Welcome

Group of lab members smiling

Welcome to Angela Gutchess' Aging, Culture and Cognition Laboratory at Brandeis University. Our research addresses the impact of healthy aging and cultural background on long-term memory and social cognition, using behavioral and functional MRI methods.

Interested in participating in our studies?

We are not currently recruiting older adults for a study, but if you are interested in participating in one of our future aging studies, please email us at aginglab@brandeis.edu. Our lab manager will get back to you as soon as possible. 

We are currently recruiting East Asian individuals to participate in research studies for pay. This study pays at a rate of $20/hr + $10 for completing pre-visit questionnaires + $5 for transporation. If you are interested in participating, please fill out this pre-screening form (https://redcap.link/7iv1oyml) & email us at aginglab@brandeis.edu.

Lab News

December 2024

Congrats to Qihao Xie for successfully defending his honors senior thesis in neuroscience! Qihao did an excellent job answering questions from faculty and explaining his findings. We can't wait to see everything else you accomplish!

November 2024

Several of our lab members (Dr. Gutchess, Sagarika, Nicolette, James, Chun-Yi, and Iva) attended the 2024 meeting of the Psychonomic Society in New York City! They had a great time discussing their work, meeting with past lab members, and listening to talks, particularly at the Culture & Cognition Pre-Conference. We would also like to congratulate Dr. Gutchess for her service on the Governing Board of the Psychonomic Society! And great job to all the lab members who presented posters!

The lab goes apple picking.

The lab goes apple picking!

October 2024

To mark the beginning of fall, the lab recently visited Honey Pot Hill Orchards! We had a great time picking apples (& pears), and seeing all kinds of farm animals at the petting zoo. We’re looking forward to other fun lab outings this semester.

Qihao takes a picture with his NEPA poster.

Qihao's NEPA poster!

October 2024

Congrats to honors student, Qihao Xie, for being named a 2024 Donnah Canavan Honorary Undergraduate Scholar by the New England Psychological Association! This award recognizes individuals with outstanding undergraduate records in psychology and encourages promising students to pursue careers in the discipline. Qihao will also be presenting his poster titled, “Effects of Acculturation on Self and Other- Enhancement through Measures of Memory, N400, & Late Positive Potential”. Great job!

September 2024

Welcome to our new PhD students, Sagarika Devarayapuram Ramakrishnan and James Qian! We’re looking forward to a great year in the lab.

July 2024

Our lab manager, Giannis Valoumas, will be joining Binghamton University as a PhD student in Dr. Michael Dulas’s Cognition, Aging, and Memory Performance (CAMP) Lab. Congrats & thank you for your hard work!

December 2023

Congrats to our postdoctoral research fellow, Dr. Isu Cho, on accepting a faculty position at Sungkyunkwan University! We wish you the best of luck on your new endeavors!

May 2023

Congratulations to Dr. Krystal Leger on successfully defending her PhD dissertation, The Influences of Culture on Mnemonic Processes: A Comparison of Easterners and Westerners! Krystal will join Boston Scientific as a Senior Medical Writer.

September 2022

Congratulations to Dr. Wanbing Zhang on successfully defending her PhD dissertation! Wanbing's PhD studies had been investigating the effect of imagining loss of items on the memory performance of healthy older adults.

August 2022

With summer coming to an end and the Fall semester about to start, we want to congratulate our undergraduate research assistants who diligently conducted summer research and presented posters of their projects at SciFest 2022. Congratulations to Chaomei Wang, Huilin Li, Taryn German (Hampton University), Rynn Parrack and Yannan Zhu on presenting your summer work!

April 2022

As in-person conferences are resuming, many of ACC's lab members have had the chance to present their work in front of fellow researchers.

Isu Cho (postdoctoral fellow) and Wanbing Zhang (fifth-year PhD student) presented their research findings at the Cognitive Aging Conference in Atlanta, while Krystal Leger (fourth-year PhD student) presented a poster at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society in San Fransisco.

October 2021

Dr. Gutchess has been elected as 2023 Chair of the Psychonomic Society Governing Board. The Psychonomic Society is a community of over 5,600 cognitive and experimental psychologists from more than 60 countries around the world. Read more on the society's announcement here.

Congratulations to our postdoctoral fellow Isu Cho on receiving the GSA Behavioral and Social Sciences Section Student Registration Award!

Summer 2021

Congratulations to PhD student Ashley Gilliam! Over the summer, she received the Diversity Scholarship for the 2021 ICPSR Summer Program in Quantitative Methods of Social Research at the University of Michigan. Through the ICPSR (Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research) program, she received certification for Multilevel Models: Introduction and Application, Time Series Analysis I: Introduction, and Categorical Data Analysis.

May 2021

Congratulations to graduating honors students Sarah Turk Karan and Wanchen Zhao! In addition, Wanchen received the department's Elliott Aronson award. Post-graduation, Sarah will be a research assistant at University of Denver and Wanchen will be a PhD student at Yale University.

October 2020

Lab members attended the virtual International Cognitive Neuroscience Society conference co-organized by Dr. Gutchess, Dr. Goh, and Dr. Losin. Tong Lin, and Wanbing Zhang presented a thought-provoking poster and lightning talk, respectively.

July 2020

Congratulations to Dr. John Ksander, PhD, on successfully defending his dissertation!

May 2020

Congratulations to Jessie Chien and Ashley Gilliam for graduating with their master's! Congratulations to Zenith Rai, Yinan Liang and Sophie Needles for graduating with their bachelor's!

November 2019

Lab members attended the Psychonomics Society annual meeting in Montreal, Canada. Dr. Gutchess gave a fascinating talk at the inaugural Culture and Cognition Pre-conference titled "Perceptual and Mnemonic Differences Across Cultures."

September 2019

The National Institute on Aging has awarded Drs. Gutchess and Goh a grant to investigate the effects of aging on memory and decision making across cultures, using behavioral testing and fMRI data.

July 2018

Dr. Gutchess was invited to speak at an expert meeting on Leveraging Rarely Investigated Populations for Research on Behavioral and Social Processes in an Aging Context. Dr. Gutchess spoke on a panel about cross-cultural differences in memory.

June 2018

John Ksander's paper "Cultural Specialization of Visual Cortex" was accepted to Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. Congratulations, John!

May 2018

Congratulations to Zenith Rai for receiving summer funding from the Provost's Undergraduate Research Fund to study cross-cultural differences in impressions and trustworthiness!

May 2018

Congratulations to Dr. Laura Paige, PhD, for successfully defending her dissertation! Congratulations to Yuchen Song, Selen Amado, Grace Hoefs and Dana Zeng on graduating!

Books on Aging

The Cambridge Handbook of Cognitive Aging

A comprehensive overview of cognitive aging through the lens of a life course perspective, considering both behavioral and neural changes.

This handbook is a comprehensive overview of cognitive aging research and takes both behavioral and neural changes into consideration. Readers will learn about the fundamental principles that characterize a life course approach. Click here to purchase!

Cognitive and Social Neuroscience of Aging (Cambridge Fundamentals of Neuroscience in Psychology)

This book integrates a neuroscience approach to study aging. In addition to covering standard cognitive functions, it incorporates socioemotional abilities.

An introduction to how aging effects the brain, intended for audiences with some knowledge of psychology, aging, or neuroscience. Readers can find figures illustrating brain regions and discussions on memory, cognition, cognitive training, emotion, and social possesses. The main perspective of this book emphasizes the ways in which neuroscience methods have enhanced and developed how aging is understood. Click here to purchase!

Research in the News

Illustration of man with very long nose looking upwards
Older people can come to believe their own lies

What happens when older adults lie? A new study suggests that in as little as 45 minutes they can come to believe it's the truth.

Angela Gutchess and her colleagues published the research online in the journal Brain and Cognition.

Read more on BrandeisNOW