Grant: Project Grant

It is increasingly important to find clues to maintain cognitive function, including the precise form of memory known as episodic memory, throughout aging. Our focus is on the hippocampus, the vital brain region dealing with this type of memory. Taking advantage of the most recent advances in high-resolution high-field neuroimaging developed by our group, our aim is to determine whether the memory decline is due to decline in the structural integrity of the hippocampus, or its neural activity, or some subtle interaction between the two. Critically, our methods make it possible to in vivo image cellular subfields of the human hippocampus, which are thought to have different roles in memory behaviour, offering unprecedented specificity. Moreover, the task design enables us to separate functional effects that occur while participants are studying (encoding phase) versus remembering (retrieval phase). In this study we use a combination of structural and functional neuroimaging methods, along with neuropsychological testing, genetic biomarkers, and longitudinal follow-up. The outcomes of this research could play a critical role in informing the development of individualized interventions to strengthen memory in older adults, particularly in those with an elevated risk of developing dementia.