Our next CCACE seminar will be given by Professor Robert S. Wilson from the Rush Alzheimer's Disease Centre, Rush University, USA. It will be held at 5pm on Tuesday 6th June in room F21 of the Department of Psychology, 7 George Square.
Title: Behavioral Correlates of Cognitive Health in Old Age
Abstract: With the aging of much of the world population, the number of cognitively disabled persons is expected to substantially increase in the coming decades, underscoring the urgent need for effective interventions. I will present an overall model of late-life cognitive change and consider methodologic challenges confronting research on potentially modifiable risk factors for dementia. I will then discuss two longitudinal clinical-pathologic cohort studies (Religious Orders Study, Rush Memory and Aging Project) designed to meet (most of) these challenges. In the remaining time, I will review findings from these studies, including cognitive-pathologic correlations, age effects, and behavioral measures related to residual variance in trajectories of cognitive change not attributable to dementia related pathologies. Better understanding of the mechanisms underlying these resilience effects may suggest novel approaches to cognitive health maintenance in old age.