Examine how you make decisions about things that you see and things that you imagine, how you choose between different options, and how you remember recent experiences and childhood experiences - and earn $10 per hour to do it!

Linda A. Henkel, Ph.D., professor of psychology at Fairfield University, is looking for people aged 65 and older to participate in the Fairfield University Cognitive Aging Project. The project is a study of the changes in cognition and thought across the lifespan, including attention, memory, and decision-making. Participants in the study are asked to answer questions and perform various tasks that examine how they think about things. Most studies last about one hour and require you to come in only one time.

"The results thus far are very exciting and help us to better understand what sorts of cognitive tasks older adults find most difficult and what ones they excel at. Each individual is very unique, and we want to learn more about what happens to the mind as people age," said Dr. Henkel, a Newtown resident who received an Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA) of more than $129,000 from the National Institutes of Health's National Institute on Aging to fund a three-year study of cognitive function in older adults as compared with younger adults. All participants receive a newsletter highlighting the major findings.

The various cognitive tasks are conducted individually by Dr. Henkel and her research team at Fairfield University's Department of Psychology. All information obtained from the participants is kept confidential, said Dr. Henkel, who assigns a number to participants' data and uses the information based on their numbers (not their names). Participants are responsible for their own transportation to and from the school.

The study will run throughout this summer and into the fall. For more information about the project, contact Dr. Linda Henkel at (203) 254-4000, ext. 3387 or lhenkel@mail.fairfield.edu .

Posted On: 06-23-2005 10:06 AM

Volume: 37 Number: 290