Join us for Disentangling Sources of Individual Differences in Cognitive and Brain Development with speaker Kelsey L. Canada, Ph.D.:

Abstract: Episodic memory, the ability to recall detailed events, is critical for daily life and is supported by the hippocampus. As memory function and brain volume predict academic performance, which, in turn, predict future adult health and well-being, understanding modifiable factors that shape development has long-reaching implications. In my research program, I aim to characterize individual differences in brain and memory development to gain insights into mechanisms of development and sources of modifiable risk and protective factors. Here, using behavioral and neuroimaging methods, I first demonstrate that commonly used laboratory-based measures of episodic memory relate to a single latent construct that shows consistent and significant improvements in episodic memory. Second, I establish the sensitivity of microstructural variations in hippocampal subfield volumes to age and episodic memory, differential developmental trajectories of hippocampal subfields, and the lead-lag nature of the hippocampus supporting memory. Third, I highlight the need to look outside of age-dependent effects to account for striking individual differences by demonstrating a vulnerability of specific hippocampal subfields to socioeconomic status, a strong proxy for multiple environmental factors that influence brain and cognitive development. Fourth, I share my novel approach to integrating similar but not identical data to increase the representation of racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and geographic diversity when testing hypotheses of individual differences. Finally, I discuss my plans to extend my research to study how specific sources within household and neighborhood environments modify cognitive and brain development to understand better how to improve early life experiences and later outcomes.

Speaker: Dr. Canada is a developmental cognitive neuroscientist focused on studying individual differences in development at multiple levels—from neurobiology to cognition—and the environmental factors that explain these differences. Her program of research investigates how impressive changes in memory ability across childhood and adolescence are supported by the brain and potentially modified by socioeconomic context shifting across periods of early life. The goal of her research is to gain insights into mechanisms of memory and brain development in order to identify sources of modifiable risk and protective factors. Dr. Canada currently works as a postdoctoral research fellow within the Institute of Gerontology at Wayne State University.

RSVP Here: https://wayne-edu.zoom.us/meeting/register/xSDpAtHqQ1ehJ2i-fEyQWg