Brodie Mangan
Cognitive Psychologist/Neuroscientist; PhD Researcher; University of Stirling
About
Hello there! I'm Brodie, and I currently study how cognition fails under sustained effort and how to measure recovery properly. Thinking is the seat of our being. When it becomes impaired, so does everything else: work, lifestyle, behaviour, and ultimately brain health itself, leading to accelerated ageing with profound consequences.
I'm interested in the full spectrum of cognitive function, not just where it fails. My research began with assessing green space exposure and exercise as interventions for acute cognitive benefits, but unfortunately, most studies never established genuine fatigue before measuring restoration. The evidence base was small and methodologically flawed.
To fix this, I developed the WAND model: Working Memory Active N-back Difficulty. These adaptive tasks hold participants in optimal challenge zones whilst mitigating the learning effects that plague fatigue studies. The intention is to very soon map these mechanisms through advanced EEG analysis, examining how brain frequencies interact to maintain cognitive functions such as working memory and cognitive control.
The goal is practical: create robust methods that induce and quantify cognitive fatigue mechanistically, so that interventions can be properly evaluated. This work spans neuroergonomics, risk mitigation, performance maintenance, healthier ageing, and stress management.
Having served as a paratrooper and having founded a small successful business as a personal health coach, I prioritise methods that work in real operational settings, not just laboratories.