April 5, 2005

Professor seeks Indianapolis adults for study on aging, memory

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Indianapolis older adults are needed for a Purdue University study that is analyzing changes in memory as healthy people get older.

Aimée Surprenant, associate professor of psychological sciences, is looking for adults who are over the age of 60, in good health and are native speakers of American English to participate in a variety of experiments at the Purdue Institute of Behavioral Sciences, 8465 Keystone Crossing Blvd., Suite 150, Indianapolis.

"We are testing to see if perceptual deficits, such as a reduction in hearing or vision, might contribute to decreased memory performance," said Surprenant, director of Purdue's Cognitive Aging and Memory Lab. "If a person needs to work a little harder to hear or to see, that might mean fewer resources are available for the rest of us to use. This research could help us discover how older people better use such resources to maintain their memory."

Each experiment takes about an hour to complete and will include a hearing or vision screening, a test of vocabulary knowledge and a memory test. Participants are welcome to participate in more than one study and will be reimbursed $10 every hour.

To participate in this study, contact (317) 251-3085 or camel@psych.purdue.edu. The Purdue Institute of Behavioral Sciences is a satellite research facility of the Department of Psychological Sciences.

Writer: Amy Patterson-Neubert, (765) 494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu

Source: Aimée Surprenant, (765) 494-9269, ams@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

Related Web site:
Purdue Institute for Behavioral Science

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