Jessica Bernard
  • Professor
Google Scholar Profile
Research Areas
  • Cognition & Cognitive Neuroscience

Research Interests

Research Interests

Dr. Bernard’s work seeks to understand how the cerebellum contributes to both motor and cognitive behavior. The cerebellum is located at the bottom and back of the brain, and is important for coordinating motor behavior as well as our thoughts. She completed her PhD at the University of Michigan in 2012, and followed this with a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Colorado Boulder. She is the director of the Lifespan Cognitive and Motor Neuroimaging Laboratory. The goal of her work is to better characterize cerebellar changes over time with age, in conjunction with understanding how the cerebellum interacts with the rest of the brain. However, there are differences in this structure in older adults, and this is related to how older individuals perform both motor and cognitive tasks. In addition, Dr. Bernard is interested in better understanding cerebellar contributions to cognition more broadly. Increasingly, a role for the cerebellum in non-motor behavior has been demonstrated, but how exactly the cerebellum is contributing, and its contributions relative to the rest of the brain remain unknown. She is trying to discern the relative contributions of the cerebellum and prefrontal cortex to cognitive behaviors, to create better models and theories about behavioral performance. Finally, Dr. Bernard also has a line of research investigating contributions of the cerebellum to psychosis and the development of psychotic disorders.

Affiliated Research Cluster

Neuroscience. Cerebellar structure and networks in humans; motor and cognitive behavior; aging; neuroimaging.

 

Office Hours: Mondays 10:30-11:30a in PSYC 209

 

Accepting Students for 2024-2025?: Yes

 

Memberships: Institute for Neuroscience

Selected Publications

  • Recent Publications

    • *Maldonado, T., Goen, J.R.M., *Imburgio, M.J., Eakin, S.M., Bernard, J.A. (2019). High
      definition transcranial direct current stimulation to the cerebellum does not effect higher
      cognitive function. PLOS ONE, 14(10), e0222995.
      Orr, J.M., Imburgio, M.J*., Bernard, J.A., Banich, M.T. (2019). Striatal-frontal network
      activation during voluntary task selection under conditions of monetary reward.
      Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience, 19, 568-585.
      *Ballard, H., Goen, J.R.M, *Maldonado, T, & Bernard, J.A. (2019). Transcranial direct
      current stimulation to the posterior cerebellum facilitates motor sequence learning.
      Journal of Neurophysiology, 122, 490-499.
      Damme, K., Gupta, T., Nusslock, R., Bernard, J.A., Orr, J.M., & Mittal, V.A. (2019).
      Cortical Morphometry in the Psychosis Risk Period: A comprehensive perspective of
      surface features. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, 4,
      434-443.
      Walther, S. Bernard, J.A., Mittal, V.A., & Shankman, S.A. (2019). The utility of an RDoC
      motor domain to understand psychomotor symptoms in depression. Psychological
      Medicine, 49, 212-216.
      Gupta, T., Dean, D.J., Kelley, N.J., Bernard, J.A., Ristanovic, I., & Mittal, V.A. (2018).
      Cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) improves procedural learning in
      nonclinical psychosis: a double-blind crossover study. Schizophrenia Bulletin. 44, 1373-
      1380.
      Dean, D.J., Walther, S., Bernard, J.A., & Mittal, V.A. (2018). Motor clusters reveal
      differences in risk for psychosis, cognitive function, and functional connectivity:
      evidence for vulnerability subtypes. Clinical Psychological Science, 6, 721-734.
      Bernard, J.A., Orr, J.M., Dean, D.J., & Mittal, V.A. (2018). The cerebellum and learning of
      non-motor associations in individuals at clinical-high risk for psychosis. Neuroimage:
      Clinical, 19, 137-146.
      Clark, S.V., Ahmadi, A., Bernard, J.A., Mittal, V.A., & Turner, J.A. (2018). Stronger
      default mode network connectivity is associated with poorer clinical insight in
      adolescents at ultra-high risk for psychosis. Schizophrenia Research, 193, 244-250.

    • Bernard, J.A. & Orr, J.M. (2017). Neuroimaging Biomarkers of Psychopathology: A Silver
      Bullet for Prediction, or Too Soon to Tell? Journal of Ethics in Mental Health, 10, 1-12.
      Impact Factor: n/a
      Osborn, K.J., Bernard, J.A., Gupta, T., Dean, D.J., Millman, Z., Vargas, T., Ristanovic, I.,
      Schiffman, J., & Mittal, V.A. (2017). Beat Gestures and Postural Control in Youth at
      Ultrahigh Risk for Psychosis. Schizophrenia Research, 185, 197-199. Impact Factor:
      4.583
      Mittal, V.A., Bernard, J.A., & Northoff, G. (2017). A circuit-based perspective of motor
      research in psychiatric disorders. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 43(5), 949-955. Impact Factor:
      8.048
      Bernard, J.A., Goen, J.R.M., Maldonado, T. (2017). A Case for Motor Network Contributions
      to Psychosis Symptoms: Evidence from Resting State Connectivity. Human Brain
      Mapping, 38(9), 4535-4545. Impact Factor: 5.182
      Bernard, J.A., Orr, J.M., & Mittal, V.A. (2017). Cerebello-thalamo-cortical networks predict
      positive symptom progression in individuals at ultra-high risk for psychosis.
      Neuroimage: Clinical, 14, 622-628. Impact Factor: 4.833
      Bernard, J.A., Russell, C.E., Newberry, R.E., Goen, J.R.M., Mittal, V.A. (2017). Patients with
      schizophrenia show aberrant patterns of basal ganglia activation: evidence from ALE
      meta-analysis. NeuroImage: Clinical, 14, 450-463. Impact Factor: 4.833
      b. 2018
      Gupta, T., Dean, D.J., Kelley, N.J., Bernard, J.A., Ristanovic, I., & Mittal, V.A. (2018).
      Cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) improves procedural learning in
      nonclinical psychosis: a double-blind crossover study. Schizophrenia Bulletin. 44, 1373-
      1380. Impact Factor: 8.048
      Dean, D.J., Walther, S., Bernard, J.A., & Mittal, V.A. (2018). Motor clusters reveal differences
      in risk for psychosis, cognitive function, and functional connectivity: evidence for
      vulnerability subtypes. Clinical Psychological Science, 6, 721-734. Impact Factor: n/a
      Bernard, J.A., Orr, J.M., Dean, D.J., & Mittal, V.A. (2018). The cerebellum and learning of
      non-motor associations in individuals at clinical-high risk for psychosis. Neuroimage:
      Clinical, 19, 137-146. Impact Factor: 4.833
      Clark, S.V., Ahmadi, A., Bernard, J.A., Mittal, V.A., & Turner, J.A. (2018). Stronger default
      mode network connectivity is associated with poorer clinical insight in adolescents at
      ultra-high risk for psychosis. Schizophrenia Research, 193, 244-250. Impact
      Factor:4.583
      Maldonado, T., Goen, J.R.M., Imburgio, M.J., Eakin, S.M., Bernard, J.A. (2019). High
      definition transcranial direct current stimulation to the cerebellum does not effect higher
      cognitive function. PLOS ONE, 14(10), e0222995. Impact Factor: 3.337
      Orr, J.M., Imburgio, M.J., Bernard, J.A., Banich, M.T. (2019). Striatal-frontal network
      activation during voluntary task selection under conditions of monetary reward. Cognitive,
      Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience, 19, 568-585. Impact Factor: 3.410
      Ballard, H., Goen, J.R.M, Maldonado, T, & Bernard, J.A. (2019). Transcranial direct current
      stimulation to the posterior cerebellum facilitates motor sequence learning. Journal of
      Neurophysiology, 122, 490-499. Impact Factor: 2.700
      Damme, K., Gupta, T., Nusslock, R., Bernard, J.A., Orr, J.M., & Mittal, V.A. (2019). Cortical
      Morphometry in the Psychosis Risk Period: A comprehensive perspective of surface features.
      Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, 4, 434-443. Impact
      Factor: n/a
      Walther, S. Bernard, J.A., Mittal, V.A., & Shankman, S.A. (2019). The utility of an RDoC
      motor domain to understand psychomotor symptoms in depression. Psychological Medicine,
      49, 212-216. Impact Factor: 6.313

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