School of Psychology Colloquiua

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School of Psychology Colloquiua

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https://hdl.handle.net/1853/70960

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Event Series

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College of Sciences

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School of Psychology

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Now showing 1 - 9 of 9

Using Technologies to Support Memory Loss and Promote Functional Independence

( 2019-05-01) Schmitter-Edgecome, Maureen

The world’s population is aging, with the estimated number of older individuals living with memory impairment expected to rise significantly. To help individuals remain functionally independent with high quality of life, reduce caregiver burden and lessen the impact of a projected care workforce shortage, we must consider innovative health care options. Dr. Schmitter-Edgecombe will address emerging technologies from her collaborative work that can support activities of daily living and provide real-time intervention for individuals living with memory impairment.
Aging and Memory: Attentional Resources and Cognitive Control

( 2019-03-25) Craik, Fergus I. M.

In this talk I will examine the proposition that age-related memory problems are largely attributable to declines in attentional resources and executive control, and will illustrate the arguments with experimental results from my lab. The questions discussed will include the notions that division of attention in young adults mimics the effects of aging on memory, that such effects are largely at encoding, and that divided attention has surprisingly little effect on retrieval despite the fact that retrieval processes are resource-demanding, especially in older adults. Other topics will consider age differences in working memory and how such differences may vary with task demands; also, age-related problems with self-initiation and with retrieval of highly specific information. Final questions include to what extent are retrieval difficulties in older adults reflective of problems of executive control, how do reductions in encoding efficiency affect later implicit and explicit retrieval, and are ‘attentional resources’ and ‘cognitive control’ simply two labels for the same concept?
Rethinking Memory Systems for Statistical Learning

( 2019-02-27) Turk-Browne, Nicholas

Dogma states that memory can be divided into distinct types, based on whether conscious or not, one-shot or incremental, autobiographical or factual, sensory or motor, etc. These distinctions have been supported by dissociations in brain localization, task performance, developmental trajectories, and pharmacological interventions, among other techniques. A natural consequence is the assumption of a one-to-one mapping between brain systems and memory behaviors. Aside from theoretical concerns and dissociation logic, there have also now been several empirical demonstrations of where these boundaries break down, from contributions of the hippocampus to reward learning and motor behavior to rapid episodic-like learning in frontal cortex. These considerations suggest that behavior is overdetermined by multiple brain systems and that the dependence on any particular brain system reflects the specific computations required for that behavior. As a case study, I will describe a series of neuroimaging, neuropsychological, and computational studies implicating the hippocampal system in statistical learning, a function more traditionally ascribed to cortical systems. I will end by considering some open questions that arise from this perspective, including about how memory systems support predictive coding and change over development.
Theories, Methods, and Data: A Dance and a Conversation

( 2019-01-30) Boker, Steven M.

Three dimensions of Cattell's persons by variables by time data box are discussed in the context of three types of researchers each wanting to answer their own categorically different question. The example of the well-known speed-accuracy tradeoff is used to illustrate why these exemplify three different categories of statistical question. A conceptual model is presented for the speed-accuracy tradeoff example that could account for cross-sectional between persons effects, short term dynamics, and long term learning effects. Two fundamental differences between the time axis and the other two axes of the data box include ordering and time scaling. In addition, nonstationarity in human systems poses a pervasive problem along the time dimension of the data box. To illustrate this, the difference in nonstationarity between dancing and conversation is discussed in the context of the interaction between theory, methods, and data. An information theoretic argument is presented that the theory-methods-data interaction is better understood when viewed as a conversation than as a dance. Entropy changes in the development of a theory-methods-data conversation provide one metric for evaluating scientific progress.
Cognitive Aging and Self-Management: Opportunities for Technology

( 2019-01-16) Insel, Kathleen C.

Self-management of chronic conditions increases among older adults at the same time capacity for self-management may diminish. Addressing limitations in prospective memory through strategies developed to improve medication adherence, provides an exemplar for applying what is known about cognitive aging to support older adults leading to optimal aging and improved quality of life. Leveraging technology, the use of which is ever more ubiquitous in this population, can provide a means for general dissemination of these strategies.
Cognition on the Go: The Opportunities and Challenges for Mobile Cognitive Health Research

( 2018-12-05) Sliwinski, Martin J.

The use of mobile technology affords novel opportunities to mitigate temporal, geographic, and personnel constraints imposed by in-person cognitive testing procedures, and to improve temporal precision by increasing the frequency of repeated assessments. There are, however, technical and logistic barriers that impede widespread utilization of mobile cognitive assessments. I will describe our efforts to overcome these barriers and recent research on validation and application of mobile cognitive tests embedded in ecological momentary assessment (EMA) measurement bursts.
Work, Family, and Physiological Health

( 2018-09-19) French, Kimberly A.

Work and family are two core sources of personal identity, facilitating joy, accomplishment, and belonging. At the same time, work and family roles may conflict with one another, resulting in feelings of stress, strained relationships, and detrimental coping behaviors. While substantial literature has been dedicated to understanding negative psychological effects of work-family conflict, it is unclear whether, how, or when experiences affect physiological functioning and health. Such a connection is imperative for understanding the scope and nature of work-family processes and establishing work and family experiences as social determinants of major societal health issues such as obesity and cardiovascular disease. Kimberly French will explore metabolic and cardiovascular outcomes in relation to work demands and work-family conflict experiences. She will present a series of studies focusing on long-term and acute physiological reactions. The results have practical and theoretical implications for the nature and timing of connections between work, family, and physiology.
Optimizing Everyday Function in Older Adults: Translating the Evidence

( 2018-05-02) Rebok, George W.

Older adults are more likely to fear losing their cognitive abilities than their physical abilities. Fortunately, a growing body of research suggests that cognitive decline isn’t inevitable for most people as they age and may even be reversible through cognitive interventions. However, controversy and confusion still surround the effectiveness of cognitive training with older adults and its impact on everyday life function and psychological well-being. This talk will focus on what the current research says about the effectiveness of various cognitive interventions for optimizing everyday function in the older population. Particular attention will be paid to skill-based interventions that target single or multiple cognitive abilities that are known to show significant age-related decline. A major question to be explored is the degree to which cognitive training transfers to non-trained ability domains and daily life tasks. We will also explore the use of multimodal interventions that combine different intervention approaches such as skill-based cognitive training with intellectual engagement or stimulation approaches as a way of promoting greater transfer to daily life activities.
Imaging in "Healthy" Aging and Dementia: A Bigger Sandbox

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2018-03-28) Crosson, Bruce

A growing consensus in the field of dementia research is that Alzheimer’s disease (AD) starts long before, perhaps decades before, the manifestation of its cognitive phenotype. Further, recent research suggests that reduction in accumulation of abnormal proteins characteristic of AD does not change cognition in early AD. Hence, some investigators believe that intervention must take place before cognitive symptoms occur and prevention is becoming an emphasis. To foster development of prevention strategies, the dementia field is moving toward discovery of biomarkers that predict the emergence of AD in cognitively normal older adults and define the cascade of biological events leading to it. Magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy technologies are being applied in the search for cerebrovascular, biochemical, and structural biomarkers to predict AD. As a result of this biomarker search, some of the variance in aging-related biological and cognitive processes is being explained. The resulting rapid evolution of imaging and other biomarkers for AD may revolutionize cognitive aging research. This presentation will focus on promising neuroimaging biomarkers and their implications.