Stephen Cowen

Interim Director, Cognition & Neural Systems Graduate Program
Associate Professor, Cognition & Neural Systems
Director, Decision Making and Learning Laboratory
Cowen Headshot

Life Sciences North 347 (Lab)

520-626-2615
scowen@arizona.edu
Pronouns:
He, Him, His

Research Interests: 

  • Understanding how neurons coordinate their activity to support learning, memory consolidation during sleep, and navigation through space.
  • Exploring how communication between neurons is disrupted in aging, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease.
  • Developing novel scientific tools and software for visualizing and modulating brain activity, measuring dopamine release, and quantifying animal behavior.
  • Investigating the role dopamine plays in motivation, learning, and the control of movement.

Updated: 01/06/25

Selected Publications: 

  • Vishwanath, A., Bartlett, M. J., Falk, T., & Cowen, S. L. (2024). Decoupling of motor cortex to movement in Parkinson’s dyskinesia rescued by sub-anaesthetic ketamine. Brain: A Journal of Neurology, awae386. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awae386
  • Hamilton, A.R., Vishwanath, A., Weintraub, N.C., Cowen, S.L., Heien, M.L., (2024) Dopamine Release Dynamics in the Nucleus Accumbens Are Modulated by the Timing of Electrical Stimulation Pulses When Applied to the Medial Forebrain Bundle and Medial Prefrontal Cortex. ACS Chem Neurosci 15, 2643–2653. PMID: 38958080 https://doi.org/10.1021/acschemneuro.4c00115
  • Jordan, G.A., Vishwanath, A., Holguin, G., Bartlett, M.J., Tapia, A.K., Winter, G.M., Sexauer, M.R., Stopera, C.J., Falk, T., Cowen, S.L., (2024). Automated system for training and assessing reaching and grasping behaviors in rodents. Journal of Neuroscience Methods 401, 109990. PubMed PMID: 37866457 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneumeth.2023.109990
  • Crown L.M., Gray DT, Schimanski LA, Barnes CA, Cowen SL (2022) Aged rats exhibit altered behavior-induced oscillatory activity, place cell firing rates, and spatial information content in the CA1 region of the hippocampus. J Neurosci. Apr 27;. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1855-21.2022. PubMed PMID: 35477900.
  • Ye, T., Bartlett, M. J., Sherman, S. J., Falk, T., & Cowen, S. L. (2021). Spectral signatures of L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia depend on L-DOPA dose and are suppressed by ketamine. Experimental Neurology, 340, 113670. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.expneurol.2021.113670
  • Cowen SL, Gray DT, Wiegand JL, Schimanski LA, Barnes CA (2020) Age-associated changes in waking hippocampal sharp-wave ripples. Hippocampus. 2020 Jan;30(1):28-38. doi: 10.1002/hipo.23005. Epub 2018 Nov 11. PubMed PMID: 29981255; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6322975.

Updated: 01/06/25

Courses Taught:

  • PSY 230 - Measurement & Statistics (2020)
  • PSY 310 - Brain Waves (2024)
  • PSY 313 - Drugs and the Brain (2023)
  • PSY 413 - Drugs, Brain, & Behavior (2024)
  • PSY 506A - Neural Encoding, Memory, & Computation in the Mammalian Brain (2019)
  • PSY 510 - Graduate Statistics Fundamentals (2021)
  • PSY 595A - Cognition & Neural Systems Colloquium (2026)

*Year listed indicates when this individual last taught the specified course.

Updated: 02/13/25

Degrees

  • Ph.D.