Buckner has made a number of contributions including (1) description of the brain's default network and its importance to Alzheimer's disease,[6] (2) characterization of human memory systems, (3) characterization of the organization of the human cerebellum, and (4) development of event-related functional MRI.
His recent research is centered around exploring human brain network organization and studying the genetic basis of individual differences in brain organization, and neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders.[7]
His research group helped propose the "tethering hypothesis" - the hypothesis that as the human brain increased in size, the newer areas of the cortex started to wire up with each other to form the "association cortices".[8]
Buckner RL, Snyder AZ, Shannon BJ, LaRossa G, Sachs R, Fotenos AF, Sheline YI, Klunk WE, Mathis CA, Morris JC, Mintun MA (2005) Molecular, structural, and functional characterization of Alzheimer’s disease: Evidence for a relationship between default activity, amyloid, and memory. J Neurosci: 7709-17.
Buckner RL, Carroll DC (2007) Self-projection and the brain. Trends Cognit Sci, 11: 49-57.
Buckner RL, Andrews-Hanna JR, Schacter DL (2008) The brain’s default network: Anatomy, function, and relevance to disease. Ann New York Acad Sci, 1124: 1-38.
Yeo BT, Krienen FM, Sepulcre J, Sabuncu MR, Lashkari D, Hollinshead M, Roffman JL, Smoller JW, Zollei L, Polimeni JR, Fischl B, Liu H, Buckner RL (2011) The organization of the human cerebral cortex estimated by intrinsic functional connectivity. J Neurophys, 106: 1125-65.
Buckner RL, Krienen FM, Castellanos A, Diaz JC, Yeo BT (2011) The organization of the human cerebellum estimated by intrinsic functional connectivity. J Neurophys, 106: 2322-45.
Buckner RL (2012) The serendipitous discovery of the brain’s default network. NeuroImage, 62: 1137-45.
Buckner RL (2013) The cerebellum and cognitive function: 25 years of insight from anatomy and neuroimaging. Neuron, 80: 807-15.