People
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Kalina Christoff is an Associate Professor in the Psychology Department and the Brain Research Centre at the University of British Columbia.
She completed her doctoral work at Stanford University with John D. E. Gabrieli, and her postdoctoral training at Cambridge, UK with Adrian M. Owen. Her work focuses on the neural and cognitive mechanisms of human thought, reasoning and memory, using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI).
Her work on the functions of the anterior prefrontal cortex (PFC) has linked this part of the brain to the uniquely human mental processes of introspection and meta-awareness. Dr. Christoff’s most recent work focuses on examining spontaneous forms of thought, such as memories and thought streams occuring in the form of mind wandering. She is also interested in examining meditation-based thought phenomena such as mindfulness, and developing clinical applications for fMRI using real-time fMRI feedback to train modulation of activation in specific brain regions.
![]() Matt Dixon |
![]() Melissa Ellamil |
![]() Kieran Fox |
![]() Zach Stansfield |
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS & RESEARCH ASSISTANTS
![]() Savannah Nijeboer |
![]() Tamar O'Shea |
![]() Doris Pham |
![]() Tanya Barr |
![]() Mara Puertolas |
LAB COORDINATORS
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ASSOCIATES & COLLABORATORS
![]() Pierre Zakarauskas University of British Columbia |
University of British Columbia |
Sean PritchardFielding Graduate University |
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![]() Evan Thompson University of Toronto |
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ALUMNI
![]() Rachelle Smith |
![]() Kamyar Keramatian |
![]() Alan Gordon |
![]() Cade Warren |
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![]() Graeme McCaig |
![]() Ivan Kouznetsov |
![]() Jonathan Erez |
![]() Jason Winters |
![]() Lanna Bessel |
![]() Conor Lavelle |
![]() Irene Liu |
![]() Brian Luus |
![]() Stan Geller |
![]() Alex Weinberg |
| KIERAN FOX |
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Kieran is currently a PhD student in the Christoff lab. When he's not busy chanting 'Om' on mountaintops, he researches the neural basis of meditation and the behavioral improvements it engenders. During his undergraduate years his research focused on the memory sources of dreams and nightmares, specifically memories underlying the hypnagogic state. For his MA work at UBC, he worked on demonstrating better introspection in people who practice meditation. For his PhD he is investigating mind-wandering, metacognition, and the evolutionary basis of brain complexity. |
EDUCATION • Ph.D Psychology (in progress) University of British Columbia |
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS • Fox, K.C.R., Zakarauskas, P., Dixon, M.L., Ellamil, M., Thompson, E. & Christoff, K. (2012). Meditation experience predicts introspective accuracy. PLoS ONE, 7(9), e45370. • Stenstrom, P., Fox, K.C.R., Solomonova, E. & Nielsen, T. A. (2012). Mentation during sleep onset theta bursts in a trained participant: A role for NREM stage 1 sleep in memory processing? International Journal of Dream Research, 5(1), 37-46. |
CONTACT |
PUBLIC TALKS • "Enhanced Brain Grey Matter Concentration in Long-term Meditation Practitioners" (April 2012) MA Thesis Talk at Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia. |
MENTORS, COLLABORATORS, ASSOCIATES • Dr. Tore A. Nielsen, University of Montreal |












Sean Pritchard



















• Phone: 1-604-822-2849 • Location: Rm.3022 •