I am a PhD student funded by the Faculty of Science and Technology Teaching-based Studentships.
My research is about healthy ageing and Parkinson’s disease. In particular, I am interested in investigating cognitive decline in both groups. With age, people have more difficulties accessing words from their memories but some older adults are able to compensate for their age-related cognitive decline. The same goes for disease-related cognitive decline in Parkinson's disease. What enables people to compensate for their cognitive decline? I am looking at multiple factors (e.g. physical activity) through questionnaires and at brain networks using electroencephalography (EEG) and the link to word finding difficulties. The results of this research will improve our understanding of cognitive decline and of possible compensatory mechanisms in healthy ageing and Parkinson's disease.