Associate Professor Amy Overman, Assistant Professor Alan Scott and current Elon students Luisa Cesar '15 and Abigail Steinsiek '15 presented their research at the annual North Carolina Cognition Group conference.
Associate Professor Amy Overman and current Elon students Luisa Cesar ’15 and Abigail Steinsiek ’15 presented, “Same Face, Same Place, Different Memory: Item and Contextual Binding in Older and Younger Adults,” at the annual North Carolina Cognition Group conference.
This project is part of Dr. Overman’s ongoing cognitive neuroscience research investigating associative memory in younger and older adults. For this project, prior functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies were used to make predictions about item-item and item-context memory performance in older adults. The findings of the project suggest differential contributions of medial temporal lobe (MTL) structures based on the type of association that is being made in memory rather than MTL contributions that reflect the inherent properties of the stimuli themselves. A follow-up neuroimaging study is planned with project co-author Nancy Dennis at Penn State University.
Assistant Professor Alan Scott presented “Audible Beacons at Complex Intersections: Are They an Effective and Unambiguous Wayfinding Cue for Pedestrians Who are Blind?” This project extends Dr. Scott’s program of research documenting and quantifying obstacles and barriers to safe and independent travel for those with visual impairments, and further evaluating and guiding the development and implementation of assistive technologies. The presentation focused on findings that a particular configuration of audible signals can provide unambiguous information at intersections that can assist blind pedestrians with aligning to crosswalks and maintaining their heading during crossing so as to remain within crosswalk boundaries. The work is co-authored by Billie Louise Bentzen and Janet Barlow of Accessible Design for the Blind, David Guth of Western Michigan University, and Jennifer Graham of Graham Rehabilitations Services.
The North Carolina Cognition conference is a scientific meeting that fosters collaboration and cooperation among research groups throughout North Carolina and its neighboring states. Attending researchers are involved in research on human cognition and allied disciplines. The first conference was held in 1972. This year’s conference was co-sponsored by Elon College, the College of Arts & Sciences, and the Psychology Department and was organized by Amy Overman.