Transcript Ever feel like you are forgetting something?
Do you find that you need to rely on more and more sticky notes?
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Having problems remembering your appointments?
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Are you finding that your notes just aren’t enough?
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Then maybe you should give us a visit!
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We are The Memory and Cognitive Aging Laboratory Headed by Dr. Moshe Naveh-Benjamin Department of Psychological Sciences University of Missouri 5
What We Do We conduct basic and intervention research on the learning and memory changes that occur with normal aging. The major goals are: 1.
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To determine what causes age-related learning and memory problems To investigate strategies that healthy adults develop for improving their learning and memory performance To examine the influence of various individual differences (like level of education, etc.) on cognitive performance in normal aging. 6
Facts about Aging and Cognition 1.
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Serious memory loss is not an inevitable result of aging There are some age-related memory changes, many of which can be attenuated by appropriate strategies and environmental support (cues, etc.) Certain types of memories do not show any decline with old age (for example, general knowledge and vocabulary) 7
Problem solving and creativity can be held well into old age Benjamin Franklin invented bifocal lenses when he was 78 Freud wrote his last book at the age of 83 Claude Monet began his Water Lilies series at the age of 73 8
More about our research Names/faces Ever recognize someone’s face but have no idea what that person’s name is? One of our studies examines people’s memories for names and faces.
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Example: Meet Joe Smith 11
Meet Steve Johnson 12
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Joe Smith or Steve Johnson?
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Divided Attention What happens when a person tries to do two things at once (like driving a car while talking on a cell phone)?
We have studies with participants performing dual tasks (like learning words while responding to tones). This way we can see to what degree doing two things at once is more difficult for older than younger adults.
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One possible effect of performing dual tasks?
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What it’s really like 16
About participating First of all, any information that we receive from you will be kept confidential (including your name). We will not reveal any of your results unless you want us to give them to you.
If you come in to participate and decide that you do not like it, you can walk out at any time.
All volunteers are compensated for their participation, regardless of whether or not the study was completed.
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Our tasks commonly involve listening to or seeing different information as it appears on a computer screen and then later being asked about that information 18
An example
You are about to see a list of name/face pairs. Try to remember the individual names and faces, but also try to learn which names and faces go together 19
Ready to meet some of our lab members?
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Meet Susan Old
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Meet Tyler Fisher
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Meet Jen Harvel
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Meet Beth Weinhold
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Now for the next phase!
Tell me who you recognize… (say yes or no) 25
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ANSWER:
NO
Although this is Angela Whitehead, another member of our lab, her picture was not previously shown 27
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ANSWER:
YES!!!!
This is Beth Weinhold.
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Now for a different type of question!
Tell me which of the following names and faces were paired before (say yes or no) 30
Susan Old?
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ANSWER:
NO
This is Susan Old This is Jen Harvel 32
Tyler Fisher?
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ANSWER:
YES!!!
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What now?
• Show us your interest!
If you’d like to participate, please fill out a questionnaire today – THIS WILL NOT OBLIGATE YOU TO ANYTHING • We’ll look for a match Not everyone can participate in each study. Certain projects require a specific range for age and years of education 35
Top 8 reasons to participate in our memory studies
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NUMBER 8
Gain satisfaction in knowing that you are helping in scientific research!
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NUMBER 7
Increase your awareness of your own memory and cognitive abilities.
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NUMBER 6
Learn techniques to improve your memory.
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NUMBER 5
Receive a free subscription to the official newsletter of the Memory and Cognitive Aging Laboratory, “The Memory Tribune” 40
NUMBER 4
You’ll get to know some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet (us, of course) 41
NUMBER 3
Free parking on campus for an entire day!
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NUMBER 2
While sifting through magazines in the waiting room, you may stumble across some delicious, new recipes 43
NUMBER 1
Free cookies and coffee (with sugar-free substitute) 44
In closing… Thank you for this opportunity to tell you about our research!
We appreciate your support and time, and hope to see you soon!!!
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RECAP
WE NEED YOUR HELP!!!
If you think you would be interested in volunteering, please fill out a questionnaire or take some information!
You can contact the Memory and Cognitive Aging Laboratory at 882-8123 46