Nicholas Fears
Assistant Professor
Bachelor's Degree(s): Psychology, Indiana University
Master's Degree: Psychological Science, Tulane University
PhD: Psychological Science, Tulane University
Phone: 225-578-7175
Email: nfears@lsu.edu
Office: 2210 HPL Field House
Biography
Dr. Nicholas Fears is an Assistant Professor in the School of Kinesiology at the Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, LA, USA. Dr. Fears completed his undergraduate training in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Indiana University in 2013 and his graduate training in Developmental Psychology at Tulane University in 2019. He completed his postdoctoral training in the Department of Physical Therapy at University of North Texas Health Science Center and in the School of Kinesiology at University of Michigan in 2022. Dr. Fears joined the School of Kinesiology in August 2022.
Dr. Fears’s research focuses on the development of the dynamic relationships between motor, visual, and cognitive processes. He is interested in how these relations affect the performance of activities of daily living in neurodivergent populations (i.e., autism, developmental coordination disorder). The goal of his research is to improve the lives of neurodivergent people by adapting their environments and providing support for them to achieve their goals. Dr. Fears is the director of the Human Development & Daily Life (HuDDL) Lab.
Selected Publications
Fears, N. E., Palmer, S. A., & Miller, H. L. (2022). Motor skills predict adaptive behavior in autistic children and adolescents. Autism Research. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.2708 (preprint available at PsyArХiv https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/u5wmp).
Fears, N. E., Templin, T., Sherrod, G. M., Bugnariu, N., Patterson, R., & Miller, H. L. (2022). Autistic children use less efficient goal-directed whole body movements compared to neurotypical development. Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-022-05523-0 (preprint available at SportRχiv, https://doi.org/10.51224/SRXIV.17)
Fears, N. E., Bailey, B., Youmans, B, & Lockman, J. J. (2019). An eye-tracking method for directly assessing children's visual-motor integration. Physical Therapy, 99(6), 797-806. https://doi.org/10.1093/ptj/pzz027
Fears, N. E. & Lockman, J.J. (2018). How beginning handwriting is influenced by letter knowledge: Visual-motor coordination during children’s form copying. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 171, 55-70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2018.01.017
Classes Taught
KIN 3513 - Introduction to Motor Learning