Health, Brain, & Cognition Lab researcher and doctoral student Jess Frame presented a poster titled, “Impact of an Age-Appropriate Functional Atlas on Associations Between Network Connectivity and Cognition in Older Adults,” at the annual conference of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, held March 7-10 in Vancouver, Canada.

As one of over 700 researchers presenting during two-hour sessions, Jess had the opportunity to discuss with other researchers her poster highlighting a newer method of mapping of brain network connectivity, comparing results from the widely used Yeo-Krienen Atlas to those from Atlas 55+ in relation to cognition in a study of 123 adults ages 65 to 85. 

“Use of an age-appropriate atlas such as Atlas 55+, which was developed with older adults, may yield new insights in brain-behavior relationships in older populations,” Jess says. “Many studies have long used younger-adult derived network maps to study associations between older adults’ network connectivity and cognition, despite inherent differences between the groups,” she adds.

Her first experience at an international conference was positive, says Jess, who holds B.S. degrees in Biology and Psychology from Missouri University of Science and Technology and has attended many regional and national neuroscience conferences. “There were a lot of cognitive aging researchers at that conference this year. Another researcher whom did similar work comparing structural atlases in older adults came up to my poster. It was reassuring to both of us that individuals are taking more consideration into the tools they’re using. My goal for this conference was to meet a lot of other researchers in my field and outside my specialty, to see how other forms of research connect, and to expand my network.”

Highlights included connecting with Dr. Caterina Gratton, a top researcher in precision brain mapping, based at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and meeting HBC Lab alumni Dr. James Kent, a post-doctoral scholar in the Department of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, and Dr. Matt Sutterer, a program director at the National Institute of Aging at the National Institutes of Health, based in Washington, DC. 

“It was a great time to reconnect with some old mentors and peers of mine as well as make new connections with people in the field,” says Jess.