Lifespan Lab

Stefan Agrigoroaei received his doctorate in 2007 at University of Savoie, Chambéry, France, under the mentorship of Professor Olivier Desrichard. His research program is in the area of health and adult development and aging from a lifespan perspective. Stefan is primarily interested in the contribution of modifiable psychosocial and behavioral factors to different facets of health — physical, cognitive and psychological. His projects involve a wide range of cognitive and physical health assessments, including biomedical indicators, in both surveys and laboratory settings. The results have direct implications for developing intervention and prevention programs for applied settings.

Stefan is currently an assistant professor at Université catholique de Louvain in Belgium.

Selected Publications

• Verreckt, E., Grimm, E., Agrigoroaei, S., de Saint Hubert, M., Philippot, P., Cremer, G., & Schoevaerdts, D. (2022). Investigating the relationship between specific executive functions and functional decline among community-dwelling older adults: results from a prospective pilot study. BMC Geriatrics 22, 976, DOI: 10.1186/s12877-022-03559-6

• Belleville S, Cuesta M, Bieler-Aeschlimann M, Giacomino K, Widmer A, Mittaz Hager AG, Perez-Marcos D, Cardin S, Boller B, Bier N, Aubertin-Leheudre M, Bherer L, Berryman N, Agrigoroaei S, Demonet JF. (2022). Pre-frail older adults show improved cognition with StayFitLonger computerized home-based training: a randomized controlled trial. Geroscience. Oct 21:1–12. DOI: 10.1007/s11357-022-00674-5. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36266559; PMCID: PMC9589849. 

• Agrigoroaei, S. & Grimm, E. (2021). Genre et vieillissement. In: Yzerbyt, V., Roskam, I., Casini, A. (Eds.), Les psychologies du genre: Regards croisés sur le développement, la santé mentale et la société, pp. 115–132. Editions Mardaga. 

• Grimm, E., Agrigoroaei, S., Rohleder, N., & Becker, L. (2021). Executive Functioning as a Predictor of Physiological and Subjective Acute Stress Responses in Non-Clinical Adult Populations: A Systematic Literature Review and Meta-Analysis. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, PMID: 34562543                                               DOI:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.09.037 

• Belleville, S., Cuesta, M., Bieler-Aeschlimann, M., Giacomino, K., Widmer A., Mittaz Hager, A.-G., Daniel Perez-Marcos, D., Cardin, S., Boller, B., Bier, N., Aubertin-Leheudre,M., Bherer, L., Berryman, N., Agrigoroaei, S., & Demonet, J-F. (2020). Rationale and protocol of the StayFitLonger study: a multicentre trial to measure efficacy and adherence of a home-based computerised multidomain intervention in healthy older adults, BMC Geriatrics, DOI: 10.1186/s12877-020-01709-2

• Rickenbach, E. H., Agrigoroaei, S., Hughes, M. L., & Lachman, M. E. (2019). Control Beliefs and Susceptibility to the Promises of Memory Improvement, Applied Cognitive Psychology, Advance online publication, DOI: 10.1002/acp.3544

• Agrigoroaei, S., Robinson, S. A., Hughes, M. L., Rickenbach, E., & Lachman, M. E. (2018)."Cognition at midlife: Antecedents and consequences" Oxford Handbook of Integrated Health Science: Ed. C. D. Ryff & R. F. Krueger (Eds.). Oxford University Press, DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190676384.013.19

• Hughes, M. L., Agrigoroaei, S., Jeon, M., Bruzzese, M., & Lachman, M. E. (2018). Change in      cognitive performance from midlife into old age: Findings from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) Study. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 24, 805-820. DOI: 10.1017/S1355617718000425, PMCID: PMC6170692

• Drewelies, J., Agrigoroaei, S., Lachman, M.E., & Gerstorf, D. (2018). Age Variations in Cohort Differences in the United States: Older Adults Report Fewer Constraints Nowadays than those 18 years ago, but Mastery Beliefs are Diminished among Younger Adults. Developmental Psychology, 54, 1408-1425, DOI: 10.1037/dev0000527

• Agrigoroaei, S., Attardo, A. L., & Lachman, M. E. (2016). Stress and subjective age: Those with greater financial stress look older. Research on Aging, 39, 1075-1099, DOI:10.1177/0164027516658502

• Lachman, M.E., Agrigoroaei, S., & Hahn, E.A. (2015). Making Sense of Control: Change and Consequences, in Emerging Trends in the Social and Behavioral Sciences, eds. Robert Scott and Stephen Kosslyn, Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons

• Agrigoroaei, S. (2015). Physical Health and Social Class. The Encyclopedia of Adulthood and Aging (Editor: Susan Krauss Whitbourne)

• Lachman, M. E., Teshale, S., & Agrigoroaei, S. (2015).  Midlife as a Pivotal Period in the Life Course: Balancing Growth and Decline at the Crossroads of Youth and Old Age, International Journal of Behavioral Development, 39, 20-31, DOI:10.1177/0165025414533223

• Rickenbach Hahn, E., Agrigoroaei, S. & Lachman, M.E. (2015). Awareness of Memory Ability and Change: (In)Accuracy of Memory Self-Assessments in Relation to Performance, Journal of Population Ageing, 8, 71-99, DOI: 10.1007/s12062-014-9108-5

• Zebrowitz, L., Franklin, R.,Jr., Boshyan, J., Luevano, V., Agrigoroaei, S.,  Milosavljevic, B. Lachman. M. E. (2014). Older and Younger Adults' Accuracy in Discerning Health and Competence in Older and Younger Faces, Psychology and Aging, 29, 454-468, DOI: 10.1037/a0036255

• Lachman, M.E., Agrigoroaei, S., Tun, P., & Weaver, S.L. (2014). Monitoring Cognitive Functioning: Psychometric Properties of the Brief Test of Adult Cognition by Telephone (BTACT), Assessment. 21, 404-417, DOI:10.1177/1073191113508807

• Turiano, N.A., Chapman, B.P., Agrigoroaei, S., Infurna, F.J. & Lachman, M.E. (2014). Perceived Control Reduces Mortality Risk at Low, not High, Education Levels, Health Psychology, 33, 883-890, DOI: 10.1037/hea0000022

• Agrigoroaei, S., Polito, M., Lee, A., Kranz-Graham, E., Seeman, T., & Lachman, M.E. (2013). Cortisol Response to Challenge Involving Low Controllability: The Role of Control Beliefs and Age, Biological Psychology, 93, 138-142, DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2013.01.003

• Agrigoroaei, S., Neupert, S.D. & Lachman, M.E. (2013). Maintaining a Sense of Control in the Context of Cognitive Challenge: Greater Stability in Control Beliefs Benefits Working Memory, The Journal of Gerontopsychology and Geriatric Psychiatry, 26, 49-59, DOI: 10.1024/1662-9647/a000078 

Elizabeth Hahn is a postdoctoral research fellow who completed a doctoral degree in the interdisciplinary aging studies program in mid-2012 in the School of Aging Studies at the University of South Florida. While there, she completed a doctoral dissertation, “Daily Experiences of Stress, Memory, and Emotion in Older Adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment,” under the advisement of clinical psychologist William E. Haley, PhD. She also worked on various longitudinal research projects examining risk factors for cognitive decline and dementia with Swedish population-based data under the advisement of dissertation committee member Ross Andel, PhD.

Elizabeth approaches her research with an applied, interdisciplinary and lifespan perspective. Her general areas of research focus on examining aging processes as they occur in everyday life, specifically relationships between stress, memor and emotion. Her doctoral dissertation used a daily diary study design to assess daily stressors and memory complaints in relation to psychological distress among older adults with mild cognitive impairment and a comparison group of cognitively health controls. Her current and future work includes examining short-term fluctuations and long-term intraindividual change, as well as the study of protective factors (e.g., control beliefs) and adaptive strategies (e.g., elective optimization with compensation) that may buffer normal age-related change, early stages of pathological cognitive decline, and their potentially negative effects in everyday life.

Image Credit: Lori DeSantis Photography

Bishal, from Kathmandu, Nepal, is a recent Brandeis graduate who has been with the Lifespan Lab since Fall 2022, initially as a Lead Computer Science RA and now as a collaborator. He is passionate about leveraging technology to advance cognitive research. After graduating, he is furthering his work at the lab by building a platform to assist researchers with cognitive aging and Alzheimer’s risk research as part of the Brandeis Sprout Innovation Award. He currently works as a software engineer based in Waltham. In his spare time, he enjoys playing his guitar, watching soccer, and working out.