Benjamin Gibson

Benjamin Gibson is a PhD student receiving his training at the University of New Mexico (UNM) under the mentorship of Dr. Vincent P. Clark. He received his Masters of Science from the UNM in 2019. At UNM, Benjamin has worked on projects funded by the Department of Defense, National Institutes of Health, and National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. His research focuses on understanding the basic mechanisms of various methods of non-invasive brain stimulation, specifically transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), and transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS). He is especially interested in how individual differences manifest across the application of these different technologies, and how understanding these differences can help maximize their potential benefits.

Scholarships, Honors and Awards

▪ Cognitive Neuroscience Society Graduate Student Award, 2020.

▪ 2^nd Best First-Author Paper, Cognition Brain & Behavior (2019): $100

▪ Research Society on Alcoholism Student Merit Award (2019): $395

▪ Sandia Casino Responsible Gaming Scholarship (2019): $2500

▪ Department of Psychology Travel Award, University of New Mexico (2018): $500

▪ Post-Baccalaureate GRE Course Scholarship, UC Irvine (2017): $1000

▪ Post-Baccalaureate Conference Travel Award, UC Irvine (2016): $300

▪ Dean’s Honor List, California State University, Northridge (2009, 2010)

Published manuscripts

Gibson, B., Mullins, T., Witkiewitz, K., Yu, A., Hansberger, J., & Clark, V. Transcranial direct current stimulation facilitates category learning. Brain Stimulation (2020)

Au, J., Gibson, B., Bunarjo, K., Buschkuehl, M., & Jaeggi, S. Quantifying the difference between active and passive control groups in cognitive interventions using two meta-analytic approaches. Journal of Cognitive Enhancement (2020)

Stein, E., Gibson, B., Votaw, V., Wilson, A., Clark, V., & Witkiewitz, K. Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation in Substance Use Disorders: Implications for Dissemination to Clinical Settings. Current Opinion in Psychology

Gibson, B., Sanguinetti, J., Badran, B., Yu, A., Klein, E., Abbott, C., Hansberger, J., & Clark, V. Increased excitability induced in the motor cortex by transcranial ultrasound stimulation (tUS). Frontiers in Neurology (2018)

Robinson, S., Bryant, B., Maxwell, J., Jones, A., Robert, B., Lamphere, M., Combs, A., Al Azzawi, H.,
Gibson, B., Sanguinetti, J., Ketz, N., Pilly, P., & Clark., V. The benefits of closed-loop transcranial alternating stimulation on subjective sleep quality. Brain Sciences (2018)

Manuscripts under review

Gibson, B., Heinrich, M., Mullins, T., Yu, A., & Clark, V. Baseline differences in anxiety affects attention and tDCS-mediated learning. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience (2020)

Manuscripts in preparation

Gibson, B., Witkiewitz, K., Elkin-Frankston, S. & Clark, V. Individual differences and the efficacy of tDCS-augmented cognitive and mindfulness training

Scholarships, Honors, and Awards