Articles from:October 2025

• Suspenseful movies shed light on aging and memory

  Friday, October 24, 2025 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE – OCTOBER 24, 2025 – R0125

  As horror enthusiasts cue up their favourite Alfred Hitchcock films to welcome in the Halloween season, Brock University researchers have turned to the master of suspense for a different reason — to better understand how aging brains process events and form memories.

  The Campbell Neurocognitive Aging Lab has been showing participants aged 18 to 88 a classic episode of the anthology television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents while scanning their brains with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG). The short film, titled “Bang! You’re Dead,” portrays a small child swapping out his toy gun for a loaded weapon.

  Professor of Psychology Karen Campbell, also the Canada Research Chair in the Cognitive Neuroscience of Aging and director of the lab, says showing the short film rather than relying on standard cognitive tasks has benefits because the brain responds to “naturalistic stimuli” differently.

  “Our day-to-day life is made up of a sequence of events that is continuous in nature, but it’s hard to measure brain activity while you move around in the world,” she says. “Recording brain activity in the lab while someone watches a film creates an experience closer to everyday life.”

  Campbell, who has used the short film since her post-doctoral work at Cambridge University, recently saw her team publish two papers looking at age differences in brain activity during a screening.

  In “Temporal dedifferentiation of neural states with age during naturalistic viewing,” led by postdoctoral fellow Selma Lugtmeijer and published in Communications Biology, the researchers explored how the brain represents complex events and whether age affects how those representations are formed.

  They found that the brain moves through a series of neural states — stable patterns of brain activity maintained over time — that change with each key event in the film. In older adults, however, these states last longer before transitioning, and the change between states is less pronounced.

  Campbell says it was exciting to confirm the age-related lengthening of neural states, though there are pros and cons. On one hand, lengthened neural states allow for more context as older adults process events, but they may also lead to confusion about when some things happened in the sequence.

  The second study, “Neural state changes during movie watching relate to episodic memory in younger and older adults,” was published in Cerebral Cortex. Sarah Henderson (BSc ’18, MA ’20, PhD ’25), lead author on the study, travelled to the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour in the Netherlands thanks to support from a National Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplement, which is funded by the Government of Canada.

  Working with Associate Professor Linda Geerlings of Radboud Universiteit, Henderson showed participants a shortened version of “Bang! You’re Dead” while measuring brain activity using EEG, then conducted recall tests to see how memory was affected.

  Campbell says using the same film in this study meant the researchers could link up age differences in neural states with memory recall, something the lab had not tried before.

  “With this test of memory, we could relate the degree of change between successive neural states to how well the events were recalled,” she says. “And we saw that when there was a bigger change, it was related to better memory.”

  Campbell says the relationship between bigger changes in neural states and better memory of the film held up across participants of all ages, which she notes could be the key for improving memory in those who are struggling.

  “For instance, highlighting changes between scenes — like pointing out that the boy has left the house with a loaded gun — may help make neural states more distinct and improve memory,” she says.

  Campbell now plans to use these findings in the development of an intervention aimed at improving event memory in older adults who are exhibiting the first signs of dementia. Her ongoing research is supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, which is funded by the federal government.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  *Sarah Ackles, Communications Specialist, Brock University [email protected] or 289-241-5483

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  Categories: Media releases

• Brock experts on what to expect as ‘Canada’s Team’ prepares for historic World Series showdown

  Thursday, October 23, 2025 | By Brock University

  EXPERT ADVISORY – OCTOBER 23, 2025 – R0124

  With the Toronto Blue Jays gearing up to make their first World Series appearance since 1993, Brock University researchers say Canadians from coast to coast will be tuning in for the sports action and the stellar storylines.

  “Even people who normally don’t follow sports suddenly need to know what’s happening — it becomes part of the social conversation,” says Associate Professor of Sport Management Craig Hyatt.

  Since the Montreal Expos’ departure in 2004, the Blue Jays are both the only Major League Baseball franchise in Canada and the only non-U.S. team in the major leagues.

  Associate Professor of Communications, Popular Culture and Film Anthony Kinik says this thrust the team into the national spotlight in a way that’s unique in Canadian sports, with fans affectionately referring to the Jays as “Canada’s Team.”

  Fans have also embraced the team as their own despite having only one Canadian on the roster, he says.

  “Other than first baseman and heavy hitter Vladimir Guerrero Jr., it’s a largely American and international squad,” Kinik says. “In some ways, the current team is a testament to the value of regional and international co-operation and to ‘friendlier’ borders and sound immigration practices.”

  He says interest in the series is likely to be at a fever pitch thanks to a “great team, great spirit and a bit of a Cinderella story given how the team started the season.”

  Assistant Professor of Sport Management Taylor McKee says the Jays’ strength stems from its roster of veterans and unlikely heroes.

  “You’ve got half-billion-dollar contracts alongside players who were cut from the worst teams in the league just two years ago,” said McKee. “Unexpected breakout performers, such as 22-year-old pitcher Trey Yesavage, have stepped up in clutch moments, while stars like George Springer and Guerrero Jr. are playing some of the best baseball of their careers.”
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  The Jays’ “diverse group of starting pitchers” will also be a key factor in the series, saysAssociate Professor of Kinesiology Michael Holmes, as they each “bring something unique to their starts and their pitching mechanics vary, which keeps opposing batters on their toes.”

  The Canada Research Chair in Neuromuscular Mechanics and Ergonomics adds that bullpen health will also be critical to competing against the pitching staff of the Los Angeles Dodgers — including two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani.

  “Biomechanics remain a pillar of long-term health, especially for pitchers logging hundreds of high-stress innings each season,” Holmes says. “The Jays staff have done a great job monitoring in-game mechanics and not letting pitchers go too deep into the game where fatigue and injury are more likely to develop.”

  Beyond the diamond, McKee says fan rituals and superstitions also create a shared identity that deepens during major moments like the World Series run.

  “From rally caps to special chairs, traditions connect generations and turn every game into a collective memory of pride and belonging,” he says. “This sense of unity reflects what political scientist Benedict Anderson called ‘imagined community,’ and is one of those rare times when strangers feel like they have something in common, something to cheer for together.”

  He says sport also has a “wonderful ability to garner collective attention, national pride and pure escape all at once.”

  “For a few hours, people forget their worries — the mortgage, the economy, the news — and just get lost in the moment,” McKee says.

  Associate Professor of Marketing Eric Dolansky says the droves of fans looking to capture that feeling in person drove the high demand — and even higher prices — for game tickets.

  “When there’s a chance to see your team win it all, consumers place a higher value on such experiences, leading to a greater willingness to pay,” he says. “This also leads, though, to what some call ‘surge pricing’ and can have less desirable effects, such as accusations of price gouging or a conclusion that the system is not fair.”

  Whether they were lucky enough to snag a seat to the action or plan to join watch parties scheduled around the country, Associate Professor of Sport Management Olan Scott says this year’s showdown is still particularly emotional for longtime fans.

  “Savour this moment,” he says. “Baseball fans know this doesn’t happen often and have no idea when this will happen again.”

  Associate Professors of Sport Management Craig Hyatt and Olan Scott, Associate Professor of Communications, Popular Culture and Film Anthony Kinik, Assistant Professor of Sport Management Taylor McKee, Associate Professor of Kinesiology Michael Holmes and Associate Professor of Marketing Eric Dolansky are available for media interviews on this topic.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews: 

  *Sarah Ackles, Communications Specialist, Brock University [email protected] or 289-241-5483

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  Categories: Media releases