Lawrence P. Behmer Jr., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Experimental Psychology
Office: Garrison Rm 417
Education
BA (2008) University of Portland
MS (2010) Western Washington University
PhD (2014) Washington State University
Postdoc (2014-2017) Brooklyn College of CUNY
Research Interests
I use EEG and TMS, as well as big data tools such as Amazon Mechanical Turk and computational modeling to investigate important questions about how learning, memory, and cognitive control intersect with our ability to plan and execute complex motor behaviors, such as playing a musical instrument. Specifically, I am interested in the serial order problem (how we successfully plan and execute actions in the correct order), the underlying cognitive processes which allow us to understand another person’s actions (associative sequence learning, mirror neurons), motor imagery, and the neural circuits involved skilled action sequencing. My research program is interdisciplinary, intersecting with computer science, cognitive psychology, and neuroscience, with distinct clinical and commercial applications for brain-computer interfaces (BCIs).
Dr. Behmer is accepting a new graduate student for admission in fall 2024.
Recent Publications
Behmer Jr., L. P. (submission under review). Mu-ERD during action observation and imitation reflects motor process and not mirroring. Journal of Motor Behavior.
Behmer Jr., L. P., Jantzen, K. J., & Crump, M. J. C. (2023). Motor-Evoked Potentials for Early Individual Elements of an Action Sequence During Planning Reflect Parallel Activation Processes. Motor Control, 27(3), 498-517.
Kenny, R. P., Eaves, D. L., Martin, D., Behmer Jr., L. P., & Dixon, J. (2020). The effects of textured insoles on cortical activity and quiet bipedal standing with and without vision: An EEG study. Journal of Motor Behavior, 52(4), 489-501.
Behmer Jr., L. P., Jantzen, K. J., Martinez, S., Walls, R., Amir-Brownstein, A., Jaye, A., Leytze, M., Lucier, K., & Crump, M. J. C. (2018). Parallel regulation of past, present, and future actions during sequencing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance. 44(8), 1147-1152.
Behmer Jr., L. P., & Crump, M. J. C. (2017). Spatial knowledge during skilled action sequencing: Hierarchical versus nonhierarchical representations. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics. 79(8), 1435-2248.
Behmer Jr., L. P., & Crump, M. J. C. (2017). The dynamic range of response set activation during action sequencing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance. 43(3), 537-554.
Behmer Jr., L. P., & Crump, M. J. C. (2016). Crunching big data with finger tips: How typists tune their performance towards the statistics of natural language. In M. N. Jones (Ed.), Big Data in Cognitive Science, Abindgon, UK: Talyor & Francis.
Behmer Jr., L. P., & Fournier, L. R. (2016). Mirror neuron activation as a function of explicit learning: Changes in mu-event related power after learning novel responses to ideomotor compatible, partially compatible, and non-compatible stimuli. European Journal of Neuroscience. 44(10), 2774-2785.
Eaves, D. L., Behmer Jr., L. P., & Vogt, S. (2016). Motor imagery content modulates mu and beta ERD during action observation: An EEG and behavioural study. Brain and Cognition, 106; 90-103.
Behmer Jr., L. P., & Fournier, L. R. (2014). Working memory modulates neural efficiency over motor components during a novel action planning task: An EEG study. Behavioural Brain Research, 260, 1-7.
Fournier, L. R., Behmer Jr., L. P., & Stubblefield, A. (2014). Interference due to shared features between action plans is influenced by working memory span. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 21(6), 1524-1529.
Mattson, P. S., Fournier, L. R., & Behmer Jr., L. P. (2012). Frequency of a feature occurring early in the action sequence influences binding among action feature codes. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 74(7), 1446-1460.
Jantzen, K. J., Seifert, M., Richardson, B., Behmer Jr., L. P., Odell, C., Tripp, A., & Symons, A. (2012). Dorsal stream activity and connectivity associated with action priming of ambiguous apparent motion. Neuroimage, 63(2), 687-697.
Behmer Jr., L. P., & Jantzen, K. J. (2011). Reading sheet music activates the mirror neuron system of musicians: An EEG study. Clinical Neurophysiology, 122(7), 1342-1347.