhD students at “Lunch with the Leaders” session (2011) Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Montreal, QC.
• Mentor (2009-present) to Assoc. Research Scientist Clifford Saron, Center for Mind and Brain, UC-Davis.
• Mentor (2009 - 2010) Assoc. Prof. Kimberley Schonert-Riechl, Dept. of Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), UBC, on scientific writing.
• Mentor (2009 - 2010) Assoc. Prof. Jeremy Seamans, Dept. of Psychiatry, UBC, on lecture styles.
• Mentor (2007 - 2012) to Tinashe Chatora, a UBC undergraduate from Zimbabwe.
• Mentor (2011 - 2013) to Carolyn Lye, a grade 11 student from Sentinel Secondary in West Vancouver, BC.
• Mentor (2011 - 2013) to Deepali Prasad, a grade 11 student from Crofton House School, Vancouver, BC.
• Mentored (2009-2010) to Mio Tomisawa, a grade 10 student at Steveston London Secondary, Richmond, BC.
• Met with aspiring Developmental Science PhD students at “Lunch with the Leaders” session, Biennial Meeting.
  of the Society for Research in Child Development, Montreal, QC (2011).
• Mentor (2010 - present) to Mentor to Radhika Bapat, Founder and Director, Child Guidance Centre, Sahyadri Specialty Hospital, Pune, India, mentoring her on how to administer a large array of neurocognitive measures to children across a wide age range to use by Radhika and others in her clinic to help very poor children, especially those with special needs.
• Mentor (2009 - present) to Tamar Mendelson, PhD, Dept. of Mental Health, John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, mentoring her on what executive function measures to use and how to administer them to school children, as well as providing her with guidance in the analysis and interpretation of the results from these measures in her assessment of the feasibility and efficacy of a school-based substance-abuse prevention program involving mindfulness and yoga.
• Mentored (2008-2010) to Research Associate Charo Rueda, Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group, Dept. of Experimental Psychology, University of Granada, Spain.
• Mentored (2005 - 2011) to John Fossella, PhD, on his K Award ( K01 Mentored Research Scientist Development Award) for John, an accomplished molecular geneticist, to continue his training in cognitive development and functional neuroimaging.
• Mentored (2004-2010) to Professor Eveline Crone, Developmental and Educational Psychology, Univ. Leiden, Netherlands.
• Mentored (2004-2009) to Professor Bruce Morton, Dept. of Psychology, U. Western Ontario.
• Mentored (2002 - 2005) to Krestin Radonovich, PhD, Div. of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, in her K-23 Research Career Award on pediatric neuroimaging and behavioral testing of very young children with and without Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Consultant - click here.

Memberships in scholarly societies - click here.

[up] [home]

Training Others on our Neurocognitive Tasks

Provide intensive 1-2 week training (free of charge) on the neurocognitive measures I developed:

• May, 2004: to Eva van de Weijer-Bergsma, Ph.D. student, Utrecht University, Netherlands, for a study of the role of maternal interactive styles in preterm children’s development of attentional networks.
• August, 2001: to Anne-Claire Beernick, Ph.D. student with Jan Buitelaar, University Medical Center Utrecht, the Netherlands, to study predictors, in infancy, of externalizing behavior disorders.
• June, 2001: to Karen Davis, Research Assistant Linda Mayes, M.D., Department of Child Psychiatry, Yale University, for study of prefrontal cortex cognitive deficits in children who had been exposed to cocaine in utero
• Sept., 2000: to Julien Gross, Ph.D. student with Harlene Hayne, Dept. of Psychology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand, for studying delayed nonmatching to sample performance in infants.
• Aug., 2000: to Erik Hazen, M.D./Ph.D. student with Linda Mayes, Yale Univ. School of Medicine, for study of prefrontal cortex cognitive deficits in children exposed to cocaine in utero
• June, 2000: to Alex Hogan, Ph.D. student with Faraneh Vargha-Khadem, London University, England, for studies of pre-clinical anterior blood perfusion deficits in infancy in children who have sickle cell disease.
• May, 1997: to Joseph & Sandra Jacobsen, Wayne State Univ., Detroit, MI, for study of cognitive consequences of PCB exposure among Inuit Eskimoes in northern Quebec (2-day training)
• Mar., 1995: to Anna Drummey, Ph.D. student with Nora Newcombe, Temple Univ., Phila., PA, to study the development of executive functions in children 3-7 years of age.
• Mar., 1994: to Shaune Bornholdt, Children's Hospital of New Jersey, Newark, NJ for use in her work with children with treated PKU and with children exposed to lead
• June, 1993: to Jenna Steere, Assistant to Amy Arnsten, Yale University School of Medicine, for use in research on children with ADHD
• Sept., 1991: to Virginia Frisk and Jacqui Paige, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada, for their research characterizing the developmental disabilities in infants and children who were born prematurely
• Aug., 1991: to Sydney Reisbick and Martha Neuringer, Oregon Regional Primate Center, Portland, OR, for their research on the effects of Omega-3 Fatty Acid deficiency on cognitive and perceptual-motor development in infant monkeys
• Aug., 1990: to Teresa Wilcox, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, for use in her study on cognitive functioning, and remaining deficits, in healthy, high-functioning preterm infants. 
  

As our neurocognitive tasks have become easier to administer, extended visits to our lab have become less and less necessary. I have provided our behavioral tasks (including training videos, detailed testing procedures, the stimulus materials, and the software programs for computerized tests) and extensive consultation on how to administer the tasks and/or how to analyze performance on the tasks to:

2007 and earlier: - click here.

We continue to develop sensitive behavioral assays of the different cognitive abilities that comprise EF, to freely share those, and to provide training in administering those tasks free of charge to researchers around the world.

[up] [home]

Invited Talks and Conference Presentations

Conference Participation as an Organizer

Conference Organizer, 4th Conference. Brain development and learning, Vancouver, BC, 2010, July 24-28, 2013

Organizer & Chair of Symposium, Diverse methods of facilitating cognitive development (including implications for how we think about cognition and its relation to play, movement, art, etc.), Jean Piaget Society Annual Meeting, Toronto, ON, 2012

Organizer (2011). 2nd Annual Aspen Brain Forum, Conference on the Cognitive Neuroscience of Learning and Education, Aspen, CO, Sept. 24, 2011.

Conference Organizer, 3rd Biennial Conference. Brain development and learning: Making sense of the science, Vancouver, BC, 2010, July 16-20, 2010

Conference Co-Organizer, 2nd Biennial Conference. Brain development and learning: Making sense of the science, Vancouver, BC, July 12-15, 2008

Organizer and Chair of a Symposium on understanding Executive Functions: Integrating biological, developmental, and educational perspectives for the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Society, Chicago, IL, May 25 2008

Organizer & Chair of Invited Symposium, Developmental cognitive neuroscience of the Executive Functions dependent on the frontal lobe: Challenging long-held beliefs, International Neuropsychological Society, 2007

Organizer & Chair of Symposium, Perception and action in social and non-social domains in children and adults, Jean Piaget Society Annual Meeting, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2007

Co-Organizer of Symposium, Implications of cognitive neuroscience for education, Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, 2007

Conference Co-Organizer, 1st Biennial Conference. Brain development and learning: Making sense of the science, Vancouver, BC, August 19-22, 2006

Organizer & Chair of Symposium, Cognitive control: Developmental changes over the lifespan and neural underpinnings -- Dutch & US Perspectives, Biennial Meeting of Society for Research in Child Development, Tampa, FL, April 2003

Organizer & Chair of Symposium, Developmental cognitive neuroscience, Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, 2000

Organizer & Chair of Symposium, Neuroscience implications of inborn errors of metabolism, Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting, 1994

Conference Organizer, Development and neural bases of higher cognitive functions, Philadelphia, PA, 1989

Keynotes and Addresses, Invited Workshops and Talks

Each year Dr. Diamond gives invited addresses in North America & abroad (including France, Netherlands, England, Scotland, Wales, Switzerland, Germany, Poland, USSR, Czechoslovakia, Israel, New Zealand, & Australia) to audiences ranging from neurologists, psychiatrists, pediatricians, & neuropsychologists, to educators, developmental psychologists, & early childcare providers, to lawyers & policy makers, to psychoanalysts, clinical psychologists, & rehabilitation therapists.

In 2009 alone, she accepted invitations to speak in Australia, Brazil, Britain, Bulgaria, India, Russia, Spain, and throughout North America. It was similar in 2010; she gave 32 such talks.

Upcoming Talks - click here.

Diamond, A. (to be presented  May 30-June 1st, 2013). Understanding executive functions: Strategies for supporting each student in realizing his or her potential and for preventing deficits. Invited talk. Meeting of the International Mind, Brain, and Education Society, Quito, Ecuador.

Diamond, A. (May 17, 2013). Leveraging what we've learned from brain research to help every child succeed. Keynote. Northwest Cognitive and Memory Conference, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Surrey, BC.

Ling, D., Wong, C., & Diamond, A. (May 17, 2013). Young children benefit from more time when performing the Day-Night task. Talk presented by Cole Wong. Northwest Cognition and Memory Conference, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Surrey, BC.

Ling, D., Wong, C. & Diamond, A. (May 17, 2013). Double dissociation: Integrating color/shape aids conditional discrimination but separating them aids card sorting in 3½-yr-olds. Talk presented by Daphne Ling. Northwest Cognition and Memory Conference, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Surrey, BC.

Diamond, A. (May 17, 2013). Child development and the brain: Promoting resilience and joy. Invited webinar. The Clinic Technical Assistance Center (CTAC), New York State Mental Health Clinic via webinar.

Diamond, A. (May 10, 2013). Cultivating the mind. Invited talk. Heart-Mind 2013: Helping Children Thrive, Vancouver, BC.

Diamond, A. (April 30, 2013). Bright yung minds: Early learning, play and executive functions. Invited talk. ParentMap, Seattle, WA.

Diamond, A. ( Apr 27, 2013). Executive functions and prefrontal cortex: Genetic and neurochemical influences, gender differences, and novel methods to help children become masters of their own behavior. Invited talk. UBC Neuroscience Retreat, Whistler, BC.

Diamond, A. (April 20, 2013). Paper Symposium: Controlling actions and acting together: Bidirectional links between executive function and social interaction in development. Discussant.  Society for Research in Child Development, Seattle, WA.

Ling, D., Wong, C., & Diamond, A. (April 19, 2013). Young children benefit from extra time when performing tasks requiring inhibitory control. Poster presentation. Society for Research in Child Development, Seattle, WA.

Diamond, A. (April 18, 2013). Discussant: Executive function: Basic science to intervention. Invited discussant.  Society for Research in Child Development, Seattle, WA.

Diamond, A. (April 12, 2013). Workshop: The role of prefrontal cortex and neurodevelopmental disorders. Invited workshop. 2nd Annual Symposium on Community-based Social Pediatrics, Montreal, QC.

Diamond, A. (April 11, 2013). Round Table: Evidence based on the impact of toxic stress. Invited roundtable participant. 2nd Annual Symposium on Community-based Social Pediatrics, Montreal, QC.

Diamond, A. (March 25, 2013). Invited Lecture. Neuroscience Graduate Course (501) Module on Disorders of Cognition, Communication and Emotion, UBC Faculty of Medicine, Vancouver, BC.

Diamond, A. (March 22, 2013). Insights from neuroscience and developmental science to help every child succeed. Invited talk. Gertrude Weigum Hinsz Lecture, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND.
view online: ndsu.tegrity.com/tegrityUtils/InstructorViewer.aspx?directLink=1&startTime=0&currSessionGUID=e5164db5-d616-4798-98a5-c8894e6eb8fc&httpSessionKey=49588332-20fd-4db4-a102-f5a15e4e54cc

Diamond, A. (March 11, 2013). What will it likely take to be successful in the 21st century? Invited webinar. Mind, Brain, Health and Education Psych 1609 course, Harvard University via webinar.

Diamond, A. (March 7, 2013). What can we do to help every child shine? Keynote. Educare Learning Network’s annual meeting, Phoenix, AZ. www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTtYCE2QLuQ

Diamond, A. (March 5, 2013). Listen. Relax. Love. Enjoy. Exercise. Invited talk. Connect Health, Centre for Integrative Medicine, Vancouver, BC.

Diamond, A. (Feb 25, 2013). Creating effective formal and informal learning communities. Invited one-hour workshop. Nanaimo District Teachers’ Association Pro-D Day, Dover Bay Secondary School, Nanaimo, BC.

Diamond, A. (Feb 25, 2013). Child development and the brain: Insights to help every child thrive. Keynote. Nanaimo District Teachers’ Association Pro-D Day, Dover Bay Secondary School, Nanaimo, BC.

Diamond, A. (Feb 21, 2013). Measures of executive function. Invited one-hour workshop. Washington State Dept. of Early Learning, Seattle, WA.

Diamond, A. (Feb 21, 2013). Reducing stress in children’s lives and giving them tools to better manage stress. Invited one-hour workshop. Washington State Dept. of Early Learning, Seattle, WA.

Diamond, A. (Feb 19, 2013). Interventions shown to aid executive function development in children 4-12 years old. Invited talk. EdBag session - a PIER brown bag lunch series, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA.

Diamond, A. (Feb 18, 2013). Applying what we know from neuroscience and developmental science to how schools can enhance EF development and academic achievement in their students. Invited talk. Program for Interdisciplinary Educational Research (PIER) Research Speaker Series, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA.

Diamond, A. (Feb. 8, 2013). Cultivating the mind: How to improve self-regulation, creativity and problem-solving in children. Invited 3-hour workshop. “Supporting Diversity” day of the Sea to Sky Teachers' Professional Development Committee, Whistler Secondary School, Whistler, BC.
bctf.ca/ssta/site_flash/Assets/PD_assets/PD_District%20Day/PD13_Diversity/DistrictPDDay2013_Theme2_AdeleDiamond.html

Diamond, A. (Feb. 7, 2013). Insights from neuroscience and developmental science to help you succeed in university and the job market. Invited talk. Quest University, Squamish, BC.

Diamond, A. (Dec. 13, 2012). What we can do to help every child shine. Invited talk. Montessori Institute of San Diego, CA.

Diamond, A. (Nov. 29, 2012). Benefits of exercise for success in school and career: How important are the social, emotional, and cognitive aspects of physical activity for these benefits? Invited talk. Pease Family Scholar Lecture, Iowa State University, Ames, IA.

Diamond, A. (Nov. 27, 2012). Executive functions: Genetic and neurochemical influences, clinical implications, gender differences, and promising interventions. Invited talk. Interdiscipinary Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA.

Diamond, A. (Nov. 19, 2012). Leveraging knowledge about brain science & developmental science to help every child thrive. Invited talk. Montessori Professional Development Day, Tyee Elementary School, Vancouver, BC. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (Oct. 26, 2012). Effects of physical activity, and type of physical activity, on cognitive control. Keynote. ‘Key Issues in Childhood Physical Activity Science,' 7th European Youth Heart Study Scientific Symposium: , Madeira, Portugal. Continuing Education credit provided.

Diamond, A. (Oct. 24, 2012). Helping children become masters of their own behavior: Novel methods for improving cognitive control. Invited address. “Conference on International Thoughts on Mind and Brain,” The Gonda Center for Multidisciplinary Brain Research, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel. Continuing Education credit provided.

Diamond, A. (Oct. 21, 2012). The effects of stress and genotype on prefrontal cortex and executive functions and how those effects differ in males and females. Invited talk. Ben Gurion University. Beer-Sheva, Israel.

Diamond, A. (Oct. 13, 2012). Afternoon talk: Understanding executive functions. Second of 2 Invited talks. 5th Annual Family Information Session on Executive Function: Development and Facilitation in Children With Focus on Deaf/Hard of Hearing, Seattle, Washington.

Diamond, A. (Oct. 13, 2012). Morning talk: Leveraging what we’ve learned from research to help every child succeed: Strategies and activities to aid the development of executive functions. First of 2 Invited talks. 5th Annual Family Information Session on Executive Function: Development and Facilitation in Children With Focus on Deaf/Hard of Hearing, Seattle, Washington.

Diamond, Oberlander, T., Grunau, R., Brain, U., Chau, C., Diamond, A. (Oct 3, 2012). Prenatal serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SRI) andidepressant exposure and serotonin transporter promotor genotype (SLC6A4) influence executive functions at 6 years of age. Invited talk. International Biennial Congress of the Marcé Society, Paris, France.

Diamond, A. (Sept. 7, 2012). What executive functions are and ways to improve them in young children. Invited talk. “Early Education: interventions and interactions to promote social and cognitive development,” IVth IAB International Seminar, São Paulo, Brazil. Continuing Education credit provided.

Diamond, A. (Aug. 29, 2012). Leveraging knowledge about brain development and developmental science to help every child thrive. Keynote. “Researching Development, Learning and Well-Being in Early Childhood,” Biennial Meeting of the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction, Utrecht University, The Netherlands. Continuing Education credit provided.

Diamond, A. (Aug. 26, 2012). What is key to teaching children so they flourish. Keynote. Association Montessori Internationale (AMI), Amsterdam, Netherlands. Continuing Education credit provided.

Diamond, A. (Aug. 19, 2012). Leveraging what we’ve learned from developmental and neuroscience research to help every child succeed. Invited talk. First Things First Presummit Symposium on School Readiness, Phoenix, AZ. Continuing Education credit provided.

Diamond, A. (July 9, 2012). Leveraging what we’ve learned from research to help every child succeed: What executive functions are, and strategies and activities to aid their development. Invited talk. Board on Children, Youth, & Families. The National Academies Planning Meeting. Washington, DC.

Diamond, A. (June 12, 2012). Child development and the brain: Insights to help every child thrive. Invited talk. Garrison Institute, New York, NY.
view online: www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQ_j1mjGLow

Diamond, A. (June 8, 2012). Understanding executive functions and their developmental course. Invited talk. Whole Day Workshop. District Professional Development Day, Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, Ottawa, ON.

Diamond, A. (June 8, 2012). Prefrontal cortex dysfunction in developmental neuropsychological disorders & how to assess executive functions in young children. Invited talk. Whole Day Workshop. District Professional Development Day, Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, Ottawa, ON.

Diamond, A. (June 8, 2012). Leveraging knowledge about brain development to help every child succeed: Programs and activities empirically demonstrated to aid executive function development in young children. Invited talk. Whole Day Workshop. District Professional Development Day, Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, Ottawa, ON.

Diamond, A. (May 30, 2012). The roles of the arts and physical activity in the development of executive functions. Invited talk. Jean Piaget Preconference on Contemplative Developmental Science, Toronto, ON.

Diamond, A. (May 18, 2012). What nourishes the human spirit may also be best for executive functions. Invited talk. Psychiatry Grand Rounds, St. Paul’s Hospital, Vancouver, BC. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (May 11, 2012). Executive functions: Expanding the boundaries of our knowledge and using that to prevent disorders and help children. Invited talk. Research Day Symposium, Alberta Children's Hospital, Calgary, AB. Continuing Education credits provided.

Thomas, J.P., Oberlander, T.F, Synnes, A., Diamond, A., Chau, C., Grunau, R. (April 28, 2012). Infant focused attention predicts attention and executive functions in very preterm children at 7 years. Poster presentation. Pediatric Academic Societies Annual Meeting, Boston, MA.

Chau, C., Doesburg, S., Cheung, T., Ribary, U., Herdman, T., Moiseev, A., Cepeda, I., Diamond, A., Synnes, A.,Miller, S.P., Grunau, R.E. (April 28, 2012). Executive functions are related to altered magnetoencephalographic spectral structure in school-age children born very preterm. Poster presentation. Pediatric Academic Societies Annual Meeting, Boston, MA.

Oberlander, T., Grunau, R., Brain, U., Chau, C., Diamond, A. (April 28, 2012). Prenatal serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SRI) andidepressant exposure and serotonin transporter promotor genotype (SLC6A4) influence executive functions at 6 years of age. Poster presentation. Pediatric Academic Societies Annual Meeting, Boston, MA.

Diamond, A. (Apr. 28, 2012). How can we improve children’s executive functions, and how much would that help children? Invited talk. Workshop entitled “Developmental cognitive neuroscience: A forward look,” London, UK.

Diamond, A. (Apr. 26, 2012). Commonalities across diverse approaches shown to improve executive functions in young children. Invited talk. 3rd UK Paediatric Neuropsychology Symposium, London, UK. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (Apr. 23, 2012). Development of executive functions during early childhood and their modulation by genes and environment. Invited talk. 3rd UK Paediatric Neuropsychology Symposium, London, UK. Continuing Education credits provided.
view online: www.ucl.ac.uk/neuropsych/InternationalSymposia

Diamond, A. (April 20, 2012). Executive functions and prefrontal cortex: Genetic and neurochemical influences, gender differences, and novel methods to help children become masters of their own behavior. Invited talk. Zangwill Lecture. Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, UK.

Diamond, A. (March 23, 2012). Invited lecture. Neuroscience Graduate Course (501) Module on Learning and Memory, UBC Faculty of Medicine, Vancouver, BC.

Diamond, A. (March 22, 2012). How and why dance, music, sports, and storytelling might well support critical cognitive development in children and youth. Invited talk. BrainTalks series at Vancouver General Hospital, Vancouver, BC.

Diamond, A. (Feb. 24, 2012) Executive functions: Genetic & neurochemical influences, gender differences, & strategies to help their development. Invited Talk. Adele Diamond Symposium, Department of Psychology, Leiden University, Netherlands.

Diamond, A. (Feb. 21, 2012). Afternoon talk: Leveraging knowledge about brain development to help every child succeed: Programs and activities empirically demonstrated to aid executive function development. Fourth of Four Invited talks. Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium. Continuing Education credit provided.

Diamond, A. (Feb. 21, 2012). Morning talk: Executive functions: Genetic & neurochemical influences, gender differences, and interrelations of executive functions with emotions, and social and bodily needs. Third of Four Invited talks. Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium. Continuing Education credit provided.

Diamond, A. (Feb. 20, 2012). Afternoon talk: Ways to assess and study executive functions in young children. Second of Four Invited talks. Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium. Continuing Education credit provided.

Diamond, A. (Feb. 20, 2012). Morning talk: Understanding executive functions and their developmental course. First of Four Invited talks. Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium. Continuing Education credit provided.

Diamond, A. (Feb. 17, 2012). Executive functions: Insights into genetic and neurochemical influences, gender differences, and strategies to help their development. Plenary Address. Special Symposium at Leiden University in Honor of Prof. Leo de Sonneville, Leiden, Netherlands.

Diamond, A. (Feb. 8, 2012). What we can do to help all children thrive. Invited Public Lecture. UBC / Canada Foundation for Innovation Dialogues in connection with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) meeting, Vancouver, BC.

Diamond, A. (Feb. 3, 2012). Why the arts, play, and physical activity aid brain development and the development of skills critical for success in school and in life. Invited talk. Department of Psychiatry Grand Rounds, Seattle Children’s Hospital and the University of Washington, Seattle, WA. Continuing Education credit provided.
video: bcove.me/3en5syyy

Diamond, A. (Jan. 30, 2012). Effects of physical activity on executive functions. Invited talk. Research Unit for Sport, Health and Civic Society, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.

Diamond, A. (Jan. 29, 2012). What the evidence shows improves executive functions and academic outcomes. Invited Address. TrygFonden Multi-disciplinary Symposium, "Improving the well-being of children and youth,” Copenhagen, Denmark.

Diamond, A. (Jan. 26, 2012). Nourishing the body, spirit and mind: How to improve self-control, creativity and problem solving in children. Invited public talk. sponsored by the Dalai Lama Centre, Vancity Theatre, Vancouver, BC.

Diamond, A. (Jan. 20, 2012). The importance of repeated practice. Invited workshop. Early Childhood Education Research Forum, Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE), Towson, MD.

Diamond, A. (Jan. 20, 2012). Executive functioning. Keynote. Early Childhood Education Research Forum, Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE), Towson, MD. Continuing Education credits provided.
video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0W8Y9l1toE

Diamond, A. (Dec. 2, 2011). Why tools of the mind and montessori educational approaches may be particularly efficacious for developing executive function skills. Invited talk. An Inaugural Speaker in Visiting Distinguished Scholar Program, Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute & School of Medicine, Roanoke, VA.
video: research.vtc.vt.edu/events/2011/dec/01/why-tools-of-the-mind/
slides: static.vtc.vt.edu/pdf/diamond_vtcri_public

Diamond, A. (Dec. 1, 2011). Executive functions and prefrontal cortex: Genetic and neurochemical influences, gender differences, and practical activities and approaches to helps. Invited research lecture. Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute & School of Medicine, Roanoke, VA
pdf: static.vtc.vt.edu/pdf/diamond_vtcri_public.pdf

Diamond, A. (Nov. 17, 2011). Effects of exercise on cognitive control: What is cognitive control and how important are the social, emotional, & cognitive aspects of physical activity? Invited talk. American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) Conference on Physical Activity, Cognitive Function, and Academic Achievement, Washington, DC.

Diamond, A. (Nov. 15, 2011). Invited informal talk. World Bank Global Partnership for Education, Washington, DC.

Diamond, A. (Nov. 11, 2011). Attention, executive function, and neural pathways. Invited talk. Social Neuroscience of Human-Animal Interactions, Washington, DC.

Diamond, A. (Nov. 10, 2011). Understanding executive functions: Strategies for supporting students’ development and preventing deficits. Invited full-day workshop. Annual School Psychology Conference, Jewish Vocational Services, Toronto, ON.
Continuing Education credits provided

Diamond, A. (Nov. 5, 2011). Why disciplining the mind, reducing stress & loneliness, & increasing joy may be critical for children's academic success. Invited talk. Education Symposium. Garrison Institue, Garrison, NY.
view online:www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wdFKPTEL2M

Diamond, A. (Oct. 31, 2011). Insights from developmental cognitive neuroscience on ways to improve executive functions in young children and why that’s important. Invited talk. Inductive Development Systems Theory Conference, Penn. State University, University Park, PA.

Diamond, A. (Oct. 29, 2011). Why the most effective and efficient strategy for educating the mind is to also educate the heart and body. Invited address. Cross-Cultural Symposium on Early Childhood Education: Educating the Heart, Body and Mind, Richmond, BC.

Diamond, A. (Oct. 22, 2011). Insights into ways of improving cognitive control and self-regulation in young children. Invited address. 37th Minnesota Symposium on Child Psychology, Minneapolis, MN.

Diamond, A. (Oct. 19, 2011). Commonalities among programs that have shown great promise in working with ASD children. Invited talk. Simons Initiative on Autism and the Brain. MIT, Cambridge, MA

Diamond, A. (Sep. 24, 2011). Applying what we know from scientific research in developmental cognitive neuroscience to how schools can enhance executive function development in young children. Invited talk. New York Academy of Sciences 2nd Annual Aspen Brain Forum - Conference on the Cognitive Neuroscience of Learning and Education, Aspen, CO.

Diamond, A. (Aug. 23, 2011). Commonalities across diverse non-computerized approaches that have shown promise in improving children’s executive functions. Invited talk. International Workshop on Cognitive and Working Memory Training, University of Maryland Center for Advanced Study of Language (CASL), College Park, MD.

Diamond, A (Aug. 19, 2011). Executive Functions defined. Invited talk. Symposium at the American Youth Circus Organization's Biennial Meeting, Sarasota, FL.

Diamond, A. (June 30, 2011). Development, neurochemical modulation, and environmental interventions to improve inhibition of thought and action. Invited talk. Frijda lecture. Cognitive Science Centre Amsterdam (CSCA) Summer School, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Diamond, A. (June 30, 2011). Relation of intention to action: Development of inhibitory control and interventions to help. Invited 3-hour workshop. Cognitive Science Center Amsterdam (CSCA) Summer School, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (June 8, 2011). Executive Functions: What they are, why they're important, and how to aid their development. Invited talk. Presentation for kindergarten teachers, Vancouver School Board Education Centre. Vancouver, BC.

Diamond, A. (June 2, 2011). Aspects of Executive function. Invited talk. Mindfulness Meditation Research Day Meeting, Toronto, ON. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (May 20, 2011). What do we know about child development and the brain that can help promote resilience and help more children be strong and joyful? Invited talk. 22nd Boston Trauma Conference, Boston, MA. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (May 13, 2011). Executive Functions: Insights from Neuroscience and Developmental Psychology. Invited talk. Hershey Montessori Farm School, Huntsburgh, OH.

Diamond, A. (Apr. 28, 2011). Why focusing on only academic achievement or only executive functions might not be enough. Invited talk. Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.

Diamond, A. (Apr. 20, 2011). What nourishes the human spirit may also be best for executive functions. Invited talk. Neuropsychiatry Program Grand Rounds, Vancouver, BC. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (Apr. 11, 2011). Leveraging knowledge about brain development to help every child succeed. Invited talk. Centennial Academy, Montreal, QC.

Diamond, A. (Apr. 11, 2011). Insights from Neuroscience and Developmental Science to help every child succeed. Invited talk. Logan Lecture, Centennial Academy, Montreal, QC.

Diamond, A. (Mar. 28, 2011). Insights from neuroscience and developmental science on ways to improve cognitive control and self-regulation in young children and why that’s important. Invited talk. Montessori Training Center, Minneapolis, MN.

Diamond, A. (March 9, 2011). Frontal lobe and executive functions. A lecture in module 3: Learning and Memory. Neuroscience 501, UBC.

Diamond, A. (March 4, 2011). Teaching, & raising children, for creativity and fulfillment. Keynote. The Roeper School, Bloomfield Hills, MI.

Diamond, A. (March 3, 2011). Training the brain: Improving attention & self-regulation. Invited speaker. Pickering Lecture in Development Psychology, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON.

Diamond, A. (Feb. 28, 2011). Possible neural bases of gender differences in higher cognitive functions. Invited talk. NIH/NIMH Sex Differences in Brain, Behavior, Mental Health and Mental Disorders Workshop, Rockville, MD.

Diamond, A. (Feb. 22, 2011). The development of executive functions in children and adolescents. Invited talk. Professional Day, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, New York City, NY.

Diamond, A. (Feb. 17, 2011). Why study executive functions? Invited talk. Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Workshop on Behavior, Bethesda, MD.

Diamond, A. (Jan. 8, 2011). Love grows brains and shapes gene expression. Invited address. Seeds of Empathy Aboriginal meeting. Comox, BC.

Diamond, A. (Jan. 8, 2011). What executive functions are, and strategies and activities for aiding its development. Invited address. Seeds of Empathy Aboriginal meeting. Comox, BC.

Diamond, A. (Jan. 4, 2011). Strategies and activities for aiding the development of executive functions in young children. Invited talk. Child Guidance Centre, Sahyadri Specialty Hospital, Pune, India. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (Dec. 24, 2010). Invited Valedictory Address, Conference on Science, Spirituality, and Education, presided over by the Dalai Lama, to advise the Government of Sikkim in its endeavor to overhaul the provincial education system so that they educate not only the head but also the heart, in Gangtok, Sikkim, India.

Diamond, A. (Dec. 23, 2010). Insights from neuroscience, psychology, and teaching into how to educate the heart, & not only the head. Invited Address, Conference on Science, Spirituality, and Education, presided over by the Dalai Lama, to advise the Government of Sikkim in its endeavor to overhaul the provincial education system so that they educate not only the head but also the heart, in Gangtok, Sikkim, India.

Diamond, A. (Dec. 14, 2010). Development of the executive functions dependent on prefrontal cortex: Genetic and neurochemical influences, and possible interventions to help children. Invited talk. Brains and Behaviors Program, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (Nov. 9, 2010). Strategies and activities for aiding the development of executive functions in young children. Invited talk. British Columbia Association of School Psychologists (BCASP) Conference, Vancouver, BC.

Diamond, A. (Nov. 9, 2010). Prefrontal cortex and executive functions: What School Psychologists might need to know. Invited talk. British Columbia Association of School Psychologists (BCASP) Conference, Vancouver, BC.

Diamond, A. (Nov. 6, 2010). How the arts and play may aid human brain development. Invited speaker, Body Worlds & The Brain exhibit at Science World, Vancouver, BC.

Diamond, A. (Nov. 4, 2010). Prefrontal cortex and executive function development for K-12 educators. Invited plenary address, Making Connections Conference organized by UBC School Psychology Program, Richmond, BC. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (Oct. 28, 2010). Help millions, save billions: Invest wisely in early childhood to improve mental health. Invited speaker, Open Minds Across Canada Mental Health Symposia, Vancouver, BC.

Diamond, A. (Oct. 22, 2010). Executive functions in children and youth: How and why dance or storytelling might well support the development of these cognitive abilities? Invited talk. Conference on Childhood and Society, Bregenz, Austria. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (Oct. 19, 2010). The development of executive functions: Surprising ways in which children and adults are similar and different, and surprising interconnections between emotional, social, and physical well-being and executive function development. Invited lecture, Center for Lifespan Psychology Lecture Series, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany.

Diamond, A. (Sept. 22, 2010). Executive functions and prefrontal cortex: Genetic and neurochemical influences, clinical implications, and possible interventions to help. Invited speaker, Jane Holmes Bernstein Lecture in Developmental Neuropsychology, Psychiatry Grand Rounds, Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (Sept. 17, 2010). Evolution of how children’s minds change as they grow up, and environmental & biological influences on that. Invited 2-hour applied talk on neuropsychology for FRIENDS program trainers (an anxiety prevention program), Ministry for Children & Family Development, Vancouver, BC. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (Sep.11, 2010). Genetic influences on prefrontal function and gender differences in that. Invited speaker, Workshop on the Computational Properties of the Prefrontal Cortex (PFC), Whistler, BC.

Diamond, A. (June 26, 2010). Want to improve children's emotional and mental health? Consider an activity that requires discipline, sustained attention, and exercise. Invited speaker, “Paediatric Update”, Annual Canadian Paediatric Society Meeting, Vancouver, BC. Continuing Education credits provided.
view online: www.cps.ca/English/ProEdu/OnlineEdu.htm

Diamond, A. (June 19, 2010). Possible ways to prevent or remediate executive function deficits during childhood, adolescence, and emerging adulthood. Invited speaker, 2010 Mind & Life Summer Research Institute, Garrison Institute, New York. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (June 1, 2010). Why the arts are important for the development of children prepared to succeed in school and in life. Invited talk. Center for Integrated Arts Education Institute, Greeley, CO. Continuing Education credits provided.

Herman, D., Mass, C., Landa, R., and Diamond, A. (May 20, 2010). Performance by children with ASD, developmental delay, and typical development on delayed non-matched to sample task. Poster presentation. International Meeting for Autism Research (IMAR), Philadelphia, PA.

Diamond, A. (May 17, 2010). What should an intelligent audience interested in a societal commitment to the early years know about prefrontal cortex development? Invited talk. Council for Early Child Development, Toronto, ON

Diamond, A. (May 7, 2010). The effects of exercise on cognitive control: How important are the social, emotional, and cognitive aspects of the physical activity? Invited talk. 3rd International Congress on Physical Activity and Public Health, Toronto, ON

Diamond, A. (May 3, 2010). Preschool program improves cognitive control. Invited talk in a NIDA Workshop on “Interventions Targeted at Improving Cognitive Control,” Rockville, MD. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (Apr. 30, 2010). Coming full circle from the social end of psychology, to the neuroscience end, and back again. Invited talk. Annual Meeting for the Society of Experimental Psychologists, Philadelphia, PA.

Diamond, A. (Apr. 16, 2010). Insights into selective attention, task switching, and response inhibition. Invited talk. International Workshop on “Selection and Control Mechanisms in Perception and Action,” Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (Apr. 10, 2010). Why executive functions are important and how to aid their development. Keynote. Annual General Meeting, Association Montessori Internationale, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (Mar. 26, 2010). Development of executive functions in preschool and school-age children. Invited talk. 20th Annual Butters-Kaplan West Coast Neuropsychological Conference, San Diego, CA. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (Mar. 19, 2010). The executive functions dependent on prefrontal cortex: Genetic and environmental influences and educational and clinical implications. Keynote. Royce Conference, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB.

Diamond, A. (Mar, 17, 2010). Genetic and environmental influences on the expression of cognitive abilities dependent on prefrontal cortex. Invited lecture, Neuroscience Graduate Course (501) Module on Learning and Memory, UBC Faculty of Medicine, Vancouver, BC.

Diamond, A. (Mar . 9, 2010). Development of cognitive functions dependent on prefrontal cortex, and genetic and environmental influences. Invited talk. Javits Research Symposium, organized by Department of Education, National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented, and National Association for Gifted Children, Washington, DC

Diamond, A. (Feb. 26, 2010). Prefrontal cortex and education: Direct relevance of scientific discoveries to educational practice. Invited talk. The Curry Education Research Lectureship Series, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA. Continuing Education credits provided.
listen online: teis.virginia.edu/research-mainmenu-55/2533-education-research-lectureship-series-adele-diamond

Diamond, A. (Feb. 11, 2010). Resonating with Robbie Case and continuing his legacy: Current approaches to optimizing all aspects of a child’s development. Invited talk. Robbie Case Memorial Lecture, Institute of Child Study, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON.
view online: mediaspace.oise.utoronto.ca:8888/tinkerne/2010CaseLecture.mov

Diamond, A. (Jan. 20, 2010). Insights from neuroscience and developmental science for elementary school teachers. Invited talk, Waverley Elementary School. Vancouver, BC. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (Dec. 17, 2009). Prefrontal cortex and early child development. Invited talk. Meeting on Early Childhood Education, Academia Brasileira de Ciencias (the Brazilian National Academy of Sciences), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Diamond, A. (Dec. 5, 2009). What executive functions are, why they're important, and ways to improve them in young children. Invited talk, Conference on Cultivating Human Capital, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL.

Diamond, A. (Nov. 29, 2009) Invited talk. Royal Society of Canada, Ottawa.

Diamond, A. (Nov.24, 2009). Very little is fixed or unchangeable. Invited talk. Phoenix Academy of Learning, Vancouver.

Diamond, A. (Nov. 13, 2009). Cognitive control and self-regulation in young children: Ways to improve that and why. Keynote. Conference on “School Readiness and School Success: From research to policy and practice,” co-sponsored by the Strategic Knowledge Cluster on Early Child Development and the Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development, Quebec City, QC. Continuing Education credits provided.
view online: www.skc-ecd.ca/conferences/ready-for-school-ready-for-life.html

Diamond, A. (Nov. 6, 2009). Prefrontal cortex executive functions: Genetic and environmental influences with clinical and educational implications. Invited talk. University of Washington, Seattle.

Diamond, A. (Nov. 5, 2009). Interrelations between creativity and executive functions: Lessons from Psychology and Neuroscience for cultivating giftedness in young people. Invited talk in a speaker series at Evergreen, hosted by the Evergreen School and the UW Psychology Dept., University of Washington, Seattle.

Diamond, A. (Nov. 4, 2009). Genetic and environmental influences on prefrontal cortex executive functions: Practical relevance and clinical implications. Invited talk. Child Psychiatry Rounds, Glenrose Hospital, Edmonton, AB. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (Nov. 3, 2009). ADD (ADHD without hyperactivity) is a neurobiologically and behaviorally distinct disorder from ADHD (that includes hyperactivity). Invited talk. Glenrose Hospital, Edmonton, AB. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (Oct. 20, 2009). Insuring that all children and youth have the opportunities and resources to achieve their full potential and to participate in creating a better society. Keynote. Honoring Our Advocacy Fundraiser for First Call: BC Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition, Vancouver, BC.

Diamond, A. (Oct. 6, 2009). Strategies and programs to improve cognitive control and academic achievement in young children: What's joy got to do with it? Invited talk. Positive Psychology Centre, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

Diamond, A. (October 2, 2009). Prefrontal cortex executive functions: Genetic and environmental influences with clinical and educational implications. Invited talk. Neuroscience and Cognitive Sciences Colloquium. University of Maryland at College Park. College Park, Maryland.

Diamond, A. ( September 24, 2009). Normal and atypical development of the cognitive control processes dependent on the frontal lobe. Invited talk. European Science Foundation Research Conference, St Feliu de Guixols, Catalonia, Spain. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (September 15, 2009). Cognitive neuroscience relevant to acting early in children’s lives to promote mental health and prevent mental illness. Invited talk. A Symposium on the Mental Health Promotion Considerations for the Pan-Canadian Healthy Living Strategy for PHAC. Ottawa.

Diamond, A. (September 10, 2009). Cognitive control and self-regulation in young children: Ways to improve it and why. Keynote. British Psychological Society Annual Meeting, Developmental Section, Nottingham, UK. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (September 6, 2009). Cognitive neuroscience and the importance of the arts for educating children's minds, hearts, and bodies. Invited talk. Cortona Week 2009 – an interdisciplinary conference of artists and scientists. Cortona, Tuscany, Italy.

Diamond, A. (August 7, 2009). Strategies and programs that help to improve executive functions in young children. Invited talk for a special session (Div. 7). American Psychological Association Annual Convention, Toronto. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (August 6, 2009). Prefrontal cortex and developmental neuropsychology: Practical relevance of what we know about genetic and environmental influences on prefrontal cortex. Invited talk for a special session (Div. 40). American Psychological Association Annual Convention, Toronto. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (July 19-24, 2009). Prefrontal cortex executive functions: Genetic and environmental influences and clinical implications. A week-long invited course at the Center for Cognitive Science, New Bulgarian University, Sofia, Bulgaria.
view online: www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXgToTwPhNU%20

Diamond, A. (July 13, 2009). Developmental change in, and environmental modulation of, cognitive control: Differences by gender and genetics. Invited talk. UC Berkeley Conference on Neurocognitive Development, University of California - Berkeley.

Diamond, A. (June 10, 2009). Prefrontal cortex and developmental neuropsychology: Genetic and environmental influences. Invited academic talk, M.I.N.D. Institute, University of California - Davis.
view online: media.mindinstitute.org/video/dls/2009/mov/diamond_2009_dls_01.mov

Diamond, A. (June 10, 2009). Cognitive control in young children and ways to improve it. Invited community talk, M.I.N.D. Institute, University of California - Davis.
view online: media.mindinstitute.org/video/dls/2009/mov/diamond_2009_dls_02.mov

Evans, J.W., Fossella, J., Hampson, E., Kirschbaum, C., & Diamond, A. (May 25, 2009). Gender differences in the cognitive functions sensitive to the level of dopamine in prefrontal cortex. Poster presented at the Association for Psychological Science annual meeting, San Francisco, CA.

Diamond, A. (May 8, 2009). Practical relevance of what we know about genetic and environmental influences on prefrontal cortex. Keynote. Australian Society for the Study of Brain Impairment (ASSBI) Annual Conference, Sydney, Australia. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (May 7, 2009). Strategies and programs to help improve executive functions in young children. Invited half-day workshop, Australian Society for the Study of Brain Impairment (ASSBI) Annual Conference, Sydney, Australia. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (Apr. 7, 2009). Development of the refinement of attention, and some ways to aid its development. Invited talk. “Mind and Life” Meeting on Attention and Memory, a five-day meeting with the Dalai Lama at his residence in Dharamsala, India.

Munro, S., & Diamond, A. (Apr. 3, 2009). Developing executive function skills for school success in preschoolers. Presented in the symposium: “Promoting Executive Functions in Young Children: The Role of Family and Child Characteristics and Early Education,” Society for Research in Child Development, Denver, CO.

Munro, S., & Diamond, A. (Apr. 2, 2009). Outcome of a Vygotskian approach to improving executive functions in preschoolers. Presented in the symposium: “Mediating Mechanisms: Building Knowledge of Young Children's Social-Emotional Development from Three Preschool Efficacy Trials,” Society for Research in Child Development, Denver, CO.

Diamond, A. (Mar. 30, 2009). Invited short talk, Board of Directors’ Reception, Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI). Vancouver, BC.

Diamond, A (March 25, 2009). Activities to improve executive functions in young children. Invited presentation, Lake Washington Literacy Council, Edmonds, WA. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A (March 25, 2009). Parents, play, and the brain. Invited keynote address at the Annual Spring In-Service for Parent Educators, Organization of Parent Education Programs, Lake Washington Technical College Parent Education Program, Lake Washington, WA. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (Mar. 18, 2009). Frontal lobe and executive function. Invited lecture in Neuroscience Graduate Course (501) in Module 4: Disorders of Cognition, Communication & Emotion, UBC.

Diamond, A. (Feb. 19, 2009). Practical relevance of what we know about genetic and environmental influences on prefrontal cortex: Interventions to help improve executive functions in children. Invited talk. 2009 Developmental Neurogenomic Seminar Series, Centre for Community Child Health Research, Children's & Women's Health Centre of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC.

Diamond, A. (Feb. 17, 2009). The anatomy, development ,genetic influences on, and cognitive abilities that depend upon prefrontal cortex. Part of a series of four invited talks for Area Counsellors, Speech and Language Pathologists, and Psychologists with the Vancouver School Board, Vancouver, BC. Pro D / CE credits provided for each talk.

Diamond, A. (Feb. 17, 2009). Interventions to improve executive functions in young children. Part of a series of four invited talks for Area Counsellors, Speech and Language Pathologists, and Psychologists with the Vancouver School Board, Vancouver, BC. Pro D / CE credits provided for each talk.

Diamond, A. (Feb. 17, 2009). Early cognitive development, especially the development of executive functions. Part of a series of four invited talks for Area Counsellors, Speech and Language Pathologists, and Psychologists with the Vancouver School Board, Vancouver, BC. Pro D / CE credits provided for each talk.

Diamond, A. (Feb. 17, 2009). Neurocognitive tests used to assess executive functions in young children. Part of a series of four invited talks for Area Counsellors, Speech and Language Pathologists, and Psychologists with the Vancouver School Board, Vancouver, BC. Pro D / CE credits provided for each talk.

Diamond, A. (Feb. 12, 2009). Genetic and environmental influences on cognitive abilities dependent on prefrontal cortex: Practical relevance of what we know. The Helen H. Molinari Memorial Lecture in Neuroscience, Center for Neuropharmacology & Neuroscience, Albany Medical College, Albany, NY.

Diamond, A. (Jan 15, 2009). What are the tasks we claim are measuring working memory, inhibition, and switching really measuring? Invited talk. “What is the Organization of Prefrontal Cortex for Executive Function?," inaugural conference of a series on "Executive Function & Dysfunction," University of Boulder, CO.

Evans, J.W., Fossella, J., Hampson, E., Kirschbaum, C., & Diamond, A. (Jan. 15, 2009). Gender differences in the cognitive functions sensitive to the level of dopamine in prefrontal cortex. Poster presented at “What is the Organization of Prefrontal Cortex for Executive Function?," inaugural conference of a series on "Executive Function & Dysfunction," University of Boulder, CO.

Diamond, A. (Jan. 9, 2009). Prefrontal cortex: Expanding the boundaries of our knowledge and using what we know to prevent disorders and help children. John P. Zubek Memorial Lecture, Dept. of Psychology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg.

Diamond, A. (Nov. 20, 2008), Genetic and environmental influences on Prefrontal Cortex: Relevance of what we know to what can be done to help children. Invited talk presented at Schneider Children's Medical Center, Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Israel.

Diamond, A. (Nov. 17, 2008). Relevance of what we know about genetic and environmental influences on Prefrontal Cortex to what can be done to help children. Invited talk presented at Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva, Israel.

Diamond, A. (Nov. 13, 2008). Genetic and Environmental influences on cognitive abilities dependent on Prefrontal Cortex: Practical relevance of what we know. Invited talk presented at Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel.

Diamond, A. (Nov. 4, 2008). Prefrontal Cortex and developmental neuropsychiatry. Invited talk presented at BC Children's Hospital Neuropsychiatry Rounds. Vancouver, BC. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (Oct 20, 2008). Neuroscience and education: Direct relevance of scientific discoveries to educational practice. Invited public address in day-long celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the journal, Neuron. A free public symposium, “The Impact of Neuroscience on Society,” organized by Cell Press, Fondation Ipsen, and Massachusetts General Hospital, held at the Collège de France, Paris.

Diamond, A. (Sept. 10, 2008). Improving Executive Functions in young children, and, gender differences in the PFC Dopamine System in adults. Invited presentation to BC Neuropsychiatry Grand Rounds, at UBC Hospital and linked via video teleconference province-wide to 24 remote sites. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (Sept 5, 2008). Genetic and Environmental Influences on the Expression of Cognitive Abilities dependent on Prefrontal Cortex: Relevance of what we know to what can be done to help children. RO Jones Memorial Speaker at the Canadian Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (July 15, 2008). Cognitive Control in Young Children and Ways to Improve It. Presented at the “Brain Development and Learning” Making Sense of the Science” biennial conference, Vancouver, BC. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (July 6, 2008). Prefrontal Cortex and Developmental Neuropsychology. Special talk presented to the Servicio de Clínicas Interdisciplinarias at the Hospital Nacional de Pediatría, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (July 4, 2008). Cognitive control in young children: Ways to measure it and to improve it. Invited Birch Lecture at the International Neuropsychological Society Annual Meeting, Buenos Aries, Argentina.

Diamond, A. (July 3, 2008). Prefrontal Cortex dysfunction in developmental neuropsychological disorders: Relevance of what we know to what can be done to help the children. An invited 3-hour Workshop at the International Neuropsychological Society Annual Meeting, Buenos Aries, Argentina. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (June 24, 2008). Cognitive Control (Executive Functions) in Young Children: Relevance of what we know to what can be done to help children. Invited Address in Plenary Session: “Emotion-Regulation and the Central Nervous System: How Children’s Brains Connect with Their Learning” at the Head Start National Research Conference, Washington, DC.

Diamond, A. (June 19, 2008). Prefrontal Cortex: Expanding the Boundaries of our Knowledge and Using what we Already Know to Prevent Disorders and Help Children. Invited talk. UBC Dept. of Psychiatry Research Day, Vancouver, BC. Continuing Education Credits provided.

Diamond, A. (June 19, 2008). Commencement Address. Eaton Arrowsmith School, Vancouver, BC.

Diamond, A. (June 5, 2008). Improving children’s lives, discipline, and cognitive skills through dance. Invited talk at National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) meeting on “Can Physical Activity and Exercise Prevent Drug Abuse? Promoting a Full Range of Science to Inform Prevention” in Bethesda, MD.

Diamond, A. (May 29, 2008). The Neuroscience and Cognitive Science of Executive Functions: Where the Translational and Implementation Opportunities Lay. Invited presentation at the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, Washington, DC

Diamond, A. (May 26, 2008). For Disorders such as PTSD & ADHD: Relevance of what we know to what can be done to help children. Invited 3-hour workshop for the Vancouver Coastal Foster Support Services, Vancouver, BC. Continuing Education Credits provided.

Diamond, A. (May 25, 2008). Executive function skills CAN be improved in low-income preschoolers at minimal expense: implications for reducing ADHD incidence and achievement gap between richer and poorer children. In a Symposium on “Understanding Executive Functions: Integrating Biological, Developmental, and Educational Perspectives” (chair: Adele Diamond), Association for Psychological Science Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL.

Diamond, A. (May 15, 2008). Genetic and environmental influences on the expression of cognitive abilities dependent on prefrontal cortex. Invited Lecture, Canadian Centre for Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge, AB.

Diamond, A. (May 7, 2008). For disorders such as PTSD, ADHD, & Autism: Relevance of what we know to what can be done to help children. Invited 3-hour workshop, Ministry of Children and Family Development, Abbotsford, BC. Continuing Education Credits provided.

Diamond, A. (Apr. 14, 2008). Differential difficulty of inhibitory control and memory load at different periods of life. In a Symposium on “The rise and fall of cognitive control: Lifespan development,” Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA.

Diamond, A. (Apr. 7, 2008). Invited to be member of the ‘distinguished panel’ at a public dialogue on “A New Vision of Learning: Balancing Educating the Mind with Educating the Heart,” Wosk Centre for Dialogue, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC.

Diamond, A. (Apr. 6, 2008). Invited presentation, Conference on Developmental Issues in Contemplative Education, Garrison Institute, Garrison, NY.

Diamond, A. (Mar. 31, 2008). Genetic and environmental influences on the expression of cognitive abilities dependent on prefrontal cortex. Neuroscience colloquium, University of Western Ontario, London, ON.

Diamond, A. (Mar. 19, 2008). Genetic and environmental influences on the expression of cognitive abilities dependent on prefrontal cortex. Invited 2-hour lecture, Neuroscience graduate course, Module 4: Disorders of Cognition, UBC Faculty of Medicine, Vancouver, BC.

Diamond, A. (Mar. 15, 2008). Helping children become masters of their own behavior: Novel methods for improving cognitive control (executive functions) in young children and their relevance for disorders such as ADHD. APS William James Distinguished Lecture at the annual meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Boston, MA. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (Jan. 18, 2008). Prefrontal Cortex Dysfunction and developmental disorders: Relevance of what we know to what can be done to help children. Cognitive Science colloquium, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ.

Diamond, A. (Jan. 17, 2008). Cognitive control (executive functions) in young children: Some things we’ve learned about it and about how to improve it. Invited talk, College of Education, early childhood administrators & teachers, United Way personnel, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ.

Diamond, A. (Nov. 9, 2007).  The Development, Neural Basis, & Techniques for Assessment of Self-Regulation (Executive Functions): What Early Childhood Educators Should Know. Presented at National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL.

Diamond, A.  (Oct. 12, 2007). Prefrontal Executive Functions: Genetic and Environmental Influences and Clinical Implications. Invited Address to the Inaugural Joint Meeting of the BC Pediatric and Neonatal Societies, Burnaby, BC.

Diamond, A. (Sept. 3, 2007).  Three Lessons from Neuroscience Relevant to Education.  Keynote Address, Symposium on “Brains, learning and educational innovation,” Maastricht University.

Diamond, A. (Sept. 3, 2007).  The Future of Learning: A Neuroscience Perspective.  Opening of the Academic Year Address, University of Maastricht, Netherlands.
view online: www.youtube.com/watch?v=uU3RCUWmmHU

Diamond, A. (July 2, 2007). Novel Methods for Improving and Assessing Executive Functions in Young Children. Presented in invited symposium, “Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience of the Executive Functions dependent on the Frontal Lobe:  Challenging Long-held Beliefs” at the International Neuropsychological Society Annual Meeting, Bilbao, Spain. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (June 6, 2007). Some things I’ve learned in 25 years: some generalizations concerning cognition and cognitive development. Colloquium, Dept. of Psychology, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA.

Diamond, A. & Wu, Y. (June 1, 2007). Development of a social ‘Simon’ effect. Presented in a symposium entitled, “Perception and Action in Social and non-Social Domains in Children and Adults: Re-thinking Theory of Mind, Stimulus-Response Compatibility, and Intentionality,” Jean Piaget Society Annual Meeting, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Diamond, A. (May 29, 2007). Some lessons from cognitive development for cognitive neuroscience, and some lessons from cognitive neuroscience for cognitive development, Leiden University, Netherlands.

Diamond, A. (May 24, 2007). Innovative practices: Supporting teachers as well as supporting students; addressing students’ physical, artistic, and emotional needs as well as their cognitive ones; and some targeted ways to assess outcomes. Closing Keynote Address, HELP Workshop on Innovative Assessment Practices – Supporting Families and Community, Vancouver, BC.

Diamond, A. (May 8, 2007). Teaching cognitive control & emotional self-regulation to preschoolers and assessing their benefits. Presented in a Symposium on “Implications of Cognitive Neuroscience for Education,” Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, New York, NY.
Diamond, A. (Apr. 25, 2007). Brain research. Invited talk, Student Support Services for the West Vancouver public schools (school psychologists, speech and language pathologists, and learning support teachers), West Vancouver, BC.

Diamond, A., Leong, D., & Bodrova, E. (Mar. 31, 2007). Helping children become masters of their own behavior: a preschool curriculum that improves executive functions. Presented in a Symposium entitled, “Promoting the Development of Self-Regulation in Young Children Through Innovative Curricula and Teacher Interactions,” Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Boston, MA.

Feng, X., Bialystok, E., & Diamond A. (Mar. 31, 2007). Manipulating information in working memory - an advantage for bilinguals. Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, March, Boston, MA.

Diamond, A. (Jan. 11, 2007). Brain research. An invited workshop for Principals and Vice Principals, Secondary Education and Instructional Services, West Vancouver School District #45, West Vancouver, BC. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (Nov. 3, 2006). Genes that affect Dopamine (COMT, DAT1, and DRD4): Gender differences and disorder differences. Invited TGIF talk, Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics, BC Children and Women’s Health Centre, Vancouver, BC.

Diamond, A. (Nov. 1, 2006). How children think. Invited presentation, Mini-Med School Series of the Child and Family Research Institute, Vancouver, BC. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (Oct. 31, 2006). Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. Invited presentation, 4th year Biomedical students at UBC, Vancouver, BC.

Diamond, A. (Sept. 20, 2006). Prefrontal cortex and neurodevelopmental disorders. Grand Rounds, Alberta Children's Hospital, Calgary, for physicians, pediatric residents, and allied health care professionals, Calgary, AB, Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (Sept. 20, 2006). Genetic and environmental influences on the expression of cognitive abilities dependent on prefrontal cortex. Medical Genetics Grand Rounds, Alberta Children's Hospital, Calgary, AB, Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (Sept. 22, 2006). Close interrelations of the development, and neural bases, of motor and cognitive functions. Neuroscience Grand Rounds, Hotckiss Brain Institute, Calgary, AB, Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (Aug. 20, 2006). (ADHD without Hyperactivity) is a neurobiologically & behaviorally distinct disorder from ADHD (with Hyperactivity). Presentation, Brain Development and Learning” Making Sense of the Science Conference, Vancouver, BC. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (May 24, 2007). Innovative Practices: Supporting Teachers as well as Supporting Students; Addressing Students’ Physical, Artistic, and Emotional Needs as well as their Cognitive Ones; and Some Targeted Ways to Assess Outcomes. Closing Keynote Address at HELP Workshop on Innovative Assessment Practices – Supporting Families and Community, Vancouver, BC.

Diamond, A. (June 27, 2006). Executive functions and prefrontal cortex. Invited talk. Unilever 'Child Mental Development' Workshop, Rotterdam, NE.

Diamond, A. (June 23, 2006). Motor development and cognitive development during infancy. Invited talk, Laboratory of Alain Berthoz, Collège de France, Paris, France.

Diamond, A. (June 16, 2006). Development of inhibitory control, mental manipulation, and cognitive flexibility. Invited talk, Neurofunctional Imagery Group (GIN), Ciceron Brain and Cognition Center, Caen, France. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. & Seamans, J. (June 9, 2006). Clinical implications of recent work on prefrontal cortex function. Invited workshop at the Annual UBC Dept. of Psychiatry Clinical Day, Vancouver, BC.

Diamond, A. (May 19, 2006). Preschool training in self-regulation: Helping children help themselves. Invited talk for Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP) Research Day, Vancouver, BC.

Diamond, A. & Leong, D. (May 11, 2006). Teaching Cognitive and Emotional Self-Regulation to Preschoolers and Assessing its Benefits. Invited Workshop presented at the Supporting Children’s Social and Emotional Health: Assessment Tools, Research and Practice Conference, Vancouver, BC.

Diamond, A. (May 4, 2006). The prefrontal dopamine system and the periarcuate relational system. Invited talk at conference on “Prefrontal Cortex, Working Memory, Flexible Behavior: In memoriam for Patricia S Goldman-Rakic.” Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT.

Diamond, A. (May 3, 2006). Some things I've learned in 25 years: Some generalizations concerning cognition and cognitive development. Presentation, Current Work in Developmental Psychology series, Yale University, New Haven, CT.

Diamond, A. (May 2, 2006). Invited talk, Sackler Institute, Weill Medical College, Cornell University, New York City, NY.

Diamond, A. (April 28, 2006). Developmental Change in, and Environmental Modulation of, Cognitive Control: Differences by Gender and Genetics. Invited talk presented at the “Executive and Prefrontal Functions: Exploring Supervision and Volition” in the Brain Workshop at the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies, UBC, Vancouver, BC

Diamond, A. (April 19, 2006). What are the principal unanswered research questions concerning Executive Function and executive control of attention? Can these abilities be improved in children as young as 3-5 years and if so what are the benefits of doing do so? Invited talk at Garrison Institute’s Program on Contemplation and Education: Workshop on the role of attentional abilities in the social-emotional development of young children, Garrison, NY.

Diamond, A. (Apr. 10, 2006). The development and neural bases of cognitive flexibility and executive function. Invited Presentation, American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA.

Munro, S., Chau, C., Gazarian, K. & Diamond, A. (Apr. 9, 2006). Dramatically larger Flanker effects (6-fold elevation). Presentation, Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA. Cognitive Neuroscience Society 2006 Annual Meeting, 164.

Diamond, A. (Mar. 31, 2006). Invited presentation at a workshop organized on behalf of the Jacobs Foundation called "Research Frontiers for Intervention and Assessment,” Marbach Castle, Lake Constance, Germany.

Diamond, A, (Feb. 14, 2006). Genetic and environmental influences on the expression of cognitive abilities dependent on prefrontal cortex. Invited Presentation at Gordon Conference on Genes and Behavior. Ventura, CA. Continuing Education credit provided.

Diamond, A. (Oct. 28, 2005). Autism and grasping conceptual connections among physically connected and unconnected items. Grand Rounds at Queen Alexandria Centre for Children’s Health, Victoria, BC. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (Oct. 27, 2005). Some generalizations concerning cognition and cognitive development. Colloquium to the Department of Psychology, University of Victoria, BC.

Feng, X., Diamond, A., & Bialystok, E. (Oct. 22, 2005). Executive functions in monolingual and bilingual children: separating working memory and inhibitory control. Presentation, The Biennial Meeting of the Cognitive Development Society, San Diego, CA.

Diamond, A. (Sept. 9, 2005). Prefrontal cortex and neurodevelopmental disorders. Dr. Hira Panikkar Memorial Lecture, Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, BC Children’s Hospital, Vancouver. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (June 1, 2005). Autism and grasping connections between items physically unconnected. Division of Developmental Pediatrics. Education/Research Rounds at Sunny Hill Centre, Vancouver, BC. Continuing Education credits provided.

Diamond, A. (May 6, 2005). Frontal Lobe Dysfunction in Young Children and Environmental Interventions that Improve Children’s Frontal Lobe Functioning. Henry Dunn Lecture at the commencement of the Northwest Pacific Pediatric Neurology Society Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC.

Diamond, A. (Apr. 27-29, 2005). Cognitive Flexibility: Its Development and its Modulation by Genes and Environment. Invited Presentation at Conference on Advances in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. Amsterdam, Netherlands.
view online: users.fmg.uva.nl/mhuizinga/workshop.htm

Diamond, A. (Apr. 20, 2005). ADD (ADHD without hyperactivity), a neurobiologically and behaviorally distinct disorder from ADHD (with hyperactivity). Invited presentation, Mini-Med School Series at BC Research Institute for Children’s & Women’s Health, Vancouver, BC.
view online:
http://www.bcricwh-training.bc.ca/speakers_events/minimed_school/mini_med_school.htm

Diamond, A. (Apr. 3-4, 2005). Neurochemistry and Early Childhood Education:  Genetic and Environmental influences on the Development of Executive Function. Invited presentation at Emory Cognition Project Conference on Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Conference, Atlanta, Georgia.

Diamond, A. (March 19-20, 2005). Interrelations between Motor Development and Cognitive Development, between “Motor” and “Cognitive” Brain Regions, and between “Motor” and “Cognitive” Disorders. Invited address at the 17th European Conference on Neuro-Developmental Delay, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Diamond, A. (Mar., 2005). Interrelations between cognition, perception, & action, similarities between young & old, & effects of neurochemistry & early childhood education. Psychology Department Colloquium, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON.

Diamond, A. (Mar., 2005). Prefrontal cortex involvement in normal development and in developmental disorders. Psychiatry Grand Rounds, 2005 Brain Awareness Week Lecture for the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Neurosciences, Department of Psychology; and the Brain-Body Institute, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON.
view online:dailynews.mcmaster.ca/worthmentioning.cfm?ID=2151
view online:
www.fhs.mcmaster.ca/psychiatryneuroscience/education/psych_rounds/march_2005.htm#item4

Diamond, A. (Mar., 2005). Treated phenylketonuria: Deficits in cognition and vision, and why. Keynote address, Annual Celebration of Research, BC Research Institute for Children’s & Women’s Health, Vancouver, BC.
view online:
www.bcricwh-training.bc.ca/research%20week%20posters%202205/Peds%20research%20day%202005.doc
view online: www.psychologymatters.org/diamond.html

Diamond, A. (Mar., 2005). Selective cognitive and neurobiological effects from a global insult to the brain. Neurosciences Proseminar Guest Lecture, UBC, Vancouver.

Diamond, A. (Mar., 2005). Selective attention, negative priming, and task switching. Colloquium to the Vision Group, Department of Psychology, UBC, Vancouver.

Diamond, A. (Feb., 2005). Prefrontal Cortex and Neurodevelopmental Disorders. Invited address at the International Neuropsychological Society Annual Meeting, St. Louis, MO.

Diamond, A. (Feb., 2005). Diamond’s laws of cognition and cognitive development. Cognitive Systems Guest Lecture Series, UBC, Vancouver.
view online: ling75.arts.ubc.ca/cogs401/news/lectures/diamond_2-22.htm

Diamond, A. (Jan., 2005). Prefrontal cortex involvement in normal development and in developmental disorders. Invited address, York University, Toronto, ON.

Diamond, A. (Jan., 2005). Measures of frontal lobe function for children and adults. Neuropsychiatry Grand Rounds, UBC Department of Psychiatry, Vancouver, BC.

Diamond, A. (Jan., 2005). Behavioral tasks that assess prefrontal functioning in infants under one year of age. Guest Lecture, Education Course, UBC, Vancouver, BC.

Before 2005: - click here.

[up] [home]