Research Seminar Series - Jonathan Hakun

Ambulatory Assessments of Cognitive and Brain Health

Jonathan G. Hakun, PhD
Associate Professor of Neurology, Psychology, & Public Health Sciences
Penn State University 

Abstract: Advancing therapeutic discovery and prevention strategies for Alzheimer’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease-related dementias (AD/ADRD) requires tools that can accurately identify individuals at risk for cognitive decline and precisely monitor subtle cognitive changes across various time scales. High-frequency, smartphone-based cognitive assessment approaches (e.g. "ambulatory cognitive assessments") afford the ability to overcome many of the limitations of conventional assessments and capture new features of cognitive change that track closely with underlying changes in brain health. In addition, when paired with other forms of high-frequency assessment such as ecological momentary assessments (EMA) and device-based activity monitoring, ambulatory cognitive assessment methodology allows for theories of human behavior (e.g. self-regulation and behavior change) to be investigated and understood in relation to dynamic cognitive changes and variation that occur at shorter timescales. I'll review the motivation for high-frequency, ambulatory cognitive assessment and provide an overview of how we use these tools in our lab to study cognitive aging and dementia risk, self-regulation and behavior change, and emerging clinical use cases.