Research

I have three primary lines of research which are summarized below. Please click HERE for a full list of published works.

Attention and Variability in Cognitively Healthy Aging

Interference in standard attentional control tasks (such as the Stroop paradigm) is typically smaller following incongruent (difficult) trials compared to following congruent (easy) trials. This phenomenon has typically been interpreted to reflect a dynamic, trial by trial adjustment of attentional control. We (Aschenbrenner & Balota, 2015) have recently shown this adjustment process increases with age and decreases with working memory capacity. We suggested this finding may be better accommodated by a priming mechanism rather than an adjustment of control processes. I am currently collecting data to rule out other explanations of this finding.

Cognitive Markers of Preclinical Alzheimer Disease (AD)

Through collaboration with the Knight Alzheimer Disease Research Center at Washington University, I have been delineating which cognitive changes are expected in "normal" aging and those that might be indicative of asymptomatic AD. I have given particular focus to attentional control, as well as retrieval processes from episodic and semantic memory. I examine these mechanisms in individuals who are at varying risk for developing AD based on genetic factors or through biological markers of AD pathology measured in vivo.

Models of Cognitive Processing and Individual Differences

There have recently been great strides in the development of cognitive process models (such as the linear ballistic accumulator and diffusion model) and software packages that make these models readily available for the general research community. Such models are particularly important in that they decompose both accuracy and reaction time distributions into psychologically interpretable parameters. I am currently examining the relationships of such measures to AD biomarkers in order to better understand the precise cognitive processes that change in the earliest stages of AD.