University of Memphis psychology researchers are looking for volunteers to participate in a study on brain aging.
The study focuses on how normal aging of the brain is related to the preservation and decline of mental abilities. Their main goal is to understand how the brain ages in normal, healthy human beings.
The study, funded by a National Institutes of Health grant to U of M psychology professor Dr. Naftali Raz, will involve four two-hour sessions at The U of M and a one-hour examination at Baptist Memorial Hospital East. According to Raz, participants will perform paper-and-pencil tasks and computerized tasks designed to measure memory, perception, problem-solving ability and other mental functions. They will also partake in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scan which will give the researchers a visualization of the brain.
"This technique has been used for years and is perfectly safe," said Raz, principle investigator of the study.
The study requires a wide variety of people in order to perform a successful study, Raz said. By comparing young and old brains, they can determine how the brain ages and what kinds of changes may occur due to age.
"We have found that different parts of the brain change differently," Raz said. "Some areas are pretty stable and others change more notably."
"When a person comes in, we take their blood pressure to tell how healthy they are," said Kristen Kennedy, a graduate student who has been researching the brain for about a year. "We also give them vision tests and hearing tests."
Certain volunteers from previous tests are asked to come back after a period of five years, Raz added. Once the study is performed again on these participants, the researchers are able to notice and study how their brains have aged.
By performing these studies on people's brains, the researches hope one day they will be able to predict brain activity.
"We are interested to know if we can predict what the brain will do as a normal, healthy person ages," Raz said. "It is no secret that as we get older, we are prone to get certain diseases. These studies may one day help in understanding and preventing age-related diseases."
According to Raz, this study has involved U of M students for years. Students researchers have devoted much of their time to this particular study.
"Quite a few students have been trained over the years," Raz said. "This is a very time - consuming project."
"The graduate students give the tests and trace the brain," Kennedy said. "It takes a year to learn all the different parts of the brain."
Participants of the brain-aging study must be in good health and between the ages of 18 and 85. They will be paid $10 per hour plus reimbursement for parking.
For more information about the study, call 678-4108.
