Learning Paradigms for the Elderly
Magdeburg, November 2012 - Prof. Dr. Emrah Düzel is Director of the Institute of Cognitive Neurology and Dementia Research (IKND) at the Magdeburg University Hospital and head of the working group "Clinical Neurophysiology and Memory" at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London. His research focus is the improvement of memory functions that can be achieved through cognitive and physical training.
In a major project in collaboration with colleagues, Prof. Düzel has developed learning paradigms using cognitive interventions and training that produced plasticity by stimulating the memory areas of the brain - the hippocampus and adjacent neocortical regions. The project includes an intensive training of 400 participants for a period of four months, and then continued intermittently over two years.
The participants walk on a treadmill while navigating through a virtual reality environment. The stated aim of the intervention is to slow the progression of healthy aging through MCI ("minimal cognitive impairment", a transitional stage) to dementia through the induction of plasticity in memory areas (hippocampus and surrounding cortex).
In addition, the project seeks to provide information on how the effects of this training are affected by pre-clinical memory disorders and the role played by the integrity of the dopaminergic and cholinergic neuromodulatory systems.
Prof. Dr. Emrah Düzel will discuss this project at the LEARNTEC Congress on 31 January at 10 o'clock.
