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SLIDE PRESENTATION
Neuroscience of the Free Throw: Insights from Motor Control Theory
RECORDED ON WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 26, 2022
Presenter: Dr. William Cullinan, PT '81, Dean of the College of Health Sciences and Director of Marquette’s Integrative Neuroscience Research Center
In this light-hearted webinar, Dr. William Cullinan, Dean of the College of Health Sciences and Director of Marquette’s Integrative Neuroscience Research Center, will discuss implications from brain science on successful free-throw shooting. Dr. Cullinan will present the cases of two former Marquette men’s basketball players to illustrate extremes in motor styles. Subtopics such as ‘muscle memory’, priming, and the effects of stress/anxiety on shooting success will also be covered. If you are a student or fan of the game, you are guaranteed to come away better informed. And if a basketball player, you may well raise your free throw shooting percentage significantly.
More about this session
William E. Cullinan, Ph.D., PT '81, is a professor and dean of the College of Health Sciences and director of the Integrative Neuroscience Research Center. Cullinan received his bachelor’s degree in physical therapy from Marquette in 1981 and earned his Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of Virginia in 1991. He did post-doctoral research at the University of Michigan (1991-95) before joining the Marquette faculty in 1995. His research laboratory, which has received funding from the National Institute on Mental Health and the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, focuses on brain circuits involved in mental illness. He has authored numerous research articles and chapters on functional neuroanatomy and neuroendocrinology.
Dr. Cullinan has taught courses in anatomy, neuroanatomy and neuroscience at the undergraduate and graduate levels, and received the university’s Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence in 2002. He established and directs a summer Neuroanatomical Dissection seminar which annually draws 80 to 100 professionals and educators from across the country.