Biography & Research
Tom first arrived at the UCSB Attention Lab as a visiting graduate student in 2011. At the time, Tom was in the final year of his PhD at the University of Sheffield, UK, working under the supervision of Dr. Elizabeth Milne. Having obtained his doctorate, Tom returned to UCSB to take up a postdoctoral research position in the lab in 2012, leading a new line of research investigating how different global states such physical exercise and acute stress impact the human brain and behavior. This work is motivated by the fact that most of what we know about human cognition comes from studies that take place in sedentary, low-stress environments under highly controlled laboratory conditions. Tom combines behavioral, brain imaging (EEG, fMRI), eye-tracking and physiological recording techniques to better understand how the brain supports cognitive function in response to physical and cognitive challenges. Tom also works on fundamental studies of attentional control and working memory and he is involved in translational research assessing human performance in augmented reality (AR) environments. Tom has been a project scientist in the lab since 2018.