Proposal

                The unique nature of our department to combine the disciplines of exercise science and health promotion provides an opportunity to explore areas where the two overlap, namely the physiological manifestations resulting from changes in psychological function.  In order to facilitate this objective of educating undergraduate and graduate students in the department, we are requesting a FAU technology fee grant for an EEG measuring device.  If approved, this device will allow for research that can be translated back to classroom instruction that reinforces the ideal of “one mind, one body”.  The experience students will gain from research utilizing this device will increase quality of education they receive.

                The department has, through support of the FAU technology fee grant, been able to elevate the level of instruction students receive in exercise science.  The Biochemistry laboratory has allowed for a higher quality of education resulting in:  undergraduate students awarded competitive research grants, graduate students presenting research at several symposiums, and an increase in graduate students electing the thesis option.  It’s important to point out that the department of Exercise Science & Health Promotion is the 5^th largest undergraduate major at FAU with approximately 1000 students with an additional 60 masters candidates who would also be exposed to this technology. 

                These accomplishments owe a large part to the capabilities for research afforded by technology available in the Biochemistry lab.  However, the successes of our students can be further realized with additional resources to explore other areas of the disciplines.  One glaring deficiency is the ability to conduct research studies in the area of neurophysiology and behavior selection.  There has been a long standing position that behavior selection is associated with major negative health outcomes.  The process of learning the mechanism for behavior selection has been limited to published research findings.  The capability of conducting actual studies would enhance the learning experience of ESHP students.

HSC 4581 Health Promotion is a course exploring health behavior selection and intervention design to address those decisions.  One aspect of the behavior selection is that mechanisms exist which do not pass through the cognitive area of the brain.  These behaviors are stored as habits and are called upon during times of psychological stress.  Symmetrical brain activity is one sign of a non-stressed individual, left brain or right brain dominated activity can be an indication of affect.  EEG technology would allow students to understand how events are related to brain function and how that ultimately influences behavior selection.  Another technology that would assist in the understanding of behavior selection during psychological stress is EMG.  Upper body muscle tension is a physiological manifestation of psychological stress.  Research conducted utilizing these technologies would be disseminated in the classroom lectures.  HSC 4581 reaches 140 undergraduate student each semester.  Additionally, more than 250 students would be exposed to this technology every year via a laboratory demonstration in PET 3050, Neurophysiology of Human Movement a core course for undergraduate major in Exercise Science & Health Promotion.

This project will benefit the University's strategic plan by impacting the following goals:

Goal 1: Providing Increased Access to Higher Education

Updating and expanding the ESHP Lab equipment and acquiring the software will expand the capabilities of our Lab, allowing us to increase research in the neuro-behavior field which is very limited today.

Goal 3: Building World-Class Academic Programs and Research Capacity

This goal is supported by the proposal because the new equipment and software would allow a significant increase in research and design projects at both undergraduate and graduate level in the study of human behaviors.