LAB OVERVIEW

Broadly speaking, work in our lab investigates the cognitive and neural substrates governing the learning and performance of complex cognitive skills (e.g., math problem solving) and complex sensorimotor skills (e.g., golf putting). We are interested in understanding the attention and memory processes that support task execution, as well as how high-pressure or high-stakes situations impact performance. Together, our work demonstrates how task type and skill level differences in the attentional demands of performance can be used to understand the nature of successful skill execution and why, at times, it fails to occur. We use converging methodologies to address our research questions – ranging from behavioral performance measures (e.g., reaction time and accuracy), to physiological measures of stress (e.g., salivary cortisol), to neuroimaging techniques (e.g., fMRI). You can click on the links to the left to learn more about our work.