H & K Research and Discovery
Faculty, students, and staff are engaged in rigorous and impactful research ranging from understanding basic biological factors to examining community characteristics that contribute to health and wellness. Health & Kinesiology research is categorized into 4 general, overlapping, and non-exclusive themes that advance scientific understanding in the areas of:
- Behavioral Science & Community Health
- Cognitive and Motor Neuroscience
- Exercise and Disease
- Physical Activity and Well-Being
Check out our Google Scholar Page to see what we are up to!
Research Highlights
#10
RANKED KINESIOLOGY DOCTORAL PROGRAM
4
NEW GRANTS IN 2020-21 TOTALING $2,340,924
1200
UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE STUDENTS COMBINED
9
SCHOLARSHIPS AND FELLOWSHIPS
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- Title: Persistence of hippocampal and striatal multivoxel patterns during awake rest after motor sequence learning
- Research team(s): Brad King and Genevieve Albouy
- Stage of the project: Published in iScience
- Key findings: Animal research suggests that memory consolidation is supported by the reactivation of brain activity during subsequent offline episodes, i.e., after learning has ended. Recent methodological advances in neuroimaging allow us to study reactivation processes in the human brain. In this study, we used such approaches to show that brain patterns elicited by a motor learning task in the human striatum and hippocampus – two brain regions critically involved in motor learning - are reactivated during post-encoding rest. These results provide novel insights into the functional significance of neural reactivation after motor sequence learning in humans.
- Next steps: Investigate whether aging is accompanied by a disruption of these neural reactivations and whether such disruptions are linked to the deficit in motor memory consolidation observed during aging.
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Accolades:
- Tanya Halliday, College of Health Distinguished Mentor of the Year Award Recipient
Awards:
- Congratulations to Dr. Kota Takahashi for leading two successful NIH Awards focusing on the relationship between thermo-regulation and tissue complications for people with leg amputations and on a framework to help improve foot and ankle function as people age. Read more>
- Doctoral student, Selene Tobin received a Clinical and Translational Science Institute Predoctoral Fellowship
Accomplishments:
- PhD Student Jason Thomas was selected to give an oral presentation at the ACSM Annual Meeting
Get Involved with Health & Kinesiology Research
STUDIES CURRENTLY RECRUITING:
Lifespan changes in how prior knowledge modulates the learning of new information.
Contact: LifespanNeuroLab@utah.edu
Examining how the child’s brain is superior to the adult’s brain in the learning of new movements.
Contact: LifespanNeuroLab@utah.edu
Examining the neural processes underlying sequence learning.
Contact: SleepMotorMemoryLab@utah.edu
OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENTS:
Undergraduate research opportunities in the Lifespan Motor Neuroscience Lab.
Contact: Bradley.ross.king@utah.edu
Fully funded undergraduate research internship in the Sleep and Motor Memory Lab. Apply before January 29 to the SPUR program.
Contact: genevieve.albouy@health.utah.edu
Graduate research opportunities in the Sleep and Motor Memory Lab.
Contact: genevieve.albouy@health.utah.edu
KEY FACULTY PUBLICATIONS
Behavioral Science & Community Health
- Development of a mixed methods investigation of process and outcomes of community-based participatory research
- Tobacco product use and mental health status among young adults
- The metatheory of resilience and resiliency
- Using integrated research-practice partnerships to move evidence-based principles into practice
Cognitive and Motor Neuroscience
- Assigning conservation value and identifying hotspots of endemic rattan diversity in the Western Ghats, India
- Cerebral activity associated with transient sleep-facilitated reduction in motor memory vulnerability to interference
- Effects of recent concussion and injury history on instantaneous relative risk of lower extremity injury in Division I collegiate athletes
- Energy neutral: the human foot and ankle subsections combine to produce near zero net mechanical work during walking
- Sleeping on the motor engram: the multifaceted nature of sleep-related motor memory consolidation
- Sigma oscillations protect or reinstate motor memory depending on their temporal coordination with slow waves
- Mechanics and energetics of human feet: A contemporary perspective for understanding mobility impairments in older adults
Exercise and Disease
- Clinical factors associated with adherence to aerobic and resistance physical activity guidelines among cancer prevention patients and survivors
- Dietary intake modification in response to a participation in a resistance training program for sedentary older adults with prediabetes: Findings from the Resist Diabetes study
- Metabolic consequences of sleep and circadian disorders
- Role of chronic exercise on pelvic floor support and function
Physical Activity and Well-Being
- A Coach’s Guide to Maximizing the Youth Sport Experience: Work Hard, Be Kind
- Comparative evaluation of heart rate-based monitors: Apple Watch vs Fitbit Charge HR
- Effect of a 12-week physical activity program on gross motor skills in children
- Feasibility and effectiveness of a wearable technology-based physical activity intervention in preschoolers: A pilot study
- The effect of a comprehensive school physical activity program on physical activity and health-related fitness in children from low-income families