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Dr Adam Bruton
Senior Lecturer in Sport and Performance Psychology

Heinz Wolff 271

  • Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences

Research area(s)

My research interests span the fields of sport psychology, experimental psychology, and cognitive neuroscience.

I adopt a multidisciplinary approach to understand interactions between neural, cognitive, psychological and behavioral factors associated with the following topics:

  • Simulating actions via motor imagery and/or action observation.
  • Performance and learning in individuals and teams.
  • Immersive technology use in high performance domains.

Research Interests

Simulating actions through action observation and/or motor imagery to:

  • Enhance learning of new motor skills / sequences
  • Improve performance under pressure
  • Increase task- and situation-specific confidence
  • Develop mental representations of action in the long-term memory
  • Understand joint actions and interactions across multiple persons

Understanding the neurophysiological mechanisms underpinning action simulation:

  • Using single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation to assess corticospinal responses to action simulation
  • Using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation to probe the roles of different brain areas during action simulation

Testing immersive reality technologies as  alternative forms of perceptual-cognitive, and/or action training:

  • Investigating the efficacy of virtual- or augmented-reality for perceptual-cognitive, and/or action training
  • Utilizing virtual- or augmented-reality to test possible transfer of perceptual, cognitive or movement outcomes after action simulation training
  • Exploring the validity and reliability of immersive technologies as a training tool in high performance contexts

Research grants and projects

Grants

Investigating the effects of prebiotic supplementation on gut permeability and inflammation, cardiometabolic health, and mood and well-being
Funder: Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
Duration: January 2025 - June 2025
Psychological Skill Use for Performance Enhancement and Refinement in YOUth (PSUPER YOU)
Funder: British Psychological Society, Research Working Groups Scheme
Duration: December 2020 - January 2023
The effects of hyperthermia on memory
Funder: Experimental Psychology Society, Small Grants Scheme
Duration: January 2019 - April 2023
An interdisciplinary investigation into return to play following a lower limb injury
Funder: Knowledge Economy Skills Scholarship (KESS 2) PhD Award.
Duration: May 2018 - September 2022
Project GROW: Establishing and testing a new intergenerational falls prevention gardening programme in older people at risk of falling
Funder: Health Innovation Network, South London Innovation and Diffusion Awards
Duration: October 2016 - May 2018
In search of evidence for cerebral cortical motor areas recruited when developing collective efficacy perceptions
Funder: Wellcome Trust
Duration: July 2015 - September 2015

The overarching purpose of this project was to examine individual differences in eye movements when observing positive team performance as a means to understand the cognitive processes underpinning collective efficacy development. Specifically, we investigated whether fixation metrics across two observation conditions (still images/video footage) varied as a function of familiarity (i.e., familiar/unfamiliar with the observed content) and individual’s collective efficacy beliefs (i.e., high/low).

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Kingston Lane
Uxbridge
Middlesex UB8 3PH

Tel: +44 (0)1895 274000

Fax: +44 (0)1895 232806

Security: +44 (0)1895 255786

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