College of Psychology Faculty Presents at Sports Nutrition Conference

Assistant Professor Kayla Thayer, Ph.D., from NSU’s College of Psychology, recently presented at a conference on the intersection of psychology and sports performance.

The International Society of Sports Nutrition conference took place in person in Daytona Beach, but implemented masks and social distancing. Presentations covered topics such as diet and amino acids, but Thayer took a different course.

Although sports performance is not Thayer’s main area of research, her presentation took the basic tenets of clinical psychology and evidence-based tools like cognitive behavioral therapy, but applied them to sports. Thayer noted that athletes also contend with common problems – anxiety, depression, trauma, legal issues, substance issues and sleep issues.

“When it’s your job to perform well, all of these problems negatively impact cognitive functioning, so by using clinical psychology, what we’re doing is targeting those underlying problems so that we can dedicate more cognitive resources to performance and enhancing it in the moment on the field,” Thayer said.