Researcher Profile: Dr. Heather Neyedli
Dr. Heather Neyedli is an Associate Professor of Kinesiology in the School of Human and Health Performance at Dalhousie University.
Dr. Neyedli’s research is broadly focused on improving human cognitive and motor performance. She has studied stroke rehabilitation, as well as maintaining cognitive function through ageing by using aerobic exercise to keep cognitive function as we get older. Her typical workday involves interacting and working with trainees, planning new research and working on data analysis, as well hands-on lab work at the Cognitive and Motor Performance Lab. Much of this prepares her for presenting her research and discussing its impact and outcomes.
Dr. Neyedli has been affiliated with the Brain Repair Centre (BRC) since 2014 primarily working with the AMAP group and participating in Journal Clubs with her trainees. “The BRC is about collaboration, it brings researchers and trainees together to share ideas and it fosters conversations that often lead to new research opportunities.” She believes providing trainees access to journal clubs and other interactions at the BRC enriches their educational experience.
Neuroscience is a multifaceted discipline, and students come from a variety of backgrounds. “Our work requires lots of people with different skill sets,” says Dr. Neyedli, “Our trainees are comprised of students with interests in biology, math, kinesiology and other disciplines, it’s the different skillsets coming together that make for impactful research.” She enjoys seeing interdisciplinary projects come together and believes the BRC can fuel such work.
One good example of an interdisciplinary approach is her research in neurofeedback. Neurofeedback involves recording a person’s brain activity, displaying it back to them in real-time, then asking them to use this feedback to try to change their brain activity. A recent neuroscience-focused research collaboration fMRI neurofeedback in the motor system elicits bidirectional changes in activity and in white matter structure in the human brain was published in Cell Press; they were able to demonstrate changes in white matter of the brain after one day of training.
She recently worked with an undergrad Recreation Therapy who completed scoping exercise to understand how the clients might experience neurofeedback. This project has since led to another PhD student using this research as part of their studies to focus on the gamification of neurofeedback to make it more enjoyable. By combining both theoretical neuroscience with therapeutic client-centered approaches, her team hopes to make neurofeedback enjoyable and effective.
Dr. Neyedli’s own work as been largely grant funded, support has come from Natural Sciences Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERCC), Social Sciences and Humanities Council of Canada (SSHRC), Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI), Research Nova Scotia and the Department of National Defence. Her work with National Defence studies the psychology of how people team up with technology, which essentially examines the best part of what we do as humans, with the best part of what technology can do.
As she continues to explore new opportunities, she would like to do more clinical research working with older adults in patient populations.
Dr. Neyedli maintains a healthy and active lifestyle through weightlifting and coaching rugby. With a love for sports and science, it’s easy to understand her path to understanding the way our bodies move.