The Performance and Exercise Psychophysiology (PEP) Lab’s general objective is to enhance motor performance and health. More specifically, they seek to uncover the bases of motor learning and performance, as well as how to capitalize on these bases in order to enhance learning and performance. Additionally, they strive to understand why people choose and, more often, don’t choose to engage in physical activity. The Lab currently employs psychophysiological (e.g., electroencephalography) and behavioral (e.g., accelerometry) techniques to address their research aims.

Matt Miller, Ph.D. serves at the director of the PEP Lab. His Ph.D. students help conduct studies on how reinforcement learning principles may explain motor skill acquisition and exercise behavior.

Projects

Basic and Applied Motor Learning and Performance

This work iexamines what motor skill practice conditions enhance learning and the bases of the enhancements. For example, our work suggests that practicing a motor skill with the expectation of teaching it improved motor learning, and we have investigated the neural underpinnings of this benefit.

Psychological Determinants of Physical Activity, Exercise, and Sedentary Behavior

This work examines the psychological mechanisms leading individuals to engage (or, is more often the case, not engage) in physical activity, exercise, and sedentary behavior. Currently, we are examining the neural correlates of exercise attitudes, and whether the extent to which individuals pursue rewards and the satisfaction they obtain when consuming the rewards is related to the energetic cost of the rewards.

Matt Miller, Ph.D.
(334) 844-2717
Email Matt Miller

External Partners

Brandon Alderman, Ph.D., Rutgers University
Mariane Bacelar, Ph.D., Boise State University
Matthieu Boisgontier, Ph.D., University of Ottawa
Boris Cheval, Ph.D., École normale supérieure de Rennes
Seppo Iso-Ahola, Ph.D., University of Maryland
Keith Lohse, Ph.D., Washington University School of Medicine St. Louis
Juliana Parma, Ph.D., San Francisco State University

 

More about the Lab

Director: Matt Miller, Ph.D.

Research Focus: Uncover the bases of motor learning and performance to enhance learning and performance.

When I’m not in the lab, I enjoy spending time with my wife and kids running/hiking/enjoying the great outdoors, watching sports, and reading for pleasure.

Doctoral Student Alumni

JULIANA PARMA (SUMMER 2023)

Dissertation Title: “I made it! Effects of perceptions of success and enhanced expectancies on motor learning and its underlying mechanisms”

Initial Placement: Assistant Professor, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA

DANIEL CABRAL (FALL 2022)

Dissertation Title: “The effects of implicit learning, practicing with the expectation of teaching, and anxiety training on moto performance under psychological pressure”

Initial Placement:  Post-doctoral Researcher, Virginia Tech University, Blacksburg, VA

MARIANE BACELAR (SUMMER 2022)

Dissertation Title: “What moves you? The role of enhanced expectations and reward processing in motor performance and learning”

Initial Placement: Assistant Professor, Department of Kinesiology, Boise State University, Boise, ID

JENCE RHOADS (SUMMER 2019)

Dissertation Title: “Distinguishing the effects of verbalizing a skill on performance and learning in novice and skilled populations”

Initial Placement: USA Team Handball

MARCOS DAOU (SUMMER 2018)

Dissertation Title: “The effects of practicing a motor skill with the expectation of teaching it: Benefits to skill learning, potential underlying mechanisms, and effects on skill performance under psychological pressure”

Initial Placement: Assistant Professor, Department of Kinesiology, Coastal Carolina University

FORD DYKE (SUMMER 2017)

Dissertation Title: “Trait mindfulness as a moderator of green exercise and attention.”

Initial Placement: Assistant Clinical Professor, School of Kinesiology, Auburn University.

KIRK GRAND (SUMMER 2016)

Dissertation Title: “Red or blue: Does the choice of hue influence the way you learn the things you do? A mechanistic account of the effects of incidental choice on motor learning”

Initial Placement: Assistant Swimming and Diving Coach as well as Adjunct Professor (Kinesiology), Auburn University

ANDREW THOMPSON (SUMMER 2016)

Dissertation Title: “The influence of dispositional mindfulness on state anxiety and motor choking under pressure”

Initial Placement: Post-doctoral researcher, Tufts University/U.S. Army’s Natick Soldier Research Development and Engineering Center

Bacelar, M. F. B., Parma, J. O., Murrah, W. M., & Miller, M. W. (in press). Meta-analyzing enhanced expectancies on motor learning: positive effects but methodological concerns. International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology.  https://doi.org/10.1080/1750984X.2022.2042839

Parma, J. O., Bacelar, M. F. B., Cabral, D. A. R., Recker, R. S., Orsholits, D., Renaud, O., Sander, D., Krigolson, O. E., & Miller, M. W., Cheval, B., & Boisgontier, M. P. (2023). Relationship between reward-related brain activity and opportunities to sit. Cortex, 167, 197 - 217. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2023.06.011. 

Cabral, D. A. R., Daou, M., Bacelar, M. F. B., Parma, J. O., & Miller, M. W. (2023). Does learning a skill with the expectation of teaching it impair the skill’s execution under psychological pressure if the skill is learned with analogy instructions? Psychology of Sport and Exercise,66, 102323.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2022.102323

Parma, J. O., Bacelar, M. F. B., Cabral, D. A. R., Lohse, K. R., Hodges, N. J., & Miller, M. W. (2023). That looks easy! Evidence against the benefits of an easier criterion of success for enhancing motor learning. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 66, 102394.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2023.102394

Bacelar, M. F. B., Parma, J. O., Cabral, D. A., Daou, M., Lohse, K. R., & Miller, M. W. (2022). Dissociating the contributions of motivational and information processing factors to the self-controlled feedback learning benefit. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 59, 102119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2021.102119

Cabral, D. A. R., Wilson, A. E., & Miller, M. W. (2022). The effect of implicit learning on motor performance under psychological pressure: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology,11(3), 245-263. https://doi.org/10.1037/spy0000286

Cheval, B., Cabral, D. A. R., Daou, M., Bacelar, M. F. B., Parma, J. O., Forestier, C., Orsholits, D., Maltagliati, S., Sander, D., Boisgontier, M. P., & Miller, M. W. (2021). Inhibitory control elicited by physical activity and inactivity stimuli: An EEG study. Motivation Science, 7(4), 386–399. https://doi.org/10.1037/mot0000236

Miller, M. W., Bacelar, M. F. B., Feiss, R. S., Daou, M., Alderman, B. L., & Ekkekakis, P. (2020). P3b as an electroencephalographic index of automatic associations of exercise-related images. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 158, 114–122.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2020.10.004

Cheval, B., Daou, M., Cabral, D. A. R., Bacelar, M. F. B., Parma, J. O., Forestier, C., Orsholits, D., Sander, D., Boisgontier, M. P., & Miller, M. W. (2020). Higher inhibitory control is required to escape the innate attraction to effort minimization. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 51, 101781. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2020.101781

Bacelar, M. F. B., Lohse, K. R., & Miller, M. W. (2020). The effect of rewards and punishments on learning action selection and execution components of a motor skill. Journal of Motor Learning and Development, 8, 475–496.  https://doi.org/10.1123/jmld.2019-0039

Lohse, K. R., Miller, M. W., Daou, M., Valerius, W., & Jones, M. (2020). Dissociating the contributions of reward-prediction errors to trial-level adaptation and long-term learning. Biological Psychology, 149. https://doi.org/10.1016./j.biopsycho.2019.107775

Cheval, B., Boisgontier, M. P., Bacelar, M. F. B., Feiss, R., & Miller, M. W. (2019). Opportunities to sit and stand trigger equivalent reward-related brain activity. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 141, 9 – 17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2019.04.009

Daou, M., Lohse, K. R., & Miller, M. W. (2018). Does practicing a skill with the expectation of teaching alter motor preparatory cortical dynamics? International Journal of Psychophysiology, 127, 1-10.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2018.02.013

Daou, M., Rhoads, J. A. , Jacobs, T., Lohse, K. R., & Miller, M. W. (2019). Does limiting pre-movement time during practice eliminate the benefit of practicing while expecting to teach?  Human Movement Science, 64, 153–163.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.humov.2018.11.017

Daou, M., Sassi, J. M., Miller, M. W., & Gonzalez, A. M. (2019). Effects of a multi-ingredient energy supplement on cognitive performance and cerebral-cortical activation. Journal of Dietary Supplements, 16(2), 129-140.  https://doi.org/10.1080/19390211.2018.1440686

Rhoads, J. A., Daou, M., Lohse, K. R., & Miller, M. W.  (2019). The effects of expecting to teach and actually teaching on motor learning. Journal of Motor Learning and Development, 7(1), 84–105.  https://doi.org/10.1123/jmld.2017-0052

Daou, M., Hutchison, Z., Bacelar, M., Rhoads, J. A., Lohse, K. R., & Miller, M. W. (2019). Learning a skill with the expectation of teaching it impairs the skill’s execution under psychological pressure. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 25(2), 219–229.  https://doi.org/10.1037/xap0000191

Grand, K. F., Daou, M., Lohse, K. R., & Miller, M. W. (2017). Investigating the mechanisms of an incidental choice on motor learning. Journal of Motor Learning and Development, 5(2), 207–226.  https://doi.org/10.1123/jmld.2016-0041

Daou, M., Lohse, K. R., & Miller, M. W. (2017). To take the stairs or not to take the stairs? Employing the Reflective-Impulsive Model to predict spontaneous physical activity. Sports, 5(4), 75.  https//doi.org/10.3390/sports5040075

Daou, M., Lohse, K. R., & Miller, M. W. (2016).  Expecting to teach enhances motor learning and information processing during practice. Human Movement Science, 49, 336-345.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.humov.2016.08.009

Meadows, C. C., Gable, P. A., Lohse, K. R., & Miller, M. W. (2016). Motivation and motor cortical activity can independently affect motor performance. Neuroscience, 339, 174-179. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2016.09.049

Iso-Ahola, S. E., Dotson, C. O., Clark, L. L., Jagodinksy, A. E., Smallwood, L. L., Wilburn, C., Weimar, W. H., & Miller, M. W. (2016). Improving performance by anchoring movement and “nerves”. Human Movement Science, 49, 239-247.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.humov.2016.07.008

Iso-Ahola, S. E., & Miller, M. W. Contextual priming of a complex behavior: Exercise. Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice, 3(3), 258-269.  https://doi.org/10.1037/cns0000078

Meadows, C. C., Gable, P. A., Lohse, K. L., & Miller, M. W. (2016). The effects of reward magnitude on reward processing: An averaged and single trial event-related potential study. Biological Psychology, 118, 154-160.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2016.06.002

Daou, M., Buchanan, T. L., Lindsey, K. R., Lohse, K. R., & Miller, M. W. (2016). Expecting to teach enhances learning: Evidence from a motor learning paradigm. Journal of Motor Learning and Development, 4, 197-207.  https://doi.org/10.1123.jmld.2015-0036

Leiker, A. M., Miller, M. W., Brewer, L. E., Nelson, M., & Lohse, K. R. (2016). The relationship between engagement and neurophysiological measures of attention in motion-controlled video games: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Medical Internet Research: Serious Games, 4(1), e4. https://doi.org/10.2196/games.5460

Grand, K. F., Bruzi, A. T., Dyke, F. B., Godwin, M. M., Leiker, A. M., Thompson, A. G., Buchanan, T. B., & Miller, M. W. (2015). Why self-controlled feedback enhances motor learning: Answers from electroencephalography and indices of motivation. Human Movement Science, 43, 23-32.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.humov.2015.06.013

Dyke, F. B., Leiker, A. M., Grand, K. F., Godwin, M. M., Thompson, A. G., Rietschel, J. C., McDonald, C. G., & Miller, M. W.  (2015). The efficacy of auditory probes in indexing cognitive workload is dependent on stimulus complexity.  International Journal of Psychophysiology, 95(1), 56-62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2014.12.008

Dyke, F., Godwin, M. M., Goel, P., Rehm, J., Rietschel, J. C., Hunt, C. A., & Miller, M. W. (2014).  Cerebral cortical activity  associated with nonexperts’ most accurate motor performance. Human Movement Science, 37, 21-31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.humov.2014.06.008

Miller, M. W., Pressaco, A., Groman, L. J., Bur, S., Rietschel, J. C., Gentili, R. J., McDonald, C. G., Iso-Ahola, S. E., & Hatfield, B. D. (2014). The effects of team environment on cerebral cortical processes and attentional reserve. Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology, 3(1), 61-74. https://doi.org/10.1037/spy0000001

Palmer, K. K., Miller, M. W., & Robinson, L. E. (2013).  Acute exercise enhances preschoolers’ ability to ability to sustain attention. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 35(4), 433-437.  https://doi.org/10.1123/jsep.35.4.433

Miller, M. W., Groman, L. J., Rietschel, J. C., McDonald, C. G., Iso-Ahola, S. E., & Hatfield, B. D. (2013).  The effects of team environment on attentional resource allocation and cognitive workload. Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology, 2(2), 77-89.  https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030586

Rietschel, J. C., Miller, M. W., Gentili, R. J., Goodman, R. N., McDonald, C. G., & Hatfield, B. D. (2012).  Cerebral-cortical networking and activation increase as a function of task difficulty. Biological Psychology, 90(2), 127-133.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2012.02.022

Miller, M. W., Rietschel, J. C., McDonald, C. G., & Hatfield, B. D. (2011).  A novel approach to the physiological measurement of mental workload. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 80(1), 75-78.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2011.02.003

SEE MORE PUBLICATIONS CO-AUTHORED BY THE PEP LAB>
  • Much of our data is available under the same ResearchGate profile as our publications. If you are interested in data that is not on ResearchGate, please email Matt Miller, Ph.D..
  • Most of our newer work (pre-registrations, experimental materials, data, and pre-prints) is available on Open Science Framework..
  • Our older pre-registrations can be found on Aspredicted.org.
Last updated: 10/25/2023