Recent Lab News

Ruixuan Li has completed the PhD in Human Factors at the U of M. Her dissertation, “Postural Time-to-Contact, Real-Time Visual Feedback of Postural Activity, and Motion Sickness,” has been accepted by the Graduate School. Dr. Li was a member of the Affordance Perception-Action Laboratory (APAL) in the School of Kinesiology for four years; her adviser was […]

The Frommer’s Travel Show weekly podcast on November 25 featured a discussion of Dr. Thomas Stoffregen’s work on seasickness. The seven-minute discussion takes place from roughly 12:00 – 19:00 in the podcast. Stoffregen is a professor in the School of Kinesiology and director of the Affordance Perception-Action Laboratory (APAL).

Thomas Stoffregen, PhD, professor in the School of Kinesiology and director of the Affordance Perception-Action Laboratory, was quoted in an article, “Land Rover bets a vomit-y teacups ride could cure car sickness,”  in Wired. The Jaguar Land Rover is implementing “wellness scores” and features to reduce motion sickness based on Spencer Salter’s research. While the cars will […]

On Sunday, November 11, Tom Stoffregen, Ph.D., professor in the School of Kinesiology, gave an invited presentation to students in the MN FIRST LEGO League Jr., at the U of M’s Bell Museum Research Workshop. The workshop was held to prepare students in grades K-4 involved in the League for a robotics competition, in which […]

  Thomas Stoffregen, PhD, professor in the School of Kinesiology and director of the Affordance Perception-Action Laboratory, was quoted in an article in the Sarasota, FL Herald-Tribune. “Seasick much? Maybe it’s your sway” cites Stoffregen’s research that maintains that the more a person sways, even on land, correlates to a greater chance of seasickness. Although there […]

An article in the Washington Post cites the research of Thomas Stoffregen, Ph.D., School of Kinesiology professor and director of the Affordance Perception-Action Laboratory. “What causes seasickness—and what to do about it” notes Stoffregen’s work on postural sway and the incidence of seasickness. Stoffregen’s research shows that “seasickness happens more frequently and to a greater […]

Tom Stoffregen, Ph.D., professor in the School of Kinesiology and director of the Affordance Perception-Action Laboratory (APAL), is quoted in a Quartzy.com article, “We still don’t understand motion sickness, but it’s likely to get worse in the digital age.” Stoffregen’s research on postural imbalance is reviewed, along with several other researchers’ approaches, with attention to a prevalent, […]

  Thomas Stoffregen, Ph.D., School of Kinesiology professor and director of the Affordance Perception-Action Laboratory, has accepted an invitation to serve on the Planning Committee for the 4th annual Human Movement Variability Conference, May 16, 2019, which will be held at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. The conference brings together researchers from across the globe to […]

Yawen Yu, Ph.D., graduate of the School of Kinesiology, has accepted a tenure-track position as an assistant professor of Occupational Therapy at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO. Prior to this, Yu held  post-doctoral fellowships at the University of Nebraska-Omaha and at Temple University in Philadelphia. Yu is a former student in the Affordance Perception-Action Laboratory (APAL) under […]

Thomas Stoffregen, Ph.D., Kinesiology professor, was invited to speak to inter-professional Blandin Leadership Program participants, as well as Winona State University (WSU) faculty and staff on August 7, 2018, at WSU. The title of Dr. Stoffregen’s presentation was “Affordance Learning in Dynamic Settings” and regarded applying perception-action and self-organization principles to transform communities and build resilience personally […]

School of Kinesiology professor Thomas Stoffregen, Ph.D., director of the Affordance Perception-Action Laboratory, has published an article in the Malaysian Journal of Movement, Health, and Exercise. Effect of caffeine on standing balance during perceptual-cognitive tasks found that caffeine can exert subtle effects on balance performance in relation to specific perceptual-cognitive conditions. One of the authors involved in […]

Thomas Stoffregen, Ph.D., professor in the School of Kinesiology and director of the Affordance Perception-Action Laboratory, was quoted in an article in the Smithsonian.com. “Could These Glasses Cure Your Motion Sickness?”  describes a new concept, Boarding Glasses, created by a French company to alleviate the effects of motion sickness by creating an artificial horizon when worn. […]

School of Kinesiology professor Michael G. Wade, Ph.D., and colleague Karl M. Newell, University of Georgia, have published a book chapter in the latest edition of Advances in Child Development and Behavior series, Volume 55 (2018).  Their chapter, titled “Physical Growth, Body Scale, and Perceptual Motor Development,” appears in the latest volume of the series, Studying […]

Thomas Stoffregen, Ph.D., professor in the School of Kinesiology and director of the Affordance Perception-Action Laboratory, has published an article with two colleagues in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. The article, “Higher order affordances for reaching: Perception and performance,” discusses the findings of a study in which it was determined that goals of a […]

Christopher Curry, Ph.D. student in the School of Kinesiology, has been awarded an NSF-funded fellowship for 2018-19 through the Center for Cognitive Sciences and the Center for Applied and Translational Sensory Science, based on his strong interest in interdisciplinary research. The 12-month stipend of $34,000 provides comprehensive funding through the center’s training grant titled “NRT-UtB: Graduate training […]

Thomas Stoffregen, Ph.D., professor in the School of Kinesiology and director of the Affordance Perception-Action Laboratory, was quoted in an article published in The Medical Republic about the consequences of humans’ predilection to motion sickness under various circumstances. In “Ground Control to Major Vom,” the profound impact of motion sickness on astronauts in particular is explained and […]

Thomas Stoffregen, Ph.D., professor and director of the Affordance Perception-Action Laboratory in the School of Kinesiology, gave an invited talk Friday, April 6, at the 2018 Sport Movement Skill Conference at Concordia University, St. Paul. He spoke on “Movement kinematics can predict individual susceptibility to mTBI.”  His work with former advisee Yi-Chou Chen, Ph.D., examined […]

Two School of Kinesiology graduate students have received Professional Development Awards for the 2017-2018 academic year. Daniel McDonough, Ph.D. student in the Physical Activity and Health emphasis, and Nicolette Peterson, Ph.D. student in the Movement Science emphasis, will each receive $4,000 to help cover costs related to conference registration, travel, special research equipment and supplies, and […]

Thomas Stoffregen, Ph.D., and Michael G. Wade, Ph.D., are co-authors on an article published in Human Movement Science. Visual tasks and stance width influence the spatial magnitude and temporal dynamics of standing body sway in 6- to 12-year old children had study results consistent with the idea that effects of stance width and suprapostural visual tasks […]

Thomas Stoffregen, Ph.D., professor in the School of Kinesiology and director of the Affordance Perception-Action Laboratory, has accepted a 3-year appointment as an Academic Editor at PLOS ONE, the world’s first multidisciplinary Open Access journal. It remains a high-impact leader in peer-reviewed Open Access scientific publishing.