Ezequiel Morsella
Assistant Adjunct Professor
Neurology
School of Medicine

In 2007, he was hired as a professor in neuroscience at San Francisco State University (where he is now Professor of Neuroscience) and as an Assistant Adjunct Professor in the Department of Neurology at the University of California, San Francisco. His theory has appeared in Psychological Review and Behavioral and Brain Sciences (target article). Morsella's theory was covered by Time Magazine. His current research has been supported by the Toyota Motor Corporation. He is the lead author of Oxford Handbook of Human Action. His research has appeared in journals such as Psychological Review, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Perspectives on Psychological Science, Neurocase, Consciousness and Cognition, Experimental Brain Research, and Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition. He has served as an editorial reviewer for many journals, including Science, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, and Psychological Review.

In collaboration with Adam Gazzaley, Morsella is evaluating theoretical developments (e.g., Passive Frame Theory) regarding consciousness and the brain using behavioral and neuroimaging techniques. (Passive Frame Theory was introduced to the literature as a target article in Behavioral and Brain Sciences [see publication below].) In addition, with the assistance of the neurologist Stephen Krieger and colleagues at the UCSF Memory and Aging center, he is examining the implications of the theory for the study of disorders of awareness and disorders involving action selection (e.g., frontotemporal dementia).

• Involuntary refreshing of mental representations.
  Acta psychologica 2022 Velasquez AG, Yankulova JK, White NA, Gazzaley A, Morsella E
• Insuppressible cognitions in the reflexive imagery task: Insights and future directions.
  Frontiers in psychology 2022 Yankulova JK, Zacher LM, Velasquez AG, Dou W, Morsella E
• Encapsulation and subjectivity from the standpoint of viewpoint theory.
  The Behavioral and brain sciences 2022 Morsella E, Velasquez AG, Yankulova JK, Li Y, Gazzaley A
• The Generation of Involuntary Mental Imagery in an Ecologically-Valid Task.
  Frontiers in psychology 2021 Velasquez AG, Gazzaley A, Toyoda H, Ziegler DA, Morsella E
• EEG Correlates of Involuntary Cognitions in the Reflexive Imagery Task.
  Frontiers in psychology 2020 Dou W, Allen AK, Cho H, Bhangal S, Cook AJ, Morsella E, Geisler MW
• Conscious contents: Their unanalyzable, arbitrary, and unarbitrary properties.
  Cognitive neuropsychology 2020 Yankulova JK, Morsella E
• Involuntary attentional shifts as a function of set and processing fluency.
  Acta psychologica 2020 Gardner K, Walker EB, Li Y, Gazzaley A, Morsella E
• Involuntary mental rotation and visuospatial imagery from external control.
  Consciousness and cognition 2019 Cushing D, Gazzaley A, Morsella E
• Involuntary Entry Into Consciousness From the Activation of Sets: Object Counting and Color Naming.
  Frontiers in psychology 2018 Bhangal S, Merrick C, Cho H, Morsella E
• Involuntary polymodal imagery involving olfaction, audition, touch, taste, and vision.
  Consciousness and cognition 2018 Dou W, Li Y, Geisler MW, Morsella E
• The reflexive imagery task: An experimental paradigm for neuroimaging.
  AIMS neuroscience 2018 Cho H, Dou W, Reyes Z, Geisler MW, Morsella E
• The reflexive imagery task: An experimental paradigm for neuroimaging.
  AIMS neuroscience 2018 Cho H, Dou W, Reyes Z, Geisler MW, Morsella E
• Externally controlled involuntary cognitions and their relations with other representations in consciousness.
  Consciousness and cognition 2017 Cushing D, Gazzaley A, Morsella E
• Metacognition of Working Memory Performance: Trial-by-Trial Subjective Effects from a New Paradigm.
  Frontiers in psychology 2016 Garcia AC, Bhangal S, Velasquez AG, Geisler MW, Morsella E
• Competition between Cognitive Control and Encapsulated, Unconscious Inferences: Are Aha-Experiences Special?
  Frontiers in psychology 2016 Cushing D, Velasquez AG, Morsella E
• Involuntary symbol manipulation (Pig Latin) from external control: Implications for thought suppression.
  Acta psychologica 2016 Cho H, Zarolia P, Gazzaley A, Morsella E
• Conscious contents as reflexive processes: Evidence from the habituation of high-level cognitions.
  Consciousness and cognition 2016 Bhangal S, Allen AK, Geisler MW, Morsella E
• Passive frame theory: A new synthesis.
  The Behavioral and brain sciences 2016 Morsella E, Godwin CA, Jantz TK, Krieger SC, Gazzaley A
• Homing in on consciousness in the nervous system: An action-based synthesis.
  The Behavioral and brain sciences 2015 Morsella E, Godwin CA, Jantz TK, Krieger SC, Gazzaley A
• Ironic effects as reflexive responses: Evidence from word frequency effects on involuntary subvocalizations.
  Acta psychologica 2015 Bhangal S, Merrick C, Morsella E
• External control of the stream of consciousness: Stimulus-based effects on involuntary thought sequences.
  Consciousness and cognition 2015 Merrick C, Farnia M, Jantz TK, Gazzaley A, Morsella E
• Internally generated conscious contents: interactions between sustained mental imagery and involuntary subvocalizations.
  Frontiers in psychology 2014 Cho H, Godwin CA, Geisler MW, Morsella E
• Subjective aspects of working memory performance: memoranda-related imagery.
  Consciousness and cognition 2014 Jantz TK, Tomory JJ, Merrick C, Cooper S, Gazzaley A, Morsella E
• The olfactory system as the gateway to the neural correlates of consciousness.
  Frontiers in psychology 2014 Merrick C, Godwin CA, Geisler MW, Morsella E
• he subjective effort of everyday mental tasks: Attending, assessing, and choosing
  Motivation and Emotion 2014 Robinson, M. M., & Morsella, E.
• Conscious thoughts from reflex-like processes: a new experimental paradigm for consciousness research.
  Consciousness and cognition 2013 Allen AK, Wilkins K, Gazzaley A, Morsella E
• The inevitable contrast: Conscious vs. unconscious processes in action control.
  Frontiers in psychology 2013 Morsella E, Poehlman TA
• Neural correlates of the essence of conscious conflict: fMRI of sustaining incompatible intentions.
  Experimental brain research 2013 Gray JR, Bargh JA, Morsella E
• Representations in working memory yield interference effects found with externally-triggered representations.
  Acta psychologica 2012 Hubbard J, Rigby T, Godwin CA, Gazzaley A, Morsella E
• Adaptive skeletal muscle action requires anticipation and "conscious broadcasting".
  Frontiers in psychology 2012 Poehlman TA, Jantz TK, Morsella E
• Traditional response interference effects from anticipated action outcomes: a response-effect compatibility paradigm.
  Acta psychologica 2011 Hubbard J, Gazzaley A, Morsella E
• Did I read or did I name? Diminished awareness of processes yielding identical 'outputs'.
  Consciousness and cognition 2011 Molapour T, Berger CC, Morsella E
• Cognitive and neural components of the phenomenology of agency.
  Neurocase 2010 Morsella E, Berger CC, Krieger SC
• Mind control? Creating illusory intentions through a phony brain-computer interface.
  Consciousness and cognition 2010 Lynn MT, Berger CC, Riddle TA, Morsella E
• Sources of avoidance motivation: Valence effects from physical effort and mental rotation.
  Motivation and emotion 2010 Morsella E, Feinberg GH, Cigarchi S, Newton JW, Williams LE
• Subjective aspects of cognitive control at different stages of processing.
  Attention, perception & psychophysics 2009 Morsella E, Wilson LE, Berger CC, Honhongva M, Gazzaley A, Bargh JA
• The essence of conscious conflict: subjective effects of sustaining incompatible intentions.
  Emotion (Washington, D.C.) 2009 Morsella E, Gray JR, Krieger SC, Bargh JA
• Minimal neuroanatomy for a conscious brain: homing in on the networks constituting consciousness.
  Neural networks : the official journal of the International Neural Network Society 2009 Morsella E, Krieger SC, Bargh JA
• The Unconscious Mind.
  Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science 2008 Bargh JA, Morsella E
• Supracortical consciousness: Insights from temporal dynamics, processing-content, and olfaction.
  The Behavioral and brain sciences 2007 Morsella E, Bargh JA
• THE PERVERSITY OF INANIMATE OBJECTS: STIMULUS CONTROL BY INCIDENTAL MUSICAL NOTATION.
  Social cognition 2007 Levine LR, Morsella E, Bargh JA
• The function of phenomenal states: supramodular interaction theory.
  Psychological review 2005 Morsella E
• Muscular activity in the arm during lexical retrieval: implications for gesture-speech theories.
  Journal of psycholinguistic research 2005 Morsella E, Krauss RM
• The role of gestures in spatial working memory and speech.
  The American journal of psychology 2004 Morsella E, Krauss RM
• The function of phenomenal states: is there progress for the "softer problem" of consciousness?
  Psychological reports 2003 Morsella E
• Evidence for a cascade model of lexical access in speech production.
  Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition 2002 Morsella E, Miozzo M