Publications

2023
  • Kucyi, A., Kam, J.W.Y., Andrews-Hanna, J.R., Christoff, K., & Whitfield-Gabrieli, S. (2023). Recent advances in the neuroscience of spontaneous and off-task thought: implications for mental health. Nat. Mental Health 1, 827–840. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44220-023-00133-w [Web Access]
  • Poulos, C., Zamani, A., Pillemer, D., Leichtman, M., Christoff, K., & Mills, C. (2023). Investigating the appraisal structure of spontaneous thoughts: Evidence for differences among unexpected thought, involuntary autobiographical memories, and ruminative thought. Psychological Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-023-01814-y [Web Access]
  • Mallett, R., Nahas, Y., Christoff, K., Paller, K., & Mills, C. (2023). Cognitive control and semantic thought variability across sleep and wakefulness. PsyArXiv [Download]
2022
  • Zamani, A., Carhart-Harris, R. & Christoff, K. (2022). Prefrontal contributions to the stability and variability of thought and conscious experience. Neuropsychopharmacology. 47, 329–348 [Web Access] 
  • Zamani, A., Mills, C., Girn, M., & Christoff, K. (2022, June 2). A Closer Look at Transitions Between the Generative and Evaluative Phases of Creative Thought.PsyArXiv [Web Access]
2021
  • Mills, C., Porter, A.R., Andrews-Hanna, J.R., Christoff, K., & Colby, A. (2021). How task-unrelated and freely moving thought relate to affect: Evidence from dissociable patterns in everyday life. Emotion. [Web Access]
  • Mills, C., Zamani, A., White, R., & Christoff, K. (2021). Out of the blue: understanding abrupt and wayward transitions in thought using probability and predictive processing. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. [Download]
  • Raffaelli, Q., Mills, C., de Stefano, NA. Mehl, MR., Chambers, K., Fitzgerald, SA., Wilcox, R., Christoff, K., Andrews. ES., Grilli, MD., O’Connor, MF., Andrews-Hanna. JR. (2021). The think aloud paradigm reveals differences in the content, dynamics and conceptual scope of resting state thought in trait brooding. Scientific Reports 11, 19362 [Web Access]
  • Alperin, B.R., Christoff, K., Mills, C., Karalunas, S.L. (2021). More than off-task: Increased freely-moving thought in ADHD. Consciousness and Cognition, 93(2021) 103156. [Web Access]
2020
  • Andrews-Hanna, J.R., Christoff, K., O’Connor, M.-F. (2020). Dynamic regulation of internal experience. Neuroscience of Enduring Change: Implications for Psychotherapy. R.D. Lane, & L. Nadel (editors). Oxford University Press, England [Download]
  • Dobson, C., & Christoff, K. (2020). Productive mind-wandering in design practice. Creativity and the Wandering Mind. D.D. Preiss, D. Cosmelli, & J.C. Kaufman (editors). Academic Press, United States [Web Access]
  • Girn, M., Mills, C., Roseman, L., Carhart-Harris, R. L., & Christoff, K. (2020). Updating the dynamic framework of thought: Creativity and psychedelics. NeuroImage. [Download]
2019
  • Girn, M., Mills, C., & Christoff, K. (2019). Linking brain network reconfiguration and intelligence: Are we there yet? Trends in Neuroscience and Education. [Web Access]
2018
  • Mills, C., Raffaelli, Q., Irving, Z. C., Stan, D., & Christoff, K. (2018). Is an off-task mind a freely-moving mind? Examining the relationship between different dimensions of thought. Consciousness and Cognition, 58(2018), 20–33. [Download PDF]
  • Smith, G.K., Mills, C., Paxton, A., Christoff, K. (2018) Mind-wandering rates fluctuate across the day: Evidence from an experience-sampling study. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 3(54), 1-20. [Download]
  • Parro, C., Dixon, M. L., & Christoff, K. (2018). The neural basis of motivational influence on cognitive control. Human Brain Mapping. [Download]
  • Christoff, K., Mills, C., Andrews-Hanna, J. R., Irving, Z. C., Thompson, E., Fox, K. C. R., & Kam, J. W. Y. (2018). Mind-wandering as a scientific concept: Cutting through the definitional haze. Trends in Cognitive Sciences. [Web Access]
  • Mills, C., & Christoff, K. (2018). Finding consistency in boredom by appreciating its instability. Trends in Cognitive Science. [Web Access]
  • Fox, K.C.R, Andrews-Hanna, J.R., Mills, C., Dixon, M.L., Markovic, J., Thompson, E., & Christoff, K. (2018) Affective neuroscience of self-generated thought. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. [Web Access]
  • Dixon, M. L., De La Vega, A., Mills, C., Andrews-Hanna, J., Spreng, R. N., Cole, M., & Christoff, K. (2018). Heterogeneity within the frontoparietal control network and its relationship to the default and dorsal attention networks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. [Web Access]
  • Fox, K.C.R., & Christoff, K. (2018). Introduction: Toward an interdisciplinary science of spontaneous thought. The Oxford Handbook of Spontaneous Thought, Fox, K.C.R., & Christoff, K  (editors). Oxford University Press, United States. [Download]
  • Andrews-Hanna, J.R., Irving, Z.C., Fox, K.C.R., Spreng, R.N., & Christoff, K. (2018). The neuroscience of spontaneous thought: An evolving, interdisciplinary field. The Oxford Handbook of Spontaneous Thought, Fox, K.C.R., & Christoff, K  (editors). Oxford University Press, United States. [Download]
  • Stan, D., Christoff, K. (2018). The mind wanders with ease: Low motivational intensity is an essential quality of mind-wandering. The Oxford Handbook of Spontaneous Thought. Fox, KCR., Christoff, K. (editors) New York: Oxford University Press. [Download]
  • Mills, C., Herrera-Bennett, A., Faber, M., & Christoff, K. (2018). Why the mind wanders: How spontaneous thought’s default variability may support episodic efficiency and semantic optimization. The Oxford Handbook of Spontaneous Thought, Fox, K.C.R., Christoff, K. (editors) Oxford University Press, United States. [Web Access]
  • Stan, D., & Christoff, K. (2018). Potential clinical benefits and risks of spontaneous thought: Unconstrained attention as a way into and a way out of psychological disharmony. The Oxford Handbook of Spontaneous Thought, Fox, K.C.R., Christoff, K. (editors)  Oxford University Press, United States. [Web Access]
  • Fox, K.C.R., Girn, M., Parro, C.C., & Christoff, K. (2018). Functional neuroimaging of psychedelic experience: An overview of psychological and neural effects and their relevance to research on creativity, daydreaming, and dreaming. The Cambridge Handbook of the Neuroscience of Creativity. R.E. Jung and O. Vartanian (editors). Cambridge University Press. [Download]
  • Girn, M., & Christoff, K. (2018). Expanding the scientific study of self-experience with psychedelics. Journal of Consciousness Studies. [Web Access]
2017
  • Girn, M., Mills, C., Laycock, E., Ellamil, M., Ward, L., & Christoff, K. (2017). Neural dynamics of spontaneous thought: An EEG study. Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (HCI 2017). Springer: Berlin, Heidelberg. [Download PDF]
  • Raffaelli, Q., Mills, C., & Christoff, K. (2017). The knowns and unknowns of boredom: a review of the literature. Experimental Brain Research, 1-12. [Download PDF]
  • Dixon, M.L., Thiruchselvam, R., Todd, R.M., & Christoff, K. (2017). Emotion and the prefrontal cortex: An integrative review. Psychological Bulletin. [Download PDF]
  • Dixon, M.L., Andrews-Hanna, J.R., Spreng, R.N., Irving, Z.C., & Christoff, K. (2017). Interactions between the default network and dorsal attention network vary across default subsystems, time, and cognitive states. Neuroimage, 147, 632-649. [Download PDF]
  • Dixon, M.L., Girn, M., & Christoff, K. (2017). Hierarchical organization of frontoparietal control networks underlying goal-directed behavior. The Prefrontal Cortex as an Executive, Emotional, and Social Brain, M. Watanabe (editor). Springer.
2016
  • Fox, K.C.R., Andrews-Hanna, J.R., & Christoff, K. (2016). The neurobiology of self-generated thought from cells to systems: Integrating evidence from lesion studies, human intracranial electrophysiology, neurochemistry, and neuroendocrinology. Neuroscience, 335, 134-150. [Download PDF]
  • Christoff, K., Irving, Z.C., Fox, K.C.R., Spreng, R.N., & Andrews-Hanna, J.R. (2016). Mind-wandering as spontaneous thought: A dynamic framework. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 17, 718-731. [Download PDF]
  • Fox, K.C.R., Kang, Y., Lifshitz, M., & Christoff, K. (2016). Increasing cognitive-emotional flexibility with meditation and hypnosis: The cognitive neuroscience of de-automatization. In: Hypnosis and Meditation, A. Raz and M. Lifshitz (editors), Ch. 11, pp. 191-219. New York: Oxford University Press. [Download PDF]
  • Ellamil, M., Fox, K.C.R., Dixon, M.L., Pritchard, S., Todd, R.M., Thompson, E., & Christoff, K. (2016). Dynamics of neural recruitment surrounding the spontaneous arising of thoughts in experienced mindfulness practitioners. NeuroImage, 136, 186-196. [Download PDF]
  • Fox, K.C.R., Dixon, M.L., Nijeboer, S., Girn, M., Floman, J.L., Lifshitz, M., Ellamil, M., Sedlmeier, P., & Christoff, K. (2016). Functional neuroanatomy of meditation: A review and meta-analysis of 78 functional neuroimaging investigations. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 65, 208-228. [Download PDF]
2015
  • Christoff, K., Irving, Z.C., Fox, K.C.R., Spreng, R.N., & Andrews-Hanna, J.R. (2016). Mind-wandering as spontaneous thought: A dynamic framework. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 17, 718-731. [Download PDF]
  • Fox, K.C.R., Kang, Y., Lifshitz, M., & Christoff, K. (2016). Increasing cognitive-emotional flexibility with meditation and hypnosis: The cognitive neuroscience of de-automatization. In: Hypnosis and Meditation, A. Raz and M. Lifshitz (editors), Ch. 11, pp. 191-219. New York: Oxford University Press. [Download PDF]
  • Ellamil, M., Fox, K.C.R., Dixon, M.L., Pritchard, S., Todd, R.M., Thompson, E., & Christoff, K. (2016). Dynamics of neural recruitment surrounding the spontaneous arising of thoughts in experienced mindfulness practitioners. NeuroImage, 136, 186-196. [Download PDF]
  • Fox, K.C.R., Dixon, M.L., Nijeboer, S., Girn, M., Floman, J.L., Lifshitz, M., Ellamil, M., Sedlmeier, P., & Christoff, K. (2016). Functional neuroanatomy of meditation: A review and meta-analysis of 78 functional neuroimaging investigations. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 65, 208-228. [Download PDF]
2014
  • Fox, K.C.R., Thompson, E., Andrews-Hanna, J.R., & Christoff, K. (2014). Is thinking really aversive? Commentary on Wilson et al.’s “Just think: The challenges of the disengaged mind.” Frontiers in Psychology: Cognition, 5(1427), 1-4. [Download PDF]
  • Christoff, K. (2014). Dehumanization in organizational settings: Some scientific and ethical considerations. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8(748), 1-5. [Download PDF]
  • Dixon, M.L., Fox, K.C.R., & Christoff, K. (2014). A framework for understanding the relationship between externally and internally directed cognition. Neuropsychologia, 62, 321-330. [Download PDF]
  • Dixon, M.L., Fox, K.C.R., & Christoff, K. (2014). Evidence for rostro-caudal functional organization in multiple brain areas related to goal-directed behavior. Brain Research, 1572, 26-39. [Download PDF]
  • Dixon, M.L., & Christoff, K. (2014). The lateral prefrontal cortex and complex value-based learning and decision making. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 45, 9-18. [Download PDF]
  • Solomonova, E., Fox, K.C.R., & Nielsen, T.A. (2014). Methodological considerations for the neurophenomenology of dreaming: Commentary on Windt’s ‘Reporting dream experience.’ Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8(317), 1-3. [Download PDF]
  • Fox, K.C.R., Nijeboer, S., Dixon, M.L., Floman, J.L., Ellamil, M., Rumak, S.P., Sedlmeier, P., & Christoff, K. (2014). Is meditation associated with altered brain structure? A systematic review and meta-analysis of morphometric neuroimaging in meditation practitioners. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 43, 48-73. [Download PDF]
  • Fox, K.C.R., & Christoff, K. (2014). Metacognitive facilitation of spontaneous thought processes: When metacognition helps the wandering mind find its way. In: The Cognitive Neuroscience of Metacognition, S.M. Fleming and C.D. Frith (editors); Ch. 13, pp. 293-319. Berlin: Springer. [Download PDF]
  • Bazargani, N., Hillebrandt, H., Christoff, K., & Dumontheil, I. (2014). Developmental changes in effective connectivity associated with relational reasoning. Human Brain Mapping, 35(7), 3262-3276. [Download PDF]
2013
  • Christoff, K. (2013). Thinking. In: The Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Neuroscience, Vol. 2: The Cutting Edges, K.N. Ochsner and S.M. Kosslyn (editors), Ch. 20, pp. 318-333. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Fox, K.C.R., Nijeboer, S., Solomonova, E., Domhoff, G.W., & Christoff, K. (2013). Dreaming as mind wandering: Evidence from functional neuroimaging and first-person content reports. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7(412), 1-18. [Download PDF]
2012
  • Dixon, M.L., & Christoff, K. (2012). The decision to engage in cognitive control is driven by expected reward-value: Neural and behavioral evidence. PLoS ONE, 7(12), e51637. [Download PDF]
  • 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, 1-9. [Download PDF]
  • Ellamil, M., Dobson, C., Beeman, M., & Christoff, K. (2012). Evaluative and generative modes of thought during the creative process. NeuroImage, 59(2), 1783-94. [Download PDF]
  • Doshi, R. & Christoff, K. (2012). Introduction: The cognitive neuroscience of thought. Brain Research, 1428, 1-2. [Download PDF]
  • Christoff, K. (2012). Undirected thought: Neural determinants and correlates. Brain Research, 1428, 51-59. [Download PDF]
2011
  • Schooler, J.W., Smallwood, J., Christoff, K., Handy, T.C., Reichle, E.D., & Sayette, M.A. (2011). Meta-awareness, perceptual decoupling and the wandering mind. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 15(7), 319-326. [Download PDF]
  • Christoff, K., Cosmelli, D., Legrand, D., & Thompson, E. (2011). Clarifying the self: Response to Northoff. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 15(5),187-188. [Download PDF]
  • Christoff, K., Cosmelli, D., Legrand, D., & Thompson, E. (2011). Specifying the self for cognitive neuroscience. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 15(3), 104-112. [Download PDF]
  • McCaig, R.G., Dixon, M.L., Keramatian, K., Liu, I., & Christoff, K. (2011). Improved modulation of rostrolateral prefrontal cortex using real-time fMRI training and meta-cognitive awareness. NeuroImage, 55, 1298-1305. [Download PDF]
  • Christoff, K., Gordon, A. M., & Smith, R. (2011). The role of spontaneous thought in human cognition. In O. Vartanian and D. R. Mandel (Eds.), Neuroscience of Decision Making (pp. 259-284). New York: Psychology Press. [Download PDF]
2010
  • Dumontheil, I., Houlton, R., Christoff, K., & Blakemore, S.J. (2010). Non-linear development of relational reasoning during adolescence. Developmental Science, 13(6), 15-24. [Download PDF]
  • Winters, J., Christoff, K., & Gorzalka, B.B. (2010). Dysregulated sexuality and high sexual desire: distinct constructs? Archives of Sexual Behavior, 39(5), 1029-1043. [Download PDF]
2009
  • Christoff, K., Gordon, A. M., Smallwood, J., Smith, R., & Schooler, J. W. (2009). Experience sampling during fMRI reveals default network and executive system contributions to mind wandering. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 106(21), 8719-8724. [Download PDF]
  • Christoff, K., Keramatian, K., Gordon, A. M., Smith, R., & Maedler, B. (2009). Prefrontal organization of cognitive control according to levels of abstraction. Brain Research, 1286, 94-105. [Download PDF]
  • Christoff, K. (2009). Human thought and the lateral prefrontal cortex. In E. Kraft, B. Gulyás, and E. Pöppel (Eds.), Neural Correlates of Thinking (pp. 219-252). Heidelberg: Springer. [Download PDF]
  • Crone, E.A., Wendelken, C., van Leijenhorst, L., Honomichl, R., Christoff, K., & Bunge, S.A. (2009). Neurocognitive development of relational reasoning. Developmental Science, 12(1), 55-66. [Download PDF]
  • Winters, J., Christoff, K., & Gorzalka, B.B. (2009). Conscious regulation of sexual arousal in men. Journal of Sex Research, 46(4), 330-343. [Download PDF]
2008
  • Christoff, K. (2008). Applying neuroscientific findings to education: The good, the tough, and the hopeful. Mind, Brain, and Education, 2(2), 55-58. [Download PDF]
2007
  • Smith, R., Keramatian, K., & Christoff, K. (2007). Localizing the rostrolateral prefrontal cortex at the individual level. NeuroImage, 36, 1387-96. [Download PDF]
  • Christoff, K., & Keramatian, K. (2007). Abstraction of mental representations: Theoretical considerations and neuroscientific evidence. In: Perspectives on Rule-Guided Behavior (Eds: S.A.Bunge and J.D.Wallis) Oxford University Press.
2006
  • Christoff, K., & Owen, A.M. (2006). Improving reverse neuroimaging inference: Cognitive domain versus cognitive complexity. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 10(8), 352-3. [Download PDF]
  • Smith, R., Keramatian, K., Smallwood, J., Schooler, J., Luus, B., & Christoff, K. (2006). Mind-wandering with and without awareness: An fMRI study of spontaneous thought processes. Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (Ed. R. Sun): 804-809. Vancouver: Erlbaum. [Download PDF]
2005
  • Narayanan, N.S., Prabhakaran, V., Bunge, S.A., Christoff, K., Fine, E.M., & Gabrieli, J.D.E. (2005). The role of the prefrontal cortex in the maintenance of verbal working memory: An event-related fMRI analysis. Neuropsychology, 19(2), 223-232. [Download PDF]
2004
  • Christoff, K., Ream, J.M., & Gabrieli, J.D.E. (2004). Neural basis of spontaneous thought processes. Cortex, 40, 623-630. [Download PDF]
  • DeCharms, R.C., Christoff, K., Glover, G.H., Pauly, J.M., Whitfield, S., & Gabrieli, J.D.E. (2004). Learned regulation of spatially localized brain activation using real-time fMRI. NeuroImage, 21, 436-43. [Download PDF]
2003
  • Christoff, K., Ream, J.M., Geddes, L.P.T., & Gabrieli, J.D.E. (2003). Evaluating self-generated information: Anterior prefrontal contributions to human cognition. Behavioral Neuroscience, 117(6), 1161-1168. [Download PDF]
  • Anderson, A.K., Christoff, K., Panitz, D., De Rosa, E., & Gabrieli, J.D.E. (2003). Neural correlates of the automatic processing of threat facial signals. Journal of Neuroscience 23(13), 5627-5633. [Download PDF]
  • Anderson, A.K., Christoff, K., Stappen, I., Panitz, D., Gharamani, D.G., Glover, G., Gabrieli, J.D.E., & Sobel, N. (2003). Dissociated neural representations of intensity and valence in human olfaction. Nature Neuroscience, 6(2), 192-202. [Download PDF]
2001
  • Christoff, K., Prabhakaran, V., Dorfman, J., Zhao, Z., Kroger, J.K., Holyoak, K.J., & Gabrieli, J.D.E. (2001). Rostrolateral prefrontal cortex involvement in relational integration during reasoning. NeuroImage, 14(5), 1136-1149. [Download PDF]
  • Brett, M., Christoff, K., Cusack, R., & Lancaster, J. (2001). Using the Talairach atlas with the MNI template. NeuroImage, 13(6), S85. [Download PDF]
2000
  • Christoff, K., & Gabrieli, J.D.E. (2000). The frontopolar cortex and human cognition: Evidence for a rostrocaudal hierarchical organization within the human prefrontal cortex. Psychobiology, 28(2), 168-186. [Download PDF]
1999
  • Christoff, K. (1999). Complexity and working memory resources: Task characteristics necessitating the executive control of attention. In: Ed. B. Kokinov, Perspectives on Cognitive Science: Volume 5. New Bulgarian University, Sofia. [Download PDF]