Cognitive science has been a dynamic area of research over the past fifteen years, producing breakthroughs in our basic understanding of the brain and behavior. Although this research has identified key processes of attention, memory, and high-order problem solving, it has yet to be applied systematically to the field of health science.

I am in the process of developing a laboratory that will provide measures of basic information processes (encoding, attention, working memory, vigilance) known to be sensitive to individual's health and physical fitness. The laboratory will be designed specifically to assess the impact of a wide variety of interventions (e.g., exercise, nutrition, drugs, rehabiliation) on cognitive processes that serve as the building blocks of intellectual functioning. The selection of cognitive tasks that will be employed are based on Workload Theory, which provides a framework for bridging the gap between cognitive psychology and neuropsychology. Workload Theory is based upon and incorporates themes that have long histories in psychological research. It assumes that people consciously attempt to optimize their performance by controlling and regulating the status of their physical and mental states. Further, the cognitive control of these states can be understood in terms of cybernetic principles, which describe how individuals reduce discrepancies that exist between the psychophysiological state they expect to experience and the actual state they are experiencing.

The restoration and regulation of a desired state requires the allocation of physical and mental resources, both of which are assumed to be finite. State regulation is controlled cognitively via three routes: computational processes, emotional processes, and mental effort. Cognitive control that is exerted via computation uses the structures and functions of the information-processing system. The human brain is conceptualized to function analogous to a computer. Information flowing from sensory systems is perceived, stored, and manipulated according to formal and logical rules. Cognitive control that is exerted via emotion does not follow formal rules of logic or reason.

The limbic system, which is comprised of phylogenetically older brain structures than the neocortex, initiate automatic regulatory responses by way of structures of the autonomic nervous system. Discrepant environmental conditions lead to changes in physiological arousal (e.g., heart rate, respiration, etc), which are linked to subjective feelings (e.g., anxiety and fear). Cognitive control that is exerted via mental effort reflects conative, goal-oriented motivation that expresses itself in terms of trying harder (e.g., concentration and attentional focus) and the willingness to expend physical and mental resources.