UNH Assistant Professor Adam Brockett

Adam Brockett

Assistant Professor
Assistant Professor
Phone: (603) 862-2250
Office: Spaulding Hall, Room 266, Durham, NH 03824
Websites:
Pronouns: He/Him/His
We are interested in understanding how experiences shape and refine the brain across the lifespan. To do this, we combine a variety of systems and molecular neuroscience techniques to first try to establish how the brain supports cognitive flexibility, our ability to switch between goals and strategies, as well as how these processes come online and are maintained. Next, we ask how experiences such as exercise or drug use alter the parts of the brain that support cognitive flexibility. Ultimately, our goal is to understand how and whether these experience can be utilized to stave off age-related declines in cognitive ability and brain health.

The Brain & Experience Lab is always interested in recruiting graduate students and post-docs interested in these types of questions. If that's you, please reach out!

Courses Taught

  • INCO 590: Student Research Experience
  • NSB 500: Neuroscience and Behavior I
  • NSB 501: Neurobiology Laboratory I

Education

  • Ph.D., Psychology and Neuroscience, Princeton University

Research Interests

  • Aging and life course
  • Animal cognition
  • Exercise
  • Drugs/Drug Abuse
  • Behavioral neuroscience

Selected Publications

  • Perry, S., Sharalla, P. S., Sarubin, D. R., Li, X., Roesch, M. R., & Brockett, A. T. (2025). Epigenetic manipulation of anterior insular cortex alters neural signals and cognitive control.. Neuropsychopharmacology. doi:10.1038/s41386-025-02181-5

  • Ashton, S. E., Sharalla, P., Kang, N., Brockett, A. T., McCarthy, M. M., & Roesch, M. R. (2024). Distinct Action Signals by Subregions in the Nucleus Accumbens during STOP-Change Performance.. J Neurosci, 44(29). doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0020-24.2024

  • Brockett, A. T., & Francis, N. A. (2024). Psilocybin decreases neural responsiveness and increases functional connectivity while preserving pure-tone frequency selectivity in mouse auditory cortex.. J Neurophysiol, 132(1), 45-53. doi:10.1152/jn.00124.2024

  • Brockett, A. T., Kumar, N., Sharalla, P., & Roesch, M. R. (2024). Optogenetic Inhibition of the Orbitofrontal Cortex Disrupts Inhibitory Control during Stop-Change Performance in Male Rats.. eNeuro, 11(5). doi:10.1523/ENEURO.0015-24.2024

  • Schoenfeld, T. J., Rhee, D., Smith, J. A., Padmanaban, V., Brockett, A. T., Jacobs, H. N., & Cameron, H. A. (2023). Rewarded Maze Training Increases Approach Behavior in Rats Through Neurogenesis-Dependent Growth of Ventral Hippocampus–Prelimbic Circuits. Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science, 3(4), 725-733. doi:10.1016/j.bpsgos.2023.04.003

  • Murkli, S., Klemm, J., Brockett, A. T., Shuster, M., Briken, V., Roesch, M. R., & Isaacs, L. (2021). In Vitro and In Vivo Sequestration of Phencyclidine by Me4 Cucurbit[8]uril*.. Chemistry, 27(9), 3098-3105. doi:10.1002/chem.202004380

  • Verbruggen, F., Aron, A. R., Band, G. P., Beste, C., Bissett, P. G., Brockett, A. T., . . . Boehler, C. N. (2019). A consensus guide to capturing the ability to inhibit actions and impulsive behaviors in the stop-signal task.. Elife, 8. doi:10.7554/eLife.46323

  • Brockett, A. T., Kane, G. A., Monari, P. K., Briones, B. A., Vigneron, P. -A., Barber, G. A., . . . Gould, E. (2018). Evidence supporting a role for astrocytes in the regulation of cognitive flexibility and neuronal oscillations through the Ca2+ binding protein S100β.. PLoS One, 13(4), e0195726. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0195726

  • Cope, E. C., Briones, B. A., Brockett, A. T., Martinez, S., Vigneron, P. -A., Opendak, M., . . . Gould, E. (2016). Immature Neurons and Radial Glia, But Not Astrocytes or Microglia, Are Altered in Adult Cntnap2 and Shank3 Mice, Models of Autism.. eNeuro, 3(5). doi:10.1523/ENEURO.0196-16.2016

  • Brockett, A. T., LaMarca, E. A., & Gould, E. (2015). Physical exercise enhances cognitive flexibility as well as astrocytic and synaptic markers in the medial prefrontal cortex.. PLoS One, 10(5), e0124859. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0124859

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  • Most Cited Publications