Rugg Lab Receives $3 Million to Study Age-Related Memory Decline

The National Institute on Aging has awarded the Functional Neuroimaging of Memory Lab at the Center for Vital Longevity a $3 million grant to study age-related memory decline. The lab, directed by Dr. Michael Rugg, will set its focus on studying neural selectivity, retrieval-related reinstatement, and age-related memory decline over the next five years.

The new funding will allow Rugg and his team to expand their recent work on neural selectivity (the ability of the brain to distinguish between different kinds of perceptual categories, such as faces and scenes). By broadening their scope, the lab will be able to examine how selectivity varies across the adult lifespan, and whether measures of selectivity can be used to predict age-related change in memory or other cognitive abilities.

“We’re excited to be able to expand our recent work in several new directions and look forward to using the findings to advance understanding of the neural bases of memory and age-related memory decline,” said Dr. Rugg.

The lab will be conducting three new studies examining different aspects of how neural selectivity impacts our ability to encode and accurately retrieve information from memory. The most important study will involve samples of young (18–30-year-old), middle-aged (45–55-year-old) and older (65–90-year-old) healthy adults. Older volunteers will be re-rested after three years to determine whether any of the neural selectivity measures can predict changes in cognitive ability or brain structure that might have occurred over that time.

Interested in learning more? Click below to read more about the fNIM laboratory.