Healthy ageing

Have you ever wondered about how your age may affect your thinking, decision-making, and memory? A great deal of psychological research suggests that staying physically and mentally active as we age has great benefits for mental wellbeing and brain health. What better way to stay active than to become involved in research seeking to understand the effects of age.

In the School of Psychology at the University we investigate many of these questions by running research studies in which participants may complete questionnaires, do experiments on a computer, or even have their brain scanned at our new Brain Research and Imaging Centre.

Much research is carried out with young student participants but it is very important to ensure that our studies are based on responses from a sample of people that is as representative as possible of our wider society and to facilitate this we have an older-adult participant group. Our participants help us by getting involved in studies in exchange for a small monetary reward. When a new study is launched the researcher contacts members of the group who meet the criteria for the study, such as age, sex, education level, or health status. Members contacted receive information about the study and decide whether they are interested in participating. If they are, then a process of obtaining informed consent follows. All studies in the School of Psychology have been scrutinised by an ethics committee to keep participants safe and ensure their data are treated confidentially and participants have the right to withdraw from the study at any point.