Adam Brockett
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
- NSB 500: Neuroscience and Behavior I
- NSB 501: Neurobiology Laboratory I
Research Interests
- Aging and life course
- Animal cognition
- Exercise
- Drugs/Drug Abuse
- Behavioral neuroscience
Selected Publications
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
Brockett, A. T., Xue, W., King, D., Deng, C. -L., Zhai, C., Shuster, M., . . . Isaacs, L. (2023). Pillar[6]MaxQ: A potent supramolecular host for in vivo sequestration of methamphetamine and fentanyl. Chem, 9(4), 881-900. doi:10.1016/j.chempr.2022.11.019
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