Special Aging Talk - “Understanding and promoting social-cognitive and affective aging”

Current aging research focuses on physical and cognitive functions and certain psychopathology common in the elderly. Still largely ignored are negative age-related changes in social-cognitive and affective capacities that can result in risk of social isolation, adversely affecting health and independence. Combining rigorous experimental design with innovative pharmacological, neurofeedback training, and real-life intervention, my research targets this understudied field and has significantly advanced the understanding of factors that contribute to, and neurobiology that underlies, successful aging; with the long-term goal of informing treatment and decision-supportive tool design toward functional improvement in the elderly, including those at particular risk for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.