About

The Lifespan Cognitive and Motor Neuroimaging Lab (LCMN) is directed by Dr. Jessica Bernard, and is part of the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Texas A&M University. Research in the lab focuses on how a brain structure called the cerebellum contributes to motor and cognitive behavior in aging populations. Our goal is to better characterize cerebellar changes over time with age, in conjunction with understanding how the cerebellum interacts with the rest of the brain. The cerebellum is located at the bottom and back of the brain, and is important for coordinating motor behavior as well as our thoughts. However, there are differences in this structure in older adults, and this is related to how older individuals perform both motor and cognitive tasks. In addition, the LCMN is interested in better understanding cerebellar contributions to cognition more broadly. Increasingly, a role for the cerebellum in non-motor behavior has been demonstrated, but how exactly the cereb

Research topics

• Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Cognitive psychology
• Psychoanalysis
• Developmental psychology
• Biology

Selected publications

• Consensus Paper: Cerebellum and Ageing

  The Cerebellum · 2023 · 102 citations

  • Neuroscience
  • Psychology
  DOI

• Age Differences in the Subcomponents of Executive Functioning

  The Journals of Gerontology Series B · 2020 · 60 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Psychology
  • Cognitive psychology
  • Developmental psychology

  OBJECTIVES: Across the life span, deficits in executive functioning (EF) are associated with poor behavioral control and failure to achieve goals. Though EF is often discussed as one broad construct, a prominent model of EF suggests that it is composed of three subdomains: inhibition, set shifting, and updating. These subdomains are seen in both younger (YA) and older adults (OA), with performance deficits across subdomains in OA. Therefore, our goal was to investigate whether subdomains of EF might be differentially affected by age, and how these differences may relate to broader global age differences in EF. METHODS: To assess these age differences, we conducted a meta-analysis at multiple levels, including task level, subdomain level, and of global EF. Based on previous work, we hypothesized that there would be overall differences in EF in OA. RESULTS: Using 1,268 effect sizes from 401 articles, we found overall differences in EF with age. Results suggested that differences in performance are not uniform, such that variability in age effects emerged at the task level, and updating was not as affected by age as other subdomains. DISCUSSION: These findings advance our understanding of age differences in EF, and stand to inform early detection of EF decline.

  DOI

• Acknowledgment

  Journal of Abnormal Psychology · 2020

  • Psychology
  • Psychoanalysis
  DOI

• Shaky scaffolding: Age differences in cerebellar activation revealed through activation likelihood estimation <scp>meta‐analysis</scp>

  Human Brain Mapping · 2020 · 40 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Neuroscience
  • Psychology
  • Cognitive psychology

  Cognitive neuroscience research has provided foundational insights into aging, but has focused primarily on the cerebral cortex. However, the cerebellum is subject to the effects of aging. Given the importance of this structure in the performance of motor and cognitive tasks, cerebellar differences stand to provide critical insights into age differences in behavior. However, our understanding of cerebellar functional activation in aging is limited. Thus, we completed a meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies across task domains. Unlike in the cortex where an increase in bilateral activation is seen during cognitive task performance with advanced age, there is less overlap in cerebellar activation across tasks in older adults (OAs) relative to young. Conversely, we see an increase in activation overlap in OAs during motor tasks. We propose that this is due to inputs for comparator processing in the context of control theory (cortical and spinal) that may be differentially impacted in aging. These findings advance our understanding of the aging mind and brain.

  DOI

Recent grants

• A longitudinal investigation of the cerebellum in adulthood: anatomical and network changes, motor function, and cognition

  NIH · $3.1M · 2019–2026

• Cerebellar Contributions to Disease Course in Youth At High-Risk of Psychosis

  NIH · $95k · 2013–2015

Frequent coauthors

• T. Bryan Jackson

  51 shared

• Vijay A. Mittal

  Ascension Providence Hospital

  49 shared

• Joseph M. Orr

  Texas A&M University

  42 shared

• Hannah K. Ballard

  Rice University

  36 shared

• Ted Maldonado

  Indiana State University

  33 shared

• Rachael D. Seidler

  University of Florida

  26 shared

• Tracey H. Hicks

  Texas A&M University

  17 shared

• James R. M. Goen

  Texas A&M University

  16 shared

Education

• PhD, Psychology

  University of Michigan

  2012

Awards & honors

• Ella McFadden Endowed Professorship in Liberal Arts
• APS Fellow

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