Jacqueline Davis
Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Studies (PhD)
Research Topic
Youth development through circus-based physical activity
Adele Diamond
Professor
Research Interests
executive functions
prefrontal cortex
dopamine
working memory
self-control
self-regulation
cognition
COMT gene
Sex differences
stress
ACEs
resilience
social determinants of health
ADHD
depression
PTSD
Physical Activity
the arts
mindfulness
Relevant Degree Programs
Research Methodology
behaviour
randomized control trials (RCTs)
molecular genetics
psychoneuroendocrinology
neuroimaging (fMRI)
mixed methods (quantitative & qualitative)
Recruitment
Master's students
Doctoral students
Postdoctoral Fellows
Applicants need to be self-funded
2018
2019
2020
In traumatized youth, can prefrontal cortex communication with the amygdala be restored by a stress-reduction program (e.g., Niroga’s yoga-based mindfulness program)?
Are the benefits of music for improving executive functions (EFs), mood, and quality of life greater when the experience of listening to the music is socially shared?
Can the benefits of listening to the spoken word be as great as those of listening to music for EFs, mood, and quality of life?
Modeling gonadal hormone and COMT genotype modulation of the effects of mild stress on EFs pharmacologically with low-dose methylphenidate
Will individuals be more emotionally invested in EF training if they have a say in shaping the training activity and will that translate into greater EF benefits?
Graduate Student Supervision
Master's Student Supervision (2012-2016)
Publications
- Conclusions about interventions, programs, and approaches for improving executive functions that appear justified and those that, despite much hype, do not. (2016)
- Do children need reminders on the Day-Night task, or simply some way to prevent them from responding too quickly? (2016)
- Human-animal interaction and the development of executive functions (2016)
Social Neuroscience of Human-Animal Interaction
- Why assessing and improving executive functions early in life is critical (2016)
Executive Function in Preschool-age Children: Integrating Measurement, Neurodevelopment and Translational Research
- Effects of Physical Exercise on Executive Functions: Going beyond Simply Moving to Moving with Thought. (2015)
- Enhancing cognitive and social-emotional development through a simple-to-administer mindfulness-based school program for elementary school children: a randomized controlled trial. (2015)
- Research that Helps Move Us Closer to a World where Each Child Thrives. (2015)
- An effect of inhibitory load in children while keeping working memory load constant. (2014)
- Want to Optimize Executive Functions and Academic Outcomes?: Simple, Just Nourish the Human Spirit. (2014)
- Whether coordinative (soccer) exercise improves executive functioning in kindergarten children has yet to be demonstrated. (2014)
- Executive functions. (2013)
- Prenatal serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SRI) antidepressant exposure and serotonin transporter promoter genotype (SLC6A4) influence executive functions at 6 years of age. (2013)
- Activities and Programs That Improve Children's Executive Functions. (2012)
- Refining the understanding of inhibitory processes: how response prepotency is created and overcome. (2012)
- Biological and social influences on cognitive control processes dependent on prefrontal cortex. (2011)
- Interventions shown to aid executive function development in children 4 to 12 years old. (2011)
- The effect of methylphenidate on prefrontal cognitive functioning, inattention, and hyperactivity in velocardiofacial syndrome. (2011)
- Memory maintenance and inhibitory control differentiate from early childhood to adolescence. (2010)
- The Evidence Base for Improving School Outcomes by Addressing the Whole Child and by Addressing Skills and Attitudes, Not Just Content. (2010)
- All or none hypothesis: a global-default mode that characterizes the brain and mind. (2009)
- Apprendre à apprendre. (2009)
- The interplay of biology and the environment broadly defined. (2009)
- When in competition against engrained habits, is conscious representation sufficient or is inhibition of the habit also needed? (2009)
- Biological processes in prevention and intervention: the promotion of self-regulation as a means of preventing school failure. (2008)
- Contributions of Neuroscience to Our Understanding of Cognitive Development. (2008)
- Consequences of variations in genes that affect dopamine in prefrontal cortex. (2007)
- Interrelated and interdependent. (2007)
- Preschool program improves cognitive control. (2007)
- Bootstrapping conceptual deduction using physical connection: rethinking frontal cortex. (2006)
- Development of cognitive control and executive functions from 4 to 13 years: evidence from manipulations of memory, inhibition, and task switching. (2006)
- Attention-deficit disorder (attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder without hyperactivity): a neurobiologically and behaviorally distinct disorder from attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (with hyperactivity). (2005)
- Color-object interference in young children: A Stroop effect in children 3½-6½ years old. (2005)
- Not quite as grown-up as we like to think: parallels between cognition in childhood and adulthood. (2005)
- Preschool children's performance in task switching on the dimensional change card sort task: separating the dimensions aids the ability to switch. (2005)
- Developmental cognitive neuroscience: progress and potential. (2004)
- Executive functioning in preschoolers: reducing the inhibitory demands of the dimensional change card sort task. (2004)
- Genetic and neurochemical modulation of prefrontal cognitive functions in children. (2004)
- Early success in using the relation between stimuli and rewards to deduce an abstract rule: perceived physical connection is key. (2003)
- Conditions under which young children can hold two rules in mind and inhibit a prepotent response. (2002)
Current Students & Alumni
This is a small sample of students and/or alumni that have been supervised by this researcher. It is not meant as a comprehensive list.
Membership Status
Full member in G+PS
Program Affiliations
Department(s)
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