NIH

Dec 10, 2015

Psychologists ask: What motivates older adults to stay active?

As we age, it can be harder to do what’s good for the mind. While research shows that regularly exercising the brain, for instance, can help older adults mitigate normal declines in cognition, that effort comes with costs — such as mental fatigue — that typically increase as we get older. Psychologists at NC State University want to know how those increased costs affect our motivation to engage in cognitively-rewarding tasks.

Apr 24, 2015

Seeking Optimal Outcomes for Children with Autism

The brains of autistic girls appear to be wired more normally than those of autistic boys — and that can be both a blessing and a curse, according to Kevin Pelphrey (Psychology ’96), the Harris Professor at Yale University and director of Yale’s Center for Developmental Neuroscience. Pelphrey is the principal investigator on a five-year, $15 million grant from the National Institutes of Health that is investigating why autism is more prevalent in boys than in girls. His grant is one of the largest awards the NIH has given for autism research.