معرفی
Nicola Hodges serves as Professor and Associate Director of Graduate Affairs in the School of Kinesiology, Faculty of Education, at the University of British Columbia. Her research integrates sport psychology and behavioral neuroscience to investigate motor skill development, with expertise in action anticipation, observational learning, and coaching science. She actively supervises graduate students in Kinesiology MA, MSc, and PhD programs while leading the Motor Skills Lab and collaborating with the Origins of Balance Deficits and Falls Research cluster.
Hodges' research examines cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying motor learning through experimental paradigms in soccer, baseball, and swimming. Key interests include visual-kinesthetic motor imagery interactions, error-based observational learning, and individual differences in imagery ability. Her work reveals how practice structure, diversity, and prediction errors influence skill acquisition, with implications for optimizing coaching strategies and rehabilitation protocols. Current projects explore aphantasia's impact on motor cognition and handedness effects in sport anticipation.
Recent publications (2023-2025) demonstrate methodological innovation using eye-tracking, neurophysiological measures, and sport-specific tasks. Her research consistently addresses the interdependence of visual and kinesthetic representations during learning, with growing focus on real-world applications in youth sports development and clinical voice disorders.
No specific scientific awards are listed in her current profile, though her extensive publication record indicates significant scholarly impact.
Hodges currently supervises PhD candidate Carrie Peters (researching motor system involvement in action observation) and expresses strong interest in interdisciplinary collaborations, undergraduate research mentorship, and cluster-based grant partnerships. Her supervisory approach emphasizes purposeful practice frameworks and perceptual-cognitive skill development.
She directs the Motor Skills Lab at UBC's War Memorial Gymnasium, conducting behavioral and neurophysiological research on motor control. Her affiliations include the Origins of Balance Deficits and Falls Research cluster and UBC's Exercise, Kinesiology and Health Seminar series, reflecting commitment to translational research and academic community engagement.
