Brodie Mangan
Cognitive Psychologist/Neuroscientist; PhD Researcher; University of Stirling
About
Hello there! I'm Brodie. My research focuses on the neural mechanisms of attention and working memory —
how the brain coordinates, maintains, and protects cognitive representations under sustained demand. I use
EEG and electrophysiological methods to map the oscillatory architecture that supports these processes, and
to understand how that architecture breaks down when cognitive effort is prolonged.
My PhD began with an applied question in environmental psychology, but I quickly found that the field
lacked the methodological foundations to answer it: most studies never verified genuine cognitive fatigue
before claiming restoration, and induction paradigms were confounded. Rather than building on unstable
ground, I went back to first principles. That pivot led me to the fundamental cognitive and neural
mechanisms that now define my research.
The result is a self-directed research programme spanning theory, tools, and empirical validation. I
developed a neurophysiological framework linking active cognitive fatigue to the breakdown of working
memory's oscillatory architecture, specifically, theta–gamma phase–amplitude coupling across
frontal–parietal networks. I built WAND, an open-source adaptive N-back suite that resolves methodological
confounds in fatigue research. Currently, I am running an EEG study testing these predictions directly. Looking ahead, my research interests extend to computational modelling and targeted stimulation, such as tES and TMS, for causal testing.
Before academia, I served as a paratrooper in the Parachute Regiment and spent over a decade working in
fitness. That background taught me discipline, structured problem-solving, and the value of methodological
rigour, qualities that now shape how I approach research.
Latest News
30 Apr 2026
WAND protocol software paper has passed open peer review and is accepted for publication in the Journal of Open Source Software (JOSS).
6 Mar 2026
ScholarRef v1.0.1 released - a free Windows app
for converting APA 7, Harvard, and Vancouver citations in Word documents.