Chia-Liang Tsai, Ph.D.
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Affiliation(s):
Institute of Physical Education; Health and Leisure Studies; National Cheng Kung University
Areas of Interest:
physical exercise, cognitive neuroscience, Event-related potential
Biography & Research:
Dr. Chia-Liang Tsai is a Distinguished Professor of Institute of Physical Education, Health & Leisure Studies and a faculty member in the National Cheng Kung University for Exercise and Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory. I am an internationally recognized scholar who has published extensively in two exercise physiology areas: changes of cognitive electrophysiology and motor performances across the lifespan, with an emphasis on individuals with motor difficulties or neurodegenerative diseases, and on the effects of different exercise interventions on neurocognitive and biochemical performances. I hold Fellow status in the Asian Society for Adapted Physical Education and the vice-president of the Taiwan Association for Adapted Physical Activity and Health. In past ten years, I have published over 100 papers and received many research honors and awards. My research is not only interested in how motor skills develop across the lifespan in children diagnosed with motor challenges but also extends to the elderly, especially those who present with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and those diagnosed with advanced dementia. Recently, my research interests in exercise and neurocognitive/biochemical parameters include different exercise-mode interventions and neurocognitive (e.g., behavior and event-related potentials) performances and the correlations with biomarkers (e.g., neurotrophins, and metabolic and inflammatory biomarkers) in healthy elderly or the elderly with neurodegenerative diseases, such as the Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease. The central challenge of all of these works is to better understand whether the exercise intervention leading to improved physical fitness may have non-pharmacological remediative effects on the functional integrity of the patients’ brains and cognition, and further slow or retard the progress of these neurodegenerative diseases.
