Bernadine Gurning, FCRH ’25, is taking an optimistic perspective on aging in the brain through her research on cognitive decline. Gurning hypothesizes that although younger adults exhibit spatial information and older adults exhibit semantics, both groups have the same ability to express detailed descriptions. 

Conducting her study under the guidance of Elissa Aminoff, who has a doctorate in psychology, Gurning is combating the phenomenon of “neural dedifferentiation.” This condition refers to how the brain is less specialized in the way it processes information as it ages. 

Her study uses Qualtrics surveys. The survey shows scenes to participants and allows them to input descriptions, viewing each image one at a time. Then, they engage in the memory portion and describe the scenes again without seeing them.

She observes and analyzes the level of detail, spatial relationships and overall structure of the scene descriptions in younger and older adults. She aims to observe whether older adults rely more on general knowledge and semantic meaning of visual details, as this would suggest an adaptive strategy for age-related changes in memory and perception. Gurning began collecting data last fall. 

“For the first half of the fall semester, we started data collection, and it’s been an ongoing process of recruiting participants,” said Gurning. “However, each participant had to view each scene then and there and could not come back and participate in the study again.”

Age groups 18 to 30 represent the younger participants, and ages 60 to 80 represent the older participants. Gurning is looking to study 150 participants for each age group in total, but currently has only about 60 participants from each age group in the study. She hopes that by the end of March there will be enough data to conduct an analysis and publish the study.

After joining Aminoff’s lab during her junior year, Gurning knew she wanted to research memory and perception. Aminoff guided her research in the right direction through papers on upcoming studies. 

“I wanted to do something in memory and perception,” she said. “I also previously worked with older adults, volunteering at a food drive. I wanted to combine these aspects. Everything I learned was through research articles and Aminoff.”

When asked what she enjoys about her research, Gurning expressed enthusiasm in the finding process. 

“It’s a really rewarding process to see what comes out of the research,” she said. “I enjoy it when my data starts to reveal a story, and all these raw numbers transform into meaningful insights. It brings out the problem-solving aspect of research—figuring out what the data is truly saying.” 

Gurning recently presented her work in her neuroscience capstone class last week and hopes to present her research project during the research symposium in April. She plans to continue working with Aminoff post-grad. 

Gurning would like to reshape how we understand cognitive aging, especially as there is a lot of negative discourse in previous literature. 

“Traditionally, aging is seen as an inevitable decline, especially regarding memory and perception. With my study, I hope to challenge this narrative by exploring how older adults would adapt to these changes, rather than simply losing cognition, and hopefully contribute to a more nuanced perspective on aging that recognizes the limitations and adaptability of the brain,” she said.