Terry Pivik, PhD
Research Professor in the Department of Pediatrics UAMS, College of Medicine
Director of the Human Function Laboratory, Arkansas Children’s Nutrition Center and Research
Phone: (501) 364-3346

Dr. Pivik is a Senior Investigator and Director of the Human Function Laboratory at the Arkansas Children’s Nutrition Center and Research Professor in the Department of Pediatrics. In his research, Dr. Pivik uses behavioral assessments and measures of physiologic activities (brain and autonomic measures) to evaluate the effects of specified nutrient intake patterns on brain function, cognitive development and physical health in infants, children and adolescents. Current areas of focus include longitudinal studies evaluating the effects of infant diet (breast-milk, milk-, soy -, and monosaccharide supplemented-formula) on developmental processes from early infancy through adolescence and a series of studies examining the effects of diet, meal patterns and meal frequency on brain function and behavioral dynamics in school children. These latter studies are aimed at identifying nutrition-related correlates of processes important for learning and school performance, such as arousal, attention, and motor behavior.

Pivik, R.T., Dykman, R.A. Endogenous eye blinks in preadolescents: Relationship to information processing and performance. Biological Psychology, 66: 191-219, 2004.

Pivik, R.T., Dykman, R.A. Cardiovascular effects of morning nutrition in preadolescents. Physiology and Behavior, 82: 295-302, 2004.

Pivik, R.T., Dykman, R.A. Skipping breakfast: gender effects on resting heart rate measures in preadolescents. Physiology and Behavior, 89: 270-280, 2006.

Pivik, R.T., Dykman, R.A. Event-related variations in alpha band activity during an attentional task in preadolescents: Effects of morning nutrition. Clinical Neurophysiology, 118: 615-632, 2007.

Pivik, R.T., Dykman, R.A., Jing, H., Gilchrist, J. M., Badger, T.M. The influence of infant diet on early developmental changes in processing human voice speech stimuli: ERP variations in breast and milk formula-fed infants at three and six months after birth. Developmental Neuropsychology, 31: 281-338, 2007.

Jing, H., Pivik, R.T., Gilchrist, J.M., Badger, T.M. No difference indicated in EEG power spectral analysis in 3 and 6 months old infants fed soy- or milk-based formula. Maternal and Child Nutrition, 4: 136-145, 2008.

Jing, H., Pivik, R.T., Gilchrist, J. M., Badger, T.M. Early diet affects the development of 3-6 Hz EEG activity in infants. Presented at the annual meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, New York, 2008.

Pivik, R.T. The influence of mathematical ability and morning nutrition on mental arithmetic in preadolescents: An ERP study. The FASEB Journal 22, Abstract # 874.2. 2008.

Pivik, R.T., Jing, H., Gilchrist, J. M., Badger, T.M. Early infant diet and ERP correlates of speech stimuli discrimination in 9 month old infants. The FASEB Journal 22, Abstract # 874.5 2008.

Szabo J.S., Eberendu A., Pivik R.T. Maternal Lewis phenotype is associated with human milk monosaccharide content. J Invest Med. 56: 388-389, 2008.

Szabo J.S., Eberendu A., Pivik R.T. Monosaccharide composition of human milk and infant formulas. J Invest Med. 56: 389, 2008.

Szabo J.S., Su S., Pivik R.T., Tsoi S., Kay H. Maternal-fetal monosaccharide levels in preterm and term pregnancies. J Invest Med.;56:477-478, 2008.

Jing, H, Gilchrist, JM, Badger, TM, Pivik, RT. A longitudinal study of differences in electroencephalographic activity among breastfed, milk-formula-fed, and soy formula-fed infants during the first year of life. Early Hum Dev 2010 February; 86(2):119-125.

Li, J, Dykman, RA, Jing, H, Gilchrist, JM, Badger, TM, Pivik, RT. Cortical responses to speech sounds in 3 and 6 month old infants fed breast milk, milk formula or soy formula. Dev Neuropsych 2010 Nov; 35(6):762-784.

Research Support

USDA/ARS: Effects of Diet and Nutrition on Psychological/Physiological Functioning in Children