CIGEV, area gerontology: Research on Lifespan, Multidirectionality and Plasticity – Director: Matthias Kliegel

Cognitive ageing

Projects in this research area:

Characterization of the influence of emotion on memory across the life span on the behavioral level

Memories of events encompass individual elements of the event (e.g. person, object) bound to each other and to their spatiotemporal context (date, place). We plan to examine this issue with novel laboratory paradigms that assess memory for the elements and the context in which an emotional event occurred at different ages.

Characterization of the influence of emotion on memory across the life span on the biological level

This project aims to characterize the biological correlates that underlie emotion’s influence on memory at different ages. We plan to assess the biological underpinnings of the influence of emotion on memory for the elements and the context in which an emotional event occurred at different ages with experimental studies.

Cognitive Control Development

The project targets the development of prospective memory, the memory for future intentions. A specific focus is at understanding mechanisms that underlie age-related prospective memory, in particular the impact of cognitive control processes to monitor for the target cue.

Cognitive Training and Plasticity

This project comprises the research line on cognitive plasticity.

Does a Metacognition Deficit Underly the Real World/Laboratory Prospective Memory Paradox in Healthy and Pathological Aging?

The project targets the role of metacognition in the so called age prospective memory paradox. It tests whether the paradoxical pattern is due to metacognition, based on the capacity to monitor our cognitive abilities and put in place strategies to overcome potential weaknesses.

Jobs4U – Improving Job Search

The project “Jobs4U” proposes to study different aspects that can help job seekers find jobs. Specifically, it aims to examine and compare the benefits of three interventions: the first intervention targets improving the match between job seekers and vacancies, the second targets augmenting cognitive capacities of job seekers, whereas the third targets supporting job seekers to achieve self-imposed search goals. Further, Jobs4u proposes to explore the role of matches, brains, and nudges both individually and combined to test whether there are complementarities.

Neural Correlates of Prospective Mmemory

This projects aims to understand the neural mechanisms of prospective memory.

The Interplay of Working Memory and Prospective Memory across the Lifespan

This projects aims to understand the interplay of working memory and prospective memory.

Validation of online assessment tools (COGTEL & CRUISER)

As the population ages, risks for cognitive decline threaten independence and quality of life for older adults and present challenges to health care systems and to older adults’ close relatives. Early signs of cognitive decline often can be detected long before important changes of cognitive functioning are noticed, for certain individuals as early as during midlife.