Cognitive and Learning Sciences News

Tag: Alzheimersresearch

MTU, MSU: Inaugural Research Symposium

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Kevin Trewartha and Carolyn Duncan

Kevin Trewartha (CLS/KIP) and Carolyn Duncan (KIP/CLS/BME) were part of the Inaugural Research Symposium titled “Engineering the Future of Human Health” held on March 13 at Michigan State University. A collaborative event spearheaded by Michigan Technological University Vice President for Global Campus and Continuing Education David Lawrence and planned by a joint MTU and MSU team.

Twelve researchers from MTU and 12 from MSU delivered presentations during the event’s six sessions. The event also featured an 18-poster display from faculty, researchers and M.D. students. Trewartha and Duncan represented the Neurological Disease and Aging Research session.

The purpose of this collaborative event was investigating areas of shared goals, mutual interests and possible research collaboration in crucial areas of human health. Or as Christopher Contag of MSU affirmed, the symposium “will help integrate the research aims of the two universities for a collective endeavor to develop the tools, technologies and knowledge that will impact human health across the state.”

The next step will be developing these research aims and shared human health initiatives in a second collaborative symposium hosted by MTU on October 27, 2023, which is timed to go along with the Upper Peninsula Medical Conference. In this symposium, researchers will elaborate on the theme of engineering the future of human health, but in these key areas: Big Data, Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Image Processing, Epidemiology, Human Factors and Neural Engineering.

For full story see Tech Today: MTU, MSU Collaborate and Build Foundations in Inaugural Research Symposium

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Alexandra Watral Awarded Doctoral Finishing Fellowship

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photo of Alexandra Watral
Alexandra Watral, ACSHF PhD Candidate

Each semester, the Michigan Tech Graduate School awards Finishing Fellowships that provide support to PhD candidates who are close to completing their degrees. These fellowships are available through the generosity of alumni and friends of the University. They are intended to recognize outstanding PhD candidates who are in need of financial support to finish their degrees and are also contributing to the attainment of goals outlined in The Michigan Tech Plan. 

This spring’s 2023 Doctoral Finishing Fellowship recipients include Applied Cognitive Science and Human Factors (ACSHF) PhD candidate Alexandra (Alex) Watral. Alex is advised by Dr. Kevin Trewartha and her research involves motor learning as a sensitive behavioral marker of early Alzheimer’s Disease. Read on for more details of Alex’s research in her personal statement as follows.

My interests lie at the intersection of accessibility and efficiency. For this reason, I transitioned away from clinical work and started my PhD in Applied Cognitive Science and Human Factors in January 2019 under the guidance of Dr. Kevin Trewartha. From day one, my research has focused on developing new tools for assessing cognitive decline in older adults through the study of motor skill learning using a specialized robotic device.

My dissertation research focuses on the use of two novel motor skill learning tasks to distinguish between healthy aging, mild cognitive impairment, and the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer’s is typically measured using neuropsychological tests that lack sensitivity and specificity to subtle changes in cognitive function associated with disease progression. As such, these tests struggle to correctly diagnoses patients with pre-clinical dementia symptoms (such as mild cognitive impairment) or the early stage of Alzheimer’s disease. Recent research, however, has shown that the ability to adapt our movements to learn a new motor skill may relate to changes in learning and memory that occur early in the development of the disease. My dissertation will explore the relationship between data collected from two motor learning tasks and data collected through a typical battery of neuropsychological tests to diagnose Alzheimer’s-type dementia. We expect that these motor learning tasks can go above and beyond the ability of the neuropsychological battery to detect changes in cognitive functioning. Importantly, these motor learning tasks take about half the time to complete compared to the standard diagnostic procedures. By showing that these tasks are sensitive to subtle changes in cognitive decline, we can increase certainty in the proper diagnosis while minimizing the time and costs associated with the diagnostic procedure. This could lead to earlier and more efficient diagnoses and subsequent earlier treatment to slow the progression of cognitive decline, thereby improving patient and caregiver quality of life.

I would like to thank the Graduate School Awards Advisory Panel for this fellowship, and my advisor, Dr. Kevin Trewartha, for his consistent support and guidance over the last four years.

Michigan Tech’s Department of Cognitive and Learning Sciences offers bachelor of science degrees in Psychology and Human Factors, along with a Minor in Psychology. We also offer an Accelerated Masters degree in Applied Cognitive Science and Human Factors (ACSHF), which typically requires only one additional year of course work. Our graduate program includes masters and doctoral degrees in Applied Cognitive Science and Human Factors (ACSHF).

Questions? Contact us at cls@mtu.edu. And follow us @clsmtu on Instagram and Facebook for the latest happenings.

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Brandon Woolman presents research findings at MI Society for Neuroscience

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Photo of ACSHF MS student Brandon Woolman

Applied Cognitive Science and Human Factors (ACSHF) MS student Brandon Woolman presented his team’s research findings during the Michigan Chapter Society for Neuroscience at Central Michigan University on August 20.

Woolman’s, along with teammates Alexandra Watral (ACSHF PhD candidate), Rajiv Ranganathan (Kinesiology, Michigan State University), and advisor Dr. Kevin Trewartha, research titled “Sensorimotor Adaptation and Retention in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Early Alzheimer’s Disease,” is made possible by grant funding from the National Institute on Aging (NIH).

The study included preliminary data from participants diagnosed with the early stages of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), and control groups of cognitively healthy older and younger adults. All of which performed a force-field adaption task using a specialized robotic device (KINARM). The team investigated whether the early stages of motor learning are affected by early AD, and whether those patients exhibit additional impairments in short-term (i.e., within the testing session) and long-term retention (after a 24-hour delay) of a newly acquired motor skill.

Participants were instructed to reach for visual targets, and while their arms moved, the robot would apply a velocity-dependent force perpendicular to the direction of the target. The mechanical load hinders smooth movements toward the target, but over time participants
adapt by applying forces to counter the load. Short-term retention of force-field adaption was assessed in a final block of trials on Day 1. Participants returned a day later to perform the same motor task to assess long-term skill retention over a 24-hour delay.

The work aims to determine whether acquisition, short- and long-term retention measures in a motor learning task, can identify differences between early AD and healthy aging. Measuring these differences could aid in the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease in its earliest stages.

For more information and details on related research, see Dr. Trewartha’s Aging Cognition Action Lab website.

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