# preferredTitle
Assistant Professor, Psychological and Brain Sciences

# positions[].label
Assistant Dean Pre-Clerkship Education and Instructional Assistant Professor

# overview
My research aims to understand how the brain supports higher-order cognitive functions (e.g., attention, cognitive control, memory) across young and older adulthood. The current focus in the lab includes investigating neural mechanisms and modifiable risk factors that contribute to differential cognitive trajectories in middle-aged and older adults (i.e., healthy aging vs. dementia/Alzheimer's disease). Moreover, this line of work seeks to identify brain functional and structural biomarkers for risk prediction of cognitive impairment and dementia in middle-aged and older adults. Finally, a translational line of my research investigates non-pharmacological interventions (e.g., exercise, meditation) that may improve cognition, emotion, and health across the lifespan. My research uses a variety of techniques including cognitive assessments, multimodal neuroimaging (functional, structural, diffusion MRI), computational neuroscience methods, and blood-based biomarkers. The overall goal of my research is to inform and improve health and well-being across the lifespan.

# keywords[]
35 Commerce, Management, Tourism And Services

# keywords[]
Clinical Trials And Supportive Activities

# keywords[]
Sleep Initiation And Maintenance Disorders

# keywords[]
Alzheimer's Disease Including Alzheimer's Disease Related Dementias (ad/adrd)

# keywords[]
5204 Cognitive And Computational Psychology

# keywords[]
1.2 Psychological And Socioeconomic Processes

# keywords[]
1.1 Normal Biological Development And Functioning

# keywords[]
1.1 Normal Biological Development And Functioning

# keywords[]
5204 Cognitive And Computational Psychology

# keywords[]
5204 Cognitive And Computational Psychology

# keywords[]
Alzheimer's Disease Including Alzheimer's Disease Related Dementias (ad/adrd)

# keywords[]
1.1 Normal Biological Development And Functioning

# keywords[]
5201 Applied And Developmental Psychology

# keywords[]
5201 Applied And Developmental Psychology

# keywords[]
1.2 Psychological And Socioeconomic Processes

# keywords[]
5204 Cognitive And Computational Psychology

# keywords[]
1.1 Normal Biological Development And Functioning

# keywords[]
5204 Cognitive And Computational Psychology

# keywords[]
1.2 Psychological And Socioeconomic Processes

# keywords[]
Alzheimer's Disease Including Alzheimer's Disease Related Dementias (ad/adrd)

# keywords[]
1.2 Psychological And Socioeconomic Processes

# keywords[]
5204 Cognitive And Computational Psychology

# keywords[]
5204 Cognitive And Computational Psychology

# keywords[]
1.1 Normal Biological Development And Functioning

# keywords[]
5204 Cognitive And Computational Psychology

# keywords[]
1.2 Psychological And Socioeconomic Processes

# educationAndTraining[].organization.label
The University of Texas at Austin - (Austin, Texas, United States)

# educationAndTraining[].organization.label
Washington University in St. Louis - (St Louis, Missouri, United States)

# awardsAndHonors[].label
Interface of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Genetics Training Fellowship

# awardsAndHonors[].label
Support Outstanding Academic Research (SOAR) Award

# awardsAndHonors[].label
Ruth L. Kirschstein Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award

# publications[].label
Investigating mindfulness influences on cognitive function: On the promise and potential of converging research strategies (currently in press at Psychonomic Bulletin & Review)

# publications[].label
Improving creativity performance by short-term meditation.

# publications[].label
Mood and personality predict improvement in creativity due to meditation training

# publications[].label
Frontal theta activity and white matter plasticity following mindfulness meditation.

# publications[].label
Efficiency moderates the relationship between sleep-onset insomnia and resting-state electroencephalogram microstate.

# publications[].label
Predicting Individual Preferences in Mindfulness Techniques Using Personality Traits

# publications[].label
Early cortical microstructural neurodegeneration in aging is linked to vulnerability to Alzheimer's disease pathology

# publications[].label
On the psychometric evaluation of cognitive control tasks: An Investigation with the Dual Mechanisms of Cognitive Control (DMCC) battery.

# publications[].label
The Dual Mechanisms of Cognitive Control (DMCC) project: Validation of an online behavioural task battery.

# publications[].label
Chapter 14 Cultural Neuroscience of Moral Reasoning and Decision-Making

# publications[].label
Brief mindfulness training alters causal brain connections in mTBI

# publications[].label
A College Freshman Mindfulness Seminar to Enhance Psychological Well-being and Cognitive Function

# publications[].label
Salivary testosterone and cortisol response in acute stress modulated by seven sessions of mindfulness meditation in young males.

# publications[].label
A College First-Year Mindfulness Seminar to Enhance Psychological Well-Being and Cognitive Function.

# publications[].label
Brief Mindfulness Meditation Induces Gray Matter Changes in a Brain Hub.

# publications[].label
Chapter 7 Health behavior change and habit formation

# publications[].label
The Dual Mechanisms of Cognitive Control Project.

# publications[].label
Brain Controllability of Cognitive Control Networks is Associated with Executive Functions in Older Adults

# publications[].label
Short-term meditation induces changes in brain resting EEG theta networks.

# publications[].label
Early Cortical Microstructural Changes in Aging Are Linked to Vulnerability to Alzheimer's Disease Pathology.

# publications[].label
Longitudinal association of executive function and structural network controllability in the aging brain.

# publications[].label
Short-Term Meditation Intervention Improves Self-Regulation and Academic Performance

# publications[].label
Cross-Cultural Mental Health Promotion and Prevention for Global Mental Health

# publications[].label
Time course of conflict processing modulated by brief meditation training.

# publications[].label
Frontoparietal pattern similarity analyses of cognitive control in monozygotic twins

# publications[].label
Towards an Individual Differences Perspective in Mindfulness Training Research: Theoretical and Empirical Considerations.

# publications[].label
Brief Mental Training Reorganizes Large-Scale Brain Networks.

# publications[].label
Childhood Disadvantage Moderates Late Midlife Default Mode Network Cortical Microstructure and Visual Memory Association.

# publications[].label
Rethinking Future Directions of the Mindfulness Field

# publications[].label
Investigating mindfulness influences on cognitive function: On the promise and potential of converging research strategies.

# publications[].label
How Mind-Body Practice Works-Integration or Separation?

# publications[].label
Mapping the smoking addiction using dynamic causal modelling at rest

# publications[].label
Effortless training of attention and self-control: mechanisms and applications.

# publications[].label
Short term integrative meditation improves resting alpha activity and stroop performance.

# publications[].label
Mapping Smoking Addiction Using Effective Connectivity Analysis.

# publications[].label
The Cultural Neuroscience of Holistic Thinking

# publications[].label
Short-term meditation increases blood flow in anterior cingulate cortex and insula.

# publications[].label
The Dual Mechanisms of Cognitive Control (DMCC) project: Validation of an on-line behavioral task battery

# publications[].label
Associations of plasma neurofilament light chain with cognition and neuroimaging measures in community-dwelling early old age men.

# publications[].label
Predicting Individual Preferences in Mindfulness Techniques Using Personality Traits.

# publications[].label
Cortical Surface Area Profile Mediates Effects of Childhood Disadvantage on Later-Life General Cognitive Ability.

# publications[].label
Early cortical microstructural neurodegeneration in aging is linked to vulnerability to Alzheimers disease pathology

# publications[].label
The Dual Mechanisms of Cognitive Control dataset, a theoretically-guided within-subject task fMRI battery

# publications[].label
Mindfulness meditation improves emotion regulation and reduces drug abuse.

# publications[].label
Brief meditation training induces smoking reduction.

# publications[].publisher
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

# publications[].label
Promoting Psychological Well-Being Through an Evidence-Based Mindfulness Training Program.

# publications[].label
The Dual Mechanisms of Cognitive Control dataset, a theoretically-guided within-subject task fMRI battery.

# publications[].label
The Dual Mechanisms of Cognitive Control (DMCC) Project

# publications[].label
Association of neurofilament light chain with renal function: mechanisms and clinical implications.

# publications[].label
Health Neuroscience-How the Brain/Mind and Body Affect our Health Behavior and Outcomes.

# publications[].label
The Neuroscience of Meditation Understanding Individual Differences

# publications[].label
Brief meditation increases fiber wiring between striatum and corona radiata

# publications[].label
On the Psychometric Evaluation of Cognitive Control Tasks: An Investigation with the Dual Mechanisms of Cognitive Control (DMCC) Battery

# publications[].label
Long-Term Physical Exercise and Mindfulness Practice in an Aging Population.

# publications[].label
Relationship Between Trait Mindfulness and Sleep Quality in College Students: A Conditional Process Model.

# publications[].label
Frontoparietal pattern similarity analyses of cognitive control in monozygotic twins.

# researcherOn[].label
Brain Connectomics of Cognitive Aging and Vulnerability to Alzheimer’s Disease

# researcherOn[].awardedBy.label
National Institute on Aging - (Baltimore, Maryland, United States)

# researcherOn[].label
Examining Mindfulness Training Effects and Mechanisms on Cognitive Control

# researcherOn[].awardedBy.label
National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health - (Bethesda, Maryland, United States)

# websites[].label
Lifespan Health Neuroscience Laboratory (LHNL)