H2020Индивидуална стипендия2017–2021

MEMORAGE · Attention and memory components in every-day cognitive problems in aging

„Хоризонт 2020“ — Действия „Мария Склодовска-Кюри“

Период: 2017-03-01 → 2021-08-04
Финансиране от ЕС: 199 828 €
Участници: 2
Схема: MSCA-IF

Линиите свързват координатора с партньорите.

Накратко на български

Връзката между работата на мозъка и когнитивните затруднения при възрастните се изследва чрез нови тестове, които имитират реални ежедневни задачи. Това помага за по-доброто разбиране на когнитивния спад, за да се подобри качеството на живот и независимостта на възрастните хора.

Този кратък обзор е генериран от изкуствен интелект

Кратко обяснение, генерирано от езиков модел по текста на CORDIS. Оригиналът е по-долу.

Резултати накратко

Attention and memory components in every-day cognitive problems in aging

What is the problem/issue being addressed? While basic research has revealed essential knowledge on age-related cognitive and neuronal changes, the correlation between laboratory task performance, brain alterations, and experienced difficulties in daily life is imperfect. Presumably, laboratory tasks, while optimized to isolate cognitive processing components, are too simplified to depict the complexity of cognitive facets we find real-world tasks. To achieve a better mechanistic understanding of age-related cognitive changes, we need new paradigms for cognitive research and neuropsychological assessment, which allow measuring the complex dynamics of real-world tasks. Why is it important for society? Many older individuals experience age-related cognitive decline in their every-day tasks. Cognitive frailty affects elderly’s independence, quality of life, and need for care. Understanding and counteracting cognitive difficulties in older age is therefore of both societal and economical interest. What are the overall objectives? The aim of this project is to develop novel search tasks, which are experimentally well-controlled on the one hand and share important features with real-world tasks on the other. These search tasks permit quantifying cognitive abilities in older age with higher ecological validity. By combining the behavioral search tasks with measures of brain activity, we further identify the neural underpinnings of functional preservation and decline during aging. Our results will be integrated in and extend the current neuro-cognitive aging theories and advance the development of neuropsychological assessment procedures. Conclusions: Our newly developed tasks demonstrate that attention and memory functions are largely unaffected by aging in complex experimental tasks. This result stands in contrast to current theories of cognitive aging, which propose specific age deficits in attention and memory functions. However, we show that age differences can arise from differences in learning and strategies applied during search. Our new findings are encouraging, as they suggest that, under task conditions that resemble even complex real-world searches, age deficits can be reduced or even absent.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз

Цел на проекта

Older individuals experience problems in many every-day tasks, due to age-related decline in cognitive functions. Cognitive frailty is a societal and economical challenge, as it affects elderly’s quality of life and need for care. To understand, and counteract, cognitive difficulties, we need to be able to measure them. Basic research has revealed essential knowledge on age-related cognitive and neuronal changes. However, the correlation between laboratory task performance, brain alterations, and experienced difficulties in daily life is imperfect. In the realms of attention and memory, the problem may lie in the tasks we use. Most laboratory tasks are made of brief trial structures, which is useful to isolate specific process components. Real world tasks, while built of smaller components, are complex and extend over time. This project presents a multi-method neuro-cognitive approach to unravel sources of older individuals’ deficit. The research is based on leading theoretical models and includes behavioral data modeling, eye-movement and EEG data analyses. At my TC host, Wolfe’s Visual Attention Lab (Harvard Medical School), we will create new extended hybrid search and foraging tasks that enable us not only to look at the small components, but also to analyze how they interact over time, and how they relate to age-specific daily problems. At Bundesen’s Center for Visual Cognition (University of Copenhagen), the new knowledge will be integrated into the computational “Theory of Visual Attention” framework and the model-based assessment procedure. Our aim is to advance the theoretical knowledge about attention and memory and improve cognitive assessment products. Commercialization of the newly developed tests will be exploited together with the industrial partner Cambridge Cognition, a company producing cognitive assessment tools. The outcome will be relevant to the development of technology, products, and strategies to meet the needs of our aging population.

Оригинален текст от CORDIS (на английски).

Участници

MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER WISSENSCHAFTEN EV · MUNCHENКоординаторГермания
PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE · CambridgeСъединени щати