News Release

Dr. Fergus Craik to Present Seminar and Lecture on Cognitive Aging

August 31, 2000
Updated September 8, 2000 - Note New Location of Seminar!

The Program in Cognitive Science, Department of Psychology, UNC-Chapel Hill and the University of North Carolina Institute on Aging are pleased to co-sponsor two events in cognitive aging.

Dr. Fergus I.M. Craik, Rotman Research Institute and Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, will present a luncheon seminar, and a public lecture, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Wednesday, September 27th.

The seminar is entitled, "Three ways to simulate age-related changes in memory." It is possible to produce the same pattern of memory loss in young individuals, by doing such things as speeding presentation and retrieval times, reducing attentional resources, and adding noise to input signals. These manipulations may shed light on what is changing in the sensory and cognitive systems in the course of normal aging. Experimental data will be presented in support of this argument.

The seminar will be held on Wednesday 27 September, 12 noon to 1:30 PM at the Sheps Center, 725 Airport Road, Third Floor, The Resenfeld Room. Please call the Institute on Aging (966-9444) if you plan to attend, as a light lunch will be served.

The lecture is entitled, "Human memory and aging: A processing view." Drawing on behavioral and general psychological theory and on data from neuroimaging, this lecture will describe what goes wrong, and what generally does not, with memory in the course of aging.

The lecture will be held in Davie Hall Room 112 on Wednesday, 27 September, 3:30-5:00 PM. The lecture will be followed by a reception.

Fergus Craik's academic and professional appointments include being Editor of the Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior and membership of the editorial boards of seven other journals. He was a member of the Board of Governors, and its Chairman, of the Psychonomic Research Society. He chaired the Department of Psychology at The University of Toronto from 1985 to 1990, and was appointed to the Glassman Chair of Neuropsychology in 1997.

Fergus Craik's research in the experimental study of human memory processes, and in the effects of aging on memory and cognition, has let to over 150 journal articles and book chapters, and eight co-edited books. Honors include fellowships in the Canadian and American Psychological Associations; Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University; Killam Research Fellowship; Guggenheim Fellowship; Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada; William James Fellow Award from the American Psychological Society; Hebb Award of the Canadian Society for Brain, Behaviour, and Cognitive Science; and Honorary President of the Canadian Psychological Association.