Dr. Brady DeCouto
Brief Synopsis
Dr. Brady DeCouto’s area of research can be summarized as factors relating to the development, assessment, and resilience of expert performance, with a particular emphasis on perceptual-motor adaptations (e.g., attention, movement quality) that emerge as a result of training. Brady has frequently used sport as a vehicle to study processes related to expert performance and athlete development. Given the emergence and proliferation of technologies such as AI and robotics, some of his current research endeavors are focused on understanding how the constraints and characteristics of human cognition, psychology, and motor control affect human compatibility with technological tools. Brady has also applied frameworks for expert performance in funded collaborations with Department of Defense (DoD) agencies, including Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM), and United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). His work with DoD agencies was focused on improving stress monitoring, resilience, and decision-making in volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) environments.
Research Areas
Talent Identification
During Brady’s early research career, he worked with U.S. Ski and Snowboard to identify factors related to mental health and performance in adolescent alpine ski racers. Consequently, Brady and his colleagues produced a body of work highlighting psychological characteristics related to performance (e.g., mental toughness, perfectionism), sociocultural influences on practice time (e.g., gender, nationality), and systemic influences on athlete engagement (e.g., the relative age effect). Brady has applied methodologies from his work on talent identification in funded research with U.S. DEVCOM determining factors related to technological savviness, particularly savviness with AI.
Technological Tools and Expert Performance
Brady is heavily invested in research assessing how technological tools (e.g., exoskeletons) can be used to facilitate the acquisition of expert perceptual and motor performance, as well as motor learning processes involved in effectively using emerging technological tools. He has collaborated with roboticists and engineers to study how exoskeletons and movement-assistive devices impact motor learning. Brady has also worked with USSOCOM to research how simulation technologies can be used to train key cognitive processes during decision-making.
Neurophysiological Markers of Expert Attention
Brady’s first research interest was human perception, and neuroimaging and eye-tracking tools offer some of the most effective biomarkers of perception and attention. Consequently, he has published research investigating neural markers of expert perception in sport, particularly studying global and local attention in relation to experience in sport.
Anxiety and Performance
Given the salient role of emotion in human performance, Brady is drawn to researching how anxiety can break down performance through impacting perceptual-motor processes. He has conducted work assessing the influence of anxiety on both motor control and visual behavior, particularly in sport environments.
Personal Background
Brady began his position as Assistant Professor at Florida State University in 2024, coming from his previous tenure as a Postdoctoral Scholar and Research Scientist at Florida IHMC in Pensacola, FL. At IHMC, Brady gained hands-on experience forming collaborations with talented researchers in diverse fields and conducting research in an industry setting. Previously, Brady earned his PhD in Kinesiology from the University of Utah, where his work was focused on cognitive motor neuroscience. When not at work, Brady enjoys volleyball, music, horticulture, and any kind of game.
