Neural Mechanisms of Memory in Healthy Aging and Dementia Risk
Neuroscience Institute , Neuroscience
Ian McDonough, Binghamton University
April 24, 2025 @ 11:00 pm to 12:00 pm
110 Henderson Building
University Park

Abstract:
Some people remain cognitively sharp into old age, others show occasional memory failures, and yet some exhibit unexpected and rapid cognitive decline. Paralleling these inter-individual differences in cognitive aging, the brain patterns that give rise to cognition appear equally or more variable. In this talk, I will summarize how neuroimaging has revealed several major patterns found in the aging brain and show that these patterns are not universal. I will then unpack how risk factors accumulated through the life course can give rise to inter-individual differences in brain activations during memory processing in middle-aged and older adults. Some of these risk factors may increase the brain’s vulnerability to Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
About the Speaker:
Dr. Ian McDonough is a professor of psychology at Binghamton University, with expertise in cognitive neuroscience, memory, and aging. His research focuses on the neural and cognitive mechanisms underlying memory processes, including encoding, consolidation, and retrieval, and how these mechanisms differ across the adult lifespan. Dr. McDonough uses advanced neuroimaging techniques such as fMRI and fNIRS to study brain function, aiming to uncover factors that contribute to cognitive resilience and memory decline. He received his training in cognitive psychology with an emphasis on neuroimaging methods, memory, and aging at the University of Chicago. As a graduate student, his research focused on the neural correlates of memory and decision processes to determine the accuracy of retrieved information and how these neural correlates differed in young and older adults. This research was was supported by multiple dissertation awards. As a postdoc, he expanded his research focus to Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers. During this time, he received training in multivariate methods, structural neuroimaging analyses, and longitudinal analyses. In Fall of 2015, he became an Assistant Professor at The University of Alabama and an Associate of the Alabama Research Institute on Aging where he developed a research program examining how lifestyle, health, and emotional factors influence cognitive aging. In his first year, he received the NIH/OBSSR Matilda White Riley Early-Stage Investigator Honors and attended the highly competitive NIH/NIA Butler-Williams Scholar Program. In his second year, he was accepted as a NIA Deep South Resource Center for Minority Aging Research (RCMAR) scholar, through which he was awarded the 2017 Charles Barkley Health Disparities Research Investigator Award. In 2020, he received the Chair’s Award for Distinguished Research in Psychology and was promoted to Associate Professor.
Contact
Nancy Dennis
nad12@psu.edu