UMass Boston

Cognitive Neuroscience, Attention and Sensory Development, Neuroimaging 

PhD, University of Pennsylvania

• Blass, E.M. & Ciaramitaro, V. (1994) A new look at some old mechanisms in human newborns: Taste and tactile determinants of state, affect and action. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, Serial No. 239, 59 (1): 1-81.
• Diamond, A., Ciaramitaro, V., Donner, E., Djali, S., & Robinson, M. (1994) An animal model of early-treated PKU. Journal of Neuroscience, 14 (5): 3072-3082.
• Ciaramitaro, V.M., Todd, W.E. & Rosenquist, A.C. (1997) Disinhibition of the superior colliculus restores orienting to visual stimuli in the hemianopic field of the cat. Journal of Comparative Neurology, 387: 568-587
• Ciaramitaro, V.M. & Glimcher, P.W. (2000) Attending to Contrast. Neuron, 26: 543-550.
• Ciaramitaro, V.M., Cameron, E.L. & Glimcher, P.W. (2001) Stimulus probability directs spatial attention: an enhancement of sensitivity in humans and monkeys. Vision Research, 41: 57-75.
• Glimcher, P.W., Ciaramitaro, V.M., Platt, M.L., Bayer, H.M., Brown, M.A. & Handel, A. (2001) Application of neurosonography to experimental physiology. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 108:131-144.
• Arman, A.C., Ciaramitaro, V.M., Boynton, G.M. (2006) Effects of feature-based attention on the motion aftereffect at remote locations. Vision Research, 46(18): 2968-76.
• Ng, M., Ciaramitaro, V.M., Anstis, S., Boynton, G.M. & Fine, I. (2006) Selectivity for cues to gender, ethnicity and identity in human visual cortex. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 103(51): 19552-7.
• Ciaramitaro, V.M., Buracas, G.T., & Boynton, G.M. (2007) Spatial and cross-modal attention alter responses to unattended sensory information in early visual and auditory human cortex. Journal of Neurophysiology, 98(4)
• Ciaramitaro, V.M., Mitchell, J.F., Stoner, G.R., Reynolds, J.H., & Boynton, G.M. (2011) Object-based attention to one of two superimposed surfaces alters responses in human early visual cortex. Journal of Neurophysiology, 105(3): 1258-65.
• Ciaramitaro, V.M. & Stoner, G. (Eds.) (2014). Beyond Space-based or Feature-based Selection: Mechanisms of Object-based Attention. Research Topic in Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience. http://journal.frontiersin.org/researchtopic/1220/beyond-space-based-or-feature-based-selection-mechanisms-of-object-based-attention
• Shukla, M., and Ciaramitaro, V. (2016) Cognitive capacities of the infant mind: A neuroimaging perspective. In: M. Farisco & K. Evers (Eds.) Neurotechnology and direct brain communication. Taylor & Francis.
• Harris, DA & Ciaramitaro, VM (2016) Interdependent mechanisms for processing gender and emotion: The special status of angry male faces. Frontiers in Psychology: Cognition, 7, 1046
• Harris, D. A., Hayes-Skelton, S. A., & Ciaramitaro, V. M. (2016). What’s in a face? How face gender and current affect influence perceived emotion. Frontiers in Psychology: Cognition, 7, 1468.
• Ciaramitaro, V. M., & Stoner, G. R. (2016). Editorial: Beyond Space-Based or Feature-Based Selection: Mechanisms of Object-Based Attention. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience, 10, 39.
• Ciaramitaro, V. M., Chow, H. M., & Eglington, L. G. (2017). Cross-modal attention influences auditory contrast sensitivity: Decreasing visual load improves auditory thresholds for amplitude-and frequency-modulated sounds. Journal of Vision, 17(3), 20.
• Soto, T. W., Ciaramitaro, V. M., & Carter A. S. (2017). Sensory Over Responsivity. In C. Zeanah (Ed.), Handbook of infant mental health, 4th edition. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
• Chow, H. M., & Ciaramitaro, V. M. (in press). What makes a shape ‘baba’? The shape features prioritized in sound-shape correspondence change with development. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology.

Lab Website:  Click here to visit

Lab Phone: 617.287.6363

Vivian Ciaramitaro’s research focuses on the processing of visual and auditory information in adulthood and throughout development. She investigates mechanisms of attention and plasticity using various methodologies to link quantified changes in behavior with quantified changes in the brain.

Psych 250: Learning and Memory
Psych 475: Experimental Methods: Learning and Perception
Psych 477: Cognitive Development

PSYDBS 623: Cognitive Neuroscience
PSYCLN 641 Cognitive and Affective Bases of Behavior: Life Span Development
PSYDBS 764: Mechanisms of Attention: From Brain to Behavior