Bill Tays
Email: wt02fq@brocku.ca
Focus: Behavioural Neuroscience
Thesis Advisor: Jane Dywan
Area
of Interest:
My research focuses on the natural
changes to information-processing systems
seen in older adults (60+). Specifically,
are there unique differences in executive
functions and working memory that contribute
to changes in behavioural performance of
older adults on cognitive tasks? Also, are
differential brain responses, seen from
brain imaging techniques, associated with
these changes in behavioural performance?
I use electroencephalography (EEG) to relate
changes in cognitive abilities to specific
aspects of brain activity in the hopes of
identifying the specific mechanisms of information
processing that change with age. The perspective
I take in my research stresses the importance
of compensatory mechanisms in explaining
age-related changes in brain response profiles
as opposed to an oversimplified "cognitive-decline"
perspective.
