Research

I completed my PhD in Neuroscience at Queen’s University under the supervision of Dr. Jason Gallivan and Dr. Randy Flanagan. Broadly, I studied how the brain’s motor, sensory, and cognitive systems interact in order to prepare movement, as well as adapt movements in response to changing environments.

Currently, my primary research aim is studying longitudinal changes in brain structure and function in non-human primate populations under different social contexts. My secondary aims are developing new brain imaging analysis methods, and assisting with the implementation of advanced methods in several ongoing projects as a collaborator.

Funding and Awards

Post-Doctoral Awards (2023-Present)

  • Mitacs Post-Doctoral Accelerate Fellowship Program (2023-Present)

Doctoral Scholarships (2018-2022)

  • Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship (2019-2022)
  • Queen’s University Graduate Research Fellowship (2019-2022)
  • Queen’s University R.S. McLaughlin / Franklin and Helene Bracken Fellowship (2018-2019)

Master’s Scholarships (2016-2018)

  • Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Canada Graduate Scholarship-Master’s (2017-2018)

Peer reviewed publications:

Areshenkoff, C. N., De Brouwer, A., Gale, D. J., Nashed, J. Y., & Gallivan, J. P. (in press). Distinct patterns of connectivity with the motor cortex reflect different components of sensorimotor learning. PLoS Biol

Pearce, C. S., Bukovsky, D., Douchant, K., Katoch, A., Greenlaw, J., Gale, D. J., Nashed, J. Y., Brien, D., Kuhlmeier, V. A., Sabbagh, M. A., Blohm, G., De Felice, F. G., Pare, M., Cook, D. J., Scott, S. H., Munoz, D. P., Sjaarda, C. P., Tusche, A., Sheth, P. M., … Gallivan, J. P. (2024). Changes in social environment impact primate gut microbiota composition. Animal Microbiome, 6(1), 1–15.

Nashed, J. Y., Gale, D. J., Gallivan, J. P., & Cook, D. J. (2024). Changes in cortical manifold structure following stroke and its relation to behavioral recovery in the male macaque. Nature Communications, 15(1), 9005.

Standage, D. I., Gale, D. J., Nashed, J. Y., Flanagan, J. R., & Gallivan, J. P. (2024). Whole-brain modular dynamics at rest predict sensorimotor learning performance. Network Neuroscience, 1–63.

Nick, Q., Gale, D. J., Areshenkoff, C., De Brouwer, A., Nashed, J., Wammes, J., Zhu, T., Flanagan, R., Smallwood, J., & Gallivan, J. (2024). Reconfigurations of cortical manifold structure during reward-based motor learning. eLife, 12, RP91928.

Standage, D. I., Areshenkoff, C. N., Gale, D. J., Nashed, J. Y., Flanagan, J. R., & Gallivan, J. P. (2023). Whole-brain dynamics of human sensorimotor adaptation. Cerebral Cortex, bhac378.

Gale, D. J., Areshenkoff, C. N., Standage, D. I., Nashed, J. Y., Markello, R. D., Flanagan, J. R., Smallwood, J., & Gallivan, J. P. (2022). Distinct patterns of cortical manifold expansion and contraction underlie human sensorimotor adaptation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119(52), e2209960119.

Areshenkoff, C. N., Gale, D. J., Nashed, J. Y., Standage, D., Flanagan, J. R., Gallivan J. P. (2022). Neural excursions from manifold structure explain patterns of learning during human sensorimotor adaptation. eLife, 11, e74591.

Segal, J. P., Phillips S., Dubois, R. M., Silva, J. R., Haird, C. M., Gale, D., Hopman, W. M., Gallivan, J., Gilron, I., Ghasemlou, N. (2021). Weight bearing as a measure of disease progression in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. Journal of Neuroimmunology, 361, 577730.

Gale, D. J., Flanagan, J. R., & Gallivan, J. P. (2021). Human somatosensory cortex is modulated during motor planning. Journal of Neuroscience, 41(27), 5909–5922.

Gale, D. J., Areshenkoff, C. N., Honda, C., Johnsrude, I. S., Flanagan, J. R., & Gallivan, J. P. (2021). Motor planning modulates neural activity patterns in early human auditory cortex. Cerebral Cortex, bhaa403.

Moskowitz, J. B., Gale, D. J., Gallivan, J. P., Wolpert, D. M., & Flanagan, J. R. (2020). Human decision making anticipates future performance in motor learning. PLoS Computational Biology, 16(2), e1007632.

Gallivan, J. P., Chapman, C. S., Gale, D. J., Flanagan, J. R. & Culham, J. C. (2019). Selective modulation of early visual cortical activity by movement intention. Cerebral Cortex, bhy345.

Notter, M.P., Gale, D., Herholz, P., Markello, R., Notter-Bielser, M. & Whitaker, K. (2019). AtlasReader: A Python package to generate coordinate tables, region labels, and informative figures from statistical MRI images. Journal of Open Source Sofware, 4(34), 1257.

Best, M. W., Gale, D., Tran, T., Haque, M. K., & Bowie, C. R. (2017). Brief executive function training for individuals with severe mental illness: Effects on EEG synchronization and executive functioning. Schizophrenia research, 203, 32-40.

Preprints:

Alldritt, S., Ramirez, J.S.B, Vos de Wael, R., Bethlehem, R., Seidlitz, J., Wang, Z., Nenning, K., Esper, N. B., Smallwood, J., Franco, A. R., Byeon, K., …, Gale, D. J., …, & Xu, T. (2024). Brain Charts for the Rhesus Macaque Lifespan. bioRxiv

Areshenkoff, C. N., de Brouwer, A. J., Standage, D., Nashed, J. Y., Gale, D. J., Flanagan, J. R., & Gallivan, J. (2024). Individual variability in sensorimotor learning reflects trait-like neurobehavioral subject factors. bioRxiv

Rowchan, K., Gale, D. J., Nick, Q., Gallivan, J., & Wammes, J. D. (2023). Visual statistical learning is associated with changes in cortical manifold structure. bioRxiv

Software:

Gale, D. J., Vos de Wael., R., Benkarim, O., & Bernhardt, B. (2021). Surfplot: Publication-ready brain surface figures (v0.1.0). Zenodo.

For full detail, see Google Scholar