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Life Sciences North, Room 347
Stephen Cowen
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Associate Professor of Psychology
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Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering
My laboratory seeks to understand the neural mechanisms that control learning, decision making, and navigation. We also explore how the neural systems involved in these processes become disrupted in Parkinson’s disease, chronic pain, and aging. To further these research objectives, my colleagues and I develop novel instrumentation for visualizing brain activity, measuring dopamine release, controlling experiments, and quantifying behavior.
Degrees
- Ph.D. Psychology
- University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, United States
- Selective Delay Activity in the Medial Prefrontal Cortex: The Contribution of Sensory-Motor Information and Expectation
Work Experience
- UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA (2018 - Ongoing)
- University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona (2012 - 2018)
- The Neurosciences Institute (2007 - 2012)
Interests
Teaching
Teaching undergraduate and graduate courses has been a deeply meaningful component of my work at the University of Arizona. A principal reason for my passion for teaching is that it serves as an outlet for me to communicate the excitement involved in scientific discovery. I have been fortunate to have a course load that mirrors my own interests. For example, I teach undergraduate and graduate level courses in cognitive neuroscience, systems neuroscience, neuroanatomy, the neural basis of decision making, and statistics (courses listed below). I also have considerable background in data analysis, computational theories of the brain, and computer programming. This background has informed my lectures in statistics and will serve as a foundation for planned future courses in computational neuroscience and data analysis.NRSC/PSYC 596e/496: Neural Mechanisms of Decision MakingPSYC 313: Drugs and the BrainPSYC 230: Measurement and StatisticsPSYC 402: Brain and CognitionPSYC 413: Drugs and the Brain Advanced (offered in Fall 2021)PSYC 506a: Neural Systems, Neural Encoding, and ComputationPSYC 510: Graduate Statistics in RCourse Section: NRSC 560: Systems Neuroscience. 3 Lectures: Memory, Cortex, and HippocampusGuest lecturer in Human Neuroanatomy.
Research
I am interested in the question of how the activities of ensembles of neurons drive our capacity to decide, remember, and navigate. In particular, I am interested in the role of the prefrontal cortex in cost-benefit decision making and in the role of the hippocampus in navigation and memory consolidation. I investigate these topics through large-scale extracellular recording of the activities of networks of neurons and dopamine release in rats as the animals perform decision-making and navigation behaviors. A number of interesting observations have emerged from these experiments. For example, we found that the neurons believed to be critical for working memory also were exquisitely sensitive to small body movements, suggesting a link between working memory systems in the brain and physical movement. This observation that has since motivated the development of novel tools for the analysis and measurement of movement. Our investigation of cost-benefit decision making has revealed that neurons in the anterior cingulate cortex, a region within the frontal cortex, may also be important for the capacity to persevere through physically strenuous sequences of movements (e.g. lifting weights or finishing a marathon) as these neurons respond to specific actions and the effort that must be maintained over time to acquire a goal. Finally, our work in spatial navigation indicates that neurons in the hippocampus, a region that is a critical component of the brain’s navigation system, can rapidly switch between visual and egocentric (body centered) reference frames when the location of a goal demands such switching. Our ultimate goal is to connect our investigations of the frontal cortex and hippocampus in order to determine how communication between these regions guides decision making and memory formation.
Courses
Independent Study
ECOL 399 (Spring 2019)
ECOL 399 (Fall 2018)
NSCS 199 (Fall 2022)
NSCS 199 (Spring 2022)
NSCS 199 (Fall 2021)
NSCS 399 (Fall 2016)
NSCS 399 (Spring 2016)
NSCS 499 (Summer I 2016)
NSCS 499 (Spring 2016)
PSIO 499 (Spring 2024)
PSIO 499 (Fall 2016)
PSY 399 (Fall 2017)
PSY 399 (Spring 2017)
PSY 399 (Fall 2016)
PSY 599 (Fall 2019)
Psyc Measurement + Stat
PSY 230 (Spring 2018)
Honors Independent Study
BME 299H (Spring 2024)
MCB 299H (Spring 2024)
MCB 299H (Fall 2023)
NROS 399H (Fall 2022)
NSCS 399H (Spring 2020)
NSCS 399H (Fall 2016)
NSCS 499H (Spring 2020)
NSCS 499H (Fall 2017)
NSCS 499H (Fall 2016)
NSCS 499H (Spring 2016)
PSIO 399H (Spring 2018)
PSIO 499H (Fall 2023)
PSIO 499H (Fall 2018)
PSY 399H (Fall 2016)
PSY 499H (Spring 2017)
Brain Waves
PSY 310 (Spring 2024)
Drugs and the Brain
PSY 313 (Spring 2023)
PSY 313 (Spring 2020)
PSY 313 (Spring 2019)
PSY 313 (Spring 2018)
PSY 313 (Spring 2016)
Directed Research
BIOC 492 (Spring 2024)
BIOC 492 (Spring 2018)
BME 492 (Spring 2022)
BME 492 (Fall 2021)
BME 492 (Spring 2021)
NROS 392 (Fall 2023)
NSCS 392 (Spring 2023)
NSCS 392 (Spring 2022)
NSCS 392 (Fall 2021)
NSCS 392 (Spring 2019)
NSCS 392 (Fall 2018)
NSCS 492 (Fall 2018)
NSCS 492 (Fall 2016)
NSCS 492 (Spring 2016)
PSIO 492 (Spring 2024)
PSIO 492 (Fall 2023)
PSIO 492 (Spring 2023)
PSIO 492 (Fall 2016)
PSIO 492 (Spring 2016)
PSYS 392 (Summer I 2023)
PSYS 392 (Spring 2023)
PSYS 392 (Fall 2022)
PSYS 392 (Fall 2021)
PSYS 492 (Fall 2022)
PSYS 492 (Spring 2022)
PSYS 492 (Spring 2018)
PSYS 492 (Fall 2017)
PSYS 492 (Spring 2017)
Honors Directed Research
NROS 392H (Fall 2022)
Drugs, Brain + Behavior
PSY 413 (Spring 2024)
PSY 413 (Spring 2022)
PSY 513 (Fall 2019)
Preceptorship
NSCS 491 (Spring 2018)
PSY 491 (Spring 2018)
Senior Capstone
BIOC 498 (Spring 2019)
BIOC 498 (Fall 2018)
Honors Thesis
NROS 498H (Spring 2024)
NROS 498H (Fall 2023)
NSCS 498H (Fall 2017)
NSCS 498H (Spring 2017)
NSCS 498H (Fall 2016)
NSCS 498H (Spring 2016)
PSIO 498H (Spring 2018)
PSIO 498H (Fall 2017)
PSY 498H (Spring 2018)
PSY 498H (Fall 2017)
Neur Encod,Mem+Comp Mamm
PSY 506A (Spring 2019)
PSY 506A (Spring 2017)
Statistics Fundamentals
PSY 510 (Fall 2022)
PSY 510 (Fall 2021)
PSY 510 (Fall 2019)
PSY 510 (Fall 2018)
PSY 510 (Fall 2017)
PSY 510 (Fall 2016)
Systems Neuroscience
NRSC 560 (Spring 2024)
NRSC 560 (Spring 2023)
NRSC 560 (Spring 2022)
NRSC 560 (Spring 2021)
NRSC 560 (Spring 2020)
NRSC 560 (Spring 2019)
NRSC 560 (Spring 2018)
NRSC 560 (Spring 2017)
NRSC 560 (Spring 2016)
Rsrch Meth Biomed Engr
BME 592 (Fall 2022)
BME 597G (Fall 2019)
Clinical/Indus Internshp
BME 693A (Summer I 2022)
Methods In Neuroscience
NRSC 700 (Spring 2023)
NRSC 700 (Spring 2021)
NRSC 700 (Fall 2020)
NRSC 700 (Spring 2020)
NRSC 700 (Spring 2017)
Rsrch Meth Psio Sci
PS 700 (Fall 2016)
Research
NRSC 900 (Fall 2023)
PS 900 (Spring 2018)
PS 900 (Fall 2017)
PS 900 (Spring 2017)
PS 900 (Fall 2016)
PSY 900 (Spring 2024)
PSY 900 (Fall 2023)
PSY 900 (Summer I 2023)
PSY 900 (Fall 2022)
PSY 900 (Spring 2022)
PSY 900 (Fall 2021)
PSY 900 (Spring 2021)
PSY 900 (Fall 2020)
PSY 900 (Spring 2020)
PSY 900 (Fall 2019)
PSY 900 (Spring 2018)
PSY 900 (Fall 2017)
PSY 900 (Fall 2016)
PSY 900 (Spring 2016)
Thesis
BME 910 (Spring 2023)
BME 910 (Fall 2022)
BME 910 (Spring 2021)
BME 910 (Fall 2020)
BME 910 (Spring 2020)
PSY 910 (Spring 2021)
Dissertation
NRSC 920 (Spring 2018)
NRSC 920 (Fall 2017)
NRSC 920 (Spring 2017)
NRSC 920 (Fall 2016)
NRSC 920 (Spring 2016)
PS 920 (Winter 2018)
PS 920 (Fall 2018)
PS 920 (Spring 2018)
PS 920 (Fall 2017)
PSY 920 (Spring 2024)
PSY 920 (Fall 2023)
PSY 920 (Spring 2023)
PSY 920 (Spring 2020)
PSY 920 (Fall 2019)
PSY 920 (Spring 2019)
PSY 920 (Fall 2018)
PSY 920 (Spring 2018)
PSY 920 (Fall 2017)
PSY 920 (Spring 2017)
PSY 920 (Fall 2016)
PSY 920 (Spring 2016)
Selected Publications
Journals/Publications
- Chou, Y., Cowen, S., Sundman, M. H., Liu, Y., Lim, K., Ugonna, C., & Ton That, V. (2022). Association Between Responsiveness to Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and Interhemispheric Functional Connectivity of Sensorimotor Cortex in Older Adults. Brain Connectivity. doi:10.1089/brain.2021.0180
- Cowen, S. L., Falk, T., Sherman, S. J., Bartlett, M. J., & Ye, T. (2021). Spectral signatures of L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia depend on L-DOPA dose and are suppressed by ketamine.. Experimental neurology, 340, 113670. doi:10.1016/j.expneurol.2021.113670
- Bartlett, M. J., Flores, A. J., Ye, T., Smidt, S. I., Dollish, H. K., Stancati, J. A., Farrell, D. C., Parent, K. L., Besselsen, D. G., Doyle, K., Heien, M. L., Cowen, S. L., Steece-Collier, K., Sherman, S. J., & Falk, T. (2020). Preclinical evidence in support of repurposing sub-anesthetic ketamine as a treatment for L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia.. Experimental Neurology, 333, 113413. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.expneurol.2020.113413
- Cowen, S. L., Falk, T., Fell, M. J., Wohlford, L. A., Gies, K. F., Monroe, E. J., Eby, A. J., Wiegand, J. L., Bartlett, M. J., & Crown, L. M. (2020). Sleep Spindles and Fragmented Sleep as Prodromal Markers in a Preclinical Model of LRRK2-G2019S Parkinson's Disease.. Frontiers in neurology, 11, 324. doi:10.3389/fneur.2020.00324
- Crown, L. M., Bartlett, M. J., Wiegand, J. L., Eby, A. J., Monroe, E. J., Gies, K., Wohlford, L., Fell, M. J., Falk, T., & Cowen, S. L. (2020). Sleep Spindles and Fragmented Sleep as Prodromal Markers in a Preclinical Model of LRRK2-G2019S Parkinson's Disease. Frontiers in neurology, 11, 324.
- Eby, A. J., Crown, L., & Cowen, S. L. (2020). INVESTIGATING MOTOR LEARNING IN A LRRK2 MOUSE MODEL OF PARKINSON’S DISEASE. The FASEB Journal, 34(S1), 1-1. doi:10.1096/fasebj.2020.34.s1.04831
- Falk, T., Sherman, S. J., Steece-Collier, K., Cowen, S. L., Heien, M. L., Doyle, K., Besselsen, D. G., Parent, K. L., Farrell, D. C., Stancati, J. A., Dollish, H. K., Smidt, S. I., Ye, T., Flores, A. J., & Bartlett, M. J. (2020). Preclinical evidence in support of repurposing sub-anesthetic ketamine as a treatment for L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia.. Experimental Neurology.
- Ondek, K., Pevzner, A., Tercovich, K., Schedlbauer, A. M., Izadi, A., Ekstrom, A. D., Cowen, S. L., Shahlaie, K., & Gurkoff, G. G. (2020). Recovery of Theta Frequency Oscillations in Rats Following Lateral Fluid Percussion Corresponds With a Mild Cognitive Phenotype. Frontiers in neurology, 11, 600171.
- Seaton, B. T., Hill, D. F., Cowen, S. L., & Heien, M. L. (2020). Mitigating the Effects of Electrode Biofouling-Induced Impedance for Improved Long-Term Electrochemical Measurements In Vivo. Analytical chemistry, 92(9), 6334-6340.
- Siegenthaler, J. R., Gushiken, B. C., Hill, D. F., Cowen, S. L., & Heien, M. L. (2020). Moving Fast-Scan Cyclic Voltammetry toward FDA Compliance with Capacitive Decoupling Patient Protection. ACS sensors, 5(7), 1890-1899.
- Hill, D. F., Parent, K. L., Atcherley, C. W., Cowen, S. L., & Heien, M. L. (2018). Differential release of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens evoked by low-versus high-frequency medial prefrontal cortex stimulation. Brain stimulation, 11(2), 426-434.
- Barnes, C. A., Barnes, C. A., Cowen, S. L., Cowen, S. L., Gray, D. T., Gray, D. T., Wiegand, J. L., Wiegand, J. L., Schimanski, L. A., & Schimanski, L. A. (2018). Age‐associated changes in waking hippocampal sharp‐wave ripples. Hippocampus, 30(1), 28-38. doi:10.1002/hipo.23005
- Cowen, S. L., Cowen, S. L., Falk, T., Falk, T., Sherman, S. J., Sherman, S. J., Schmitt, M. B., Schmitt, M. B., Bartlett, M. J., Bartlett, M. J., Ye, T., & Ye, T. (2018). Ten-Hour Exposure to Ketamine Enhances Corticostriatal Cross-Frequency Coupling and Broad-Band Gamma Oscillations in the Hippocampus.. Frontiers in Neural Circuits, 12:61. doi:doi: 10.3389/fncir.2018.00061.
- Cowen, S. L., Gray, D. T., Wiegand, J. L., Schimanski, L. A., & Barnes, C. A. (2018). Age-associated changes in waking hippocampal sharp-wave ripples. Hippocampus.
- Edgin, J. O., Cowen, S. L., Spanò, G., Gómez, R. L., Demara, B. I., & Alt, M. (2018). REM sleep in naps differentially relates to memory consolidation in typical preschoolers and children with Down syndrome. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(46), 11844-11849. doi:10.1073/pnas.1811488115
Poster Presentations
- Brian, D. R., Gabriel, H., Reed, B., Miller, J. E., & Cowen, S. L. (2023, November). Alpha-synuclein overexpression in the basal ganglia vocal nucleus Area X alters waveform patterns in a zebra finch model of Parkinsonian vocal deficits. . Society for Neuroscience.
- Cowen, S. L., Falk, T., Keener, A., Bartlett, M. J., & Vishwanath, A. (2023, Fall). In a hemi-lesioned model of L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia neuronal firing was reduced in the un-lesioned striatum and ketamine reduced burst-like firing in striatal neurons bilaterally. . Society for Neuroscience. Washington DC.
- Stopera, C., Bartlett, M. J., Cowen, S. L., Sherman, S. J., & Falk, T. (2023, Fall). Pravastatin sensitizes parkinsonian rats to L-DOPA and blocks the long-term anti-dyskinetic activity of sub-anesthetic ketamine. Society for Neuroscience Meeting. Washington DC.
- Vishwanath, A., Bartlett, M. J., Falk, T., & Cowen, S. L. (2022, Spring). Ketamine disrupts 80-Hz gamma oscillations and reduces burst firing in naïve and parkinsonian rats with levodopa-induced dyskinesia.. 16th International Conference on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases and related neurological disorders, AD/PD™.
- Cowen, S. L., Falk, T., Sherman, S. J., Jordan, G. A., Bartlett, M. J., & Vishwanath, A. (2021, January). Ketamine disrupts 80-Hz gamma oscillations in parkinsonian rats with L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia.. Society for Neuroscience Global Connectome Conference.
- Falk, T., Cowen, S. L., Jordan, G. A., Vishwanath, A., Sexauer, M. R., Stopera, C., & Bartlett, M. J. (2021, January). The string-pulling task as a novel and simple behavior to test for parkinsonian deficits in unilaterally 6-OHDA-lesioned rodents.. Society for Neuroscience Global Connectome Conference.
- Sherman, S. J., Cowen, S. L., Heien, M. L., Liu, C., Ye, T., Stopera, C., Bartlett, M. J., & Falk, T. (2021, Spring). Update on preclinical and clinical evidence in support of repurposing sub-anesthetic ketamine as a treatment for L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia. 6th Annual ABRC-Flinn Research Conference. Phoenix, AZ.
- Sherman, S. J., Cowen, S. L., Heien, M. L., Farrell, D. C., Ye, T., Bartlett, M. J., & Falk, T. (2020, Spring). Preclinical and clinical evidence in support of repurposing sub-anesthetic ketamine as a treatment for L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia.. 5th Annual ABRC-Flinn Research Conference, Phoenix, AZ.
- Sherman, S. J., Cowen, S. L., Steece-Collier, K., Heien, M. L., Farrell, D. C., Ye, T., Bartlett, M. J., & Falk, T. (2020, Summer). Preclinical evidence in support of repurposing sub-anesthetic ketamine as a treatment for L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia.. European Neuroscience Virtual Forum Abstracts, 2020..
- Sherman, S. J., Cowen, S. L., Steece-Collier, K., Heien, M. L., Farrell, D. C., Ye, T., Bartlett, M. J., & Falk, T. (2020, Summer). Preclinical evidence in support of repurposing sub-anesthetic ketamine as a treatment for L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia.. European Neuroscience Virtual Forum Abstracts.
- Cowen, S. L., Falk, T., Bartlett, M. J., & Ye, T. (2018, Fall). L-DOPA-induced striatal gamma oscillations split into low- and high-frequency components following ketamine exposure in an animal model of L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia. Society for Neuroscience Meeting.
- Cowen, S. L., Falk, T., Bartlett, M. J., & Ye, T. (2018, Fall). L-DOPA-induced striatal gamma oscillations split into low- and high-frequency components following ketamine exposure in an animal model of L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia. Society for Neuroscience.
- Cowen, S. L., Falk, T., Gies, K., Wiegand, J., Eby, A., Bartlett, M. J., Wohlford, L., & Crown, L. M. (2018, Fall). Six month-old LRRK2 G2019S knock-in mice do not express motor learning deficits on the rotarod task. Society for Neuroscience Meeting.
- Cowen, S. L., Falk, T., Gies, K., Wiegand, J., Eby, A., Bartlett, M. J., Wohlford, L., & Crown, L. M. (2018, Fall). Six month-old LRRK2 G2019S knock-in mice do not express motor learning deficits on the rotarod task. Society for Neuroscience.
- Cowen, S. L., Falk, T., Wohlford, L., Monroe, E., Eby, A., Bartlett, M. J., Wiegand, J., & Crown, L. M. (2018, Fall). The frequency of sleep spindle oscillations is increased in the G2019S LRRK2 mouse model of Parkinson’s disease. New Mexico EEG and Behavior Conference.
Presentations
- Cowen, S. L. (2017, January). Brains, oscillations, aging, and memory. Arizona Neuroscience DataBlitz. Tucson, AZ.
- Cowen, S. L. (2017, March). Integrated Measurement of Dopamine Release and Large-Scale Ensemble Activity in Behaving Animals. Mayo Clinic Brain Initiative Symposium. Rochester, MN: Mayo Clinic.
- Cowen, S. L., & Majumdar, A. (2017, October). Tools for Measuring Neural Activity. IBM Cloud University Conference. Berlin, Germany.
- Richard, C., Crown, L. M., Wiegand, J. P., Bartlett, M. J., Falk, T., Heien, M. L., & Cowen, S. L. (2017, August). Altered Sleep Spindles in a LRRK2 Mouse Model of Parkinson's Disease. UROC Minority Health Disparities Summer Research Program Poster Session. Tucson, AZ.
- Alt, M., Edgin, J. O., Gomez, R. L., Cowen, S. L., Goffredina, S., Bianca, D., Bianca, D., Alt, M., Cowen, S. L., Gomez, R. L., Goffredina, S., & Edgin, J. O. (2016, Summer). Sleep and Memory Consolidation in Toddlers with Down syndrome:. The 6th International Conference on Memory, ICOM-6. Budapest, Hungary.
- Cowen, S. L. (2016, June). Ketamine and its impact on corticostriatal-limbic interactions. Pain Mechanisms and Therapeutics Conference. Taormina, Italy.
- Cowen, S. L. (2016, March). Effort-reward decision making: Neural systems and neuromodulation. Invited talk at Emory University. Atlanta, GA.
- Cowen, S. L. (2016, October). Identification of network and oscillatory signatures of the LRRK2 mutation. Michael J. Fox Foundation LRRK2 Consortium teleconference. Skype: Michael J. Fox Foundation.
- Cowen, S. L., & Heien, M. L. (2016, March). Simultaneous Detection of Dopamine Release and Multiple Single-Unit Activity in Awake and Behaving Rats. Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy National Convention. Atlanta, GA: PITTCON.
- Cowen, S. L. (2015, May). The Influence of Aging on the Variability of Neuronal Activity. McKnight Brain Institute Meeting. Miami, FL: McKnight Brain Institute.
- Cowen, S. L. (2014, April). Neural System, Networks, and the Impact of Aging. Invited speaker: Rising Stars in Neuroscience lecture. Gainesville, Florida: Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute.
- Cowen, S. L. (2014, April). Rising Stars in Neuroscience lecture: Neural System, Networks, and the Impact of Aging. Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute Annual Meeting. Gainesville, FL: Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute.
- Cowen, S. L. (2014, September). Effort and the Anterior Cingulate. Workshop on the Computational Properties of the Prefrontal Cortex. Whistler, Canada.
Awards
- Nu Rho Psi - Alpha Neuroscience Society
- Nu Rho Psi - Alpha Neuroscience Society, Spring 2018