Skip to main content

Jessica Bernard

Associate Professor
Areas of Speciality
  • Cognition & Cognitive Neuroscience
Memberships
Contact
  • (979) 845-2746
  • jessica.bernard@tamu.edu
  • PSYC 209
Professional Links
Office Hours, Spring 2024
Mondays 10:30-11:30a in PSYC 209
Accepting Students for 2024-2025?
Yes

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.

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

Affiliated Research Cluster

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