Brontë Mckeown
PhD Student

Profile

Biography

• MSci, Cognitive Neuroscience, University of York, UK, 2015-2019
• Research Assistant, Mind-wandering lab, University of York, UK, 2018

Departmental roles

• Graduate Teaching Assistant
• ‘Working for Diversity’ Mentor
• ECR committee member

Research

Overview

Investigating differences in Ongoing Thought in the Laboratory and in Daily Life using Experience-sampling Methodology.

Projects

We are investigating how differences in ongoing thought relate to changes in context and emotional states. Most recently, we have focussed on understanding how the COVID-19 pandemic and COVID-19 lockdowns influenced the way people think in daily life.

Research group(s)

I work in the LifeLike lab led by Dr. Cade McCall.

Grants

• Grant: Departmental Studentship
• Prize: 2019 Departmental MSci Undergraduate Prize

Collaborators

• Dr Cade McCall
• Professor Elizabeth Jefferies

Teaching

Undergraduate

• Marking and Teaching as part of Graduate Teaching Assistant role.

Publications

Selected publications

• Mckeown, B., Strawson, W. H., Wang, H. T., Karapanagiotidis, T., de Wael, R. V., Benkarim, O., ... & Smallwood, J. (2020). The relationship between individual variation in macroscale functional gradients and distinct aspects of ongoing thought. Neuroimage, 220, 117072. 
  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811920305589
• Konu, D., Mckeown, B., Turnbull, A., Ho, N. S. P., Karapanagiotidis, T., Vanderwal, T., ... & Smallwood, J. (2021). Exploring patterns of ongoing thought under naturalistic and conventional task-based conditions. Consciousness and cognition, 93, 103139. 
  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053810021000659?casa_token=XuB9DMXrfNcAAAAA:_XGZpRtFlavkly2czC0I-IcCJ7AbLv8tZap4OAL0FZPV0WQ_NOLVX0DPOXeNUDEFgz32T8zW
• Gonzalez Alam, T. R. D. J., Mckeown, B. L., Gao, Z., Bernhardt, B., Vos de Wael, R., Margulies, D. S., ... & Jefferies, E. (2021). A tale of two gradients: differences between the left and right hemispheres predict semantic cognition. Brain Structure and Function, 1-24. 
  https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00429-021-02374-w
• Mckeown, B., Poerio, G. L., Strawson, W. H., Martinon, L. M., Riby, L. M., Jefferies, E., ... & Smallwood, J. (2021). The impact of social isolation and changes in work patterns on ongoing thought during the first COVID-19 lockdown in the United Kingdom. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(40).
  https://www.pnas.org/content/118/40/e2102565118.short

External activities

Invited talks and conferences

• Mckeown, B. (2021, April). Ongoing thought: From connectomes to context. [Symposium presentation] British Neuroscience Association 2021 Conference, Online
• Mckeown, B. (2020, May). The relationship between macroscale cortical motifs and distinct patterns of ongoing thoughts. [Poster presentation] Cognitive Neuroscience Society 2020 Conference, Online.