Tay Gavin Erickson Lecture Series: Arthur F. Kramer, Ph.D.
The UMass Center for Research on Families welcomes Arthur F. Kramer, Ph.D., Chair and Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Illinois. He will present "Fitness & Cognitive Training: Influence on Cognition and Brain Structure/Function."
The presentation will discuss the relationship between cognitive training, fitness training, and intellectual engagement on cognition and brain function of older adults, including the breadth of their effects on cognition and dementia. The discussion will include a description of results from a recent meta-analysis that included longitudinal fitness studies conducted over the past thirty five years, conducted to examine the factors which influence the fitness-cognition relationship. The talk will also include a description of the results of recent and on-going cross-sectional and longitudinal studies examining changes in cognition and brain function in response to improvements in the aerobic fitness of healthy older adults.
Professor Kramer's research projects include topics in Cognitive Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience, Aging, and Human Factors. A major focus of his lab's recent research is the understanding and enhancement of cognitive and neural plasticity across the lifespan. He is the director of the Biomedical Imaging Center and co-director of the NIH Center for Healthy Minds.
Professor Kramer served as an associate editor of Perception and Psychophysics and is currently a member of seven editorial boards. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society, a member of the executive committee of the International Society of Attention and Performance, and a recent recipient of a NIH Ten Year MERIT Award. Professor Kramer's research has been featured in a long list of print, radio and electronic media including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, CBS Evening News, Today Show, NPR and Saturday Night Live.
Dr. Kramer's lecture is part of CRF's Tay Gavin Erickson Lecture Series, which brings nationally recognized speakers with expertise in family research to campus each year. The forum began in 1999 though an endowment established in memory of Tay Gavin Erickson. The speakers provide public lectures, highlighting the importance of research on the family and its implications for public policy. This lecture is co-sponsored by CRF and the Center for Public Policy and Administration (CPPA), a nonpartisan, interdisciplinary research and teaching center at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. CRF at the University of Massachusetts Amherst actively supports and disseminates social and behavioral sciences research on issues relevant to families.
This event is free and open to the public.