**Click here to see a list of all invited speakers in CPC's 35-year history. 

2011 Invited Address

Dr. Jennifer L. Etnier

UNC-Greensboro

Can Exercise Make You Smarter?

Researchers are interested in understanding the effects of physical activity on a person’s ability to perform various mental tasks. They have explored this question using paradigms that focus on regular physical activity participation (chronic exercise) and on a single session of physical activity (acute exercise). During my career, I have conducted a number of studies within these paradigms with a focus on answering two questions.  First, are there specific groups of people whose cognitive performance might benefit the most from regular physical activity participation? I will present findings from studies with older adults, with people at genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease, and with children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) which suggest that in fact the effects are very promising for these groups of people. Second, are there dose response relationships between the intensity of an exercise session and the cognitive benefits? Our recent work has looked at how a single session of exercise can benefit long-term memory and the ability to perform other types of cognitive tasks. In general, results indicate that moderate-to-high intensity exercise results in the greatest benefits for cognitive performance.  These findings with regard to chronic and acute exercise have implications for the potential role of physical activity as a means of impacting the academic achievements of children and adults and of protecting against age-related and disease-related cognitive decline in older adults. 

2010 Invited Address

Dr. David Sherman

UC Santa Barbara

Health Psychology: The Interface of Basic and Applied Research

From the health behaviors people perform (or fail to perform) every day, such as exercising or flossing teeth, to the stress of coping with threatening events, such as cancer, health psychology research seeks to apply psychological theories to solve real world problems. In my talk, I will present two lines of research that examine how people respond to information and events that are relevant to their health. First, research on embodied cognition suggests that how people think is shaped by their bodily, kinesthetic interactions with the environment. Building on this idea, having people engage their bodies by walking in place while receiving health messages about the importance of exercise, leads them to actually exercise more in the subsequent week. Second, research on self-affirmation theory suggests that people cope with psychological threats by affirming their personally important values such as relationships or religion. These value affirmations lead people to be more accepting of health information suggesting that they have put themselves at risk by drinking too much alcohol or practicing unsafe sex. These value affirmations can also make stressful experiences such as final examinations less physiologically taxing. These two lines of research illustrate how using basic psychological theories can help researchers and practitioners address real world health problems, and at the same time, how conducting studies on health topics can inform basic understanding of human psychology.

Have a suggestion for the 2013 speaker?  Email the CPC Faculty Sponsor.