Laboratory Director
Dr. Brandon L. Alderman
Laboratory Director
Dr. Alderman has established a patient-oriented research program to study how exercise and other behavioral interventions can be used to enhance physiological, neurocognitive and psychological resilience. His research program incorporates psychophysiological and cognitive neuroscience techniques, including event-related potentials (ERPs) and impedance cardiography, to better understand acute and chronic adaptations to exercise, and how knowledge of these adaptations can be applied to intervention development. The ultimate goal is to better understand how exercise and/or physical activity may improve emotional reactivity and cognitive function among at-risk patient populations.
Doctoral Students
Christopher J. Brush
Doctoral Candidate
C.J. is currently in his fourth year as a doctoral student. He is interested in understanding the interplay of emotion and cognition in typical adults and adults with mental health disorders. Specifically, he is interested in investigating the influence of health-related behaviors on emotional and cognitive function in clinical populations and understanding the factors that define individual treatment response following intervention.
Peter J. Ehmann
Doctoral Student
Peter is currently in his third year of doctoral study. He is currently interested in using the event-related brain potential (ERP) technique to study affective responses to exercise. A current research project he is working on involves investigating mechanisms by which exercise results in improved affect by probing attentional and reward neural circuitry following a bout of cycling. Another area of research he is pursuing involves using ERPs to disentangle cognitive processes that explain affective responses to acute exercise versus sustained physical activity behavior. The ultimate goal of this line of research is to guide evidence-based approaches to reverse the waning physical activity trends across the world.
Anthony J. Bocchine
Doctoral Student
Anthony is currently in his second year of doctoral study. He is interested in the psychophysiological mechanisms involved in exercise at the behavioral and cellular levels and how they can benefit or further treatment of chronic diseases. A goal of his research is to further elucidate neurobiological mechanisms related to the exercise and cognition relationship, in order to advance knowledge of learning, memory, and cognitive benefits of living a healthy lifestyle.
Research Assistants
Graduate Alumni
Previous Lab Groups
Ryan L. Olson, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, University of North Texas
2016-17
2015-16
2014-15
2013-14
