Dr. Orr’s research examines the psychological and neural mechanisms underlying executive functions. Specifically, he is interested in the factors that underlie voluntary task selection; while we may think we have control over which task we choose at any given moment, there are a number of factors that influence our choices. Dr. Orr work suggests that overcoming task choice biases from external stimuli depends on the frontal pole of the brain, which is thought to be involved in coordinating the activity of multiple other brain areas. More recently, this work has focused on how stimuli associated with reward bias our task choices. Dr. Orr’s work involves behavioral approaches, non-invasive brain stimulation, and neuroimaging (structural and functional MRI, EEG/ERP, and DWI) in both healthy and clinical populations. Dr. Orr’s work was recently funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
