Project Description
We have broken the project down into three research activities (contact [email protected] if you wish a fuller outline of our research plan).
Research Activities
1. Aging Minds, Brains and Memory:
This activity explores the historical background and development of the brain sciences and their role in establishing memory as a measurable and treatable cognitive function associated with aging. Behind our society's neuroscientific and cognitive cultures lie the discourses and metaphors by which Western thought has historically individualized memory as the guarantor of civilized personhood. Hence this activity will address three relationships: a) the historical relationship between memory, aging and the brain and shifting cultural conceptions about personhood, the body and the life course, b) the technical relationship between memory decline in the aging brain and professional definitions of healthy and successful aging, and c) the popular relationship between the neurosciences and cognitive culture, and their extensions into industry, marketing, the military, the arts, education, and lifestyle products.
2. The Capitalization, Science and Technology of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI):
This activity investigates MCI and the reliability, validity and implications of its criteria. We hope to develop an overview of the pharmaceutical capitalization of treatments for MCI, the impact MCI may have on programs aimed at optimizing standards of successful aging and the influence of dementia research and its technologies on the MCI enterprise. This activity will address two research areas: a) the relevant historical and clinical factors that have shaped the current operational definitions of MCI, and b) the reliability and validity of these definitions. Our effectiveness review plans to look at data from effectiveness studies on cholinesterase inhibitors in treating/preventing Alzheimer disease and MCI, and to think more about the measurement of the effectiveness of such drugs. To understand why and how these and other memory drugs have become so capitalized as a growth sector in the new cognitive culture and their role in transforming MCI into a medical 'at-risk' category of susceptibility requires critical sociological research, to which this data review can contribute.
3. The Public Life of Cognitive Impairment: Perceptions and Experiences
This activity conducts research on the human and social contexts of MCI and addresses how such contexts are embodied, negotiated and made meaningful in the everyday lives and experiences of older adults who face or suffer from memory loss. Using qualitative approaches that include interviews and focus groups, we wish to learn more about and document what members of the public claim to know and perceive about their risks. Other questions informing this activity include: What is the public understanding of the effectiveness of memory drugs and how do people evaluate advertised claims about early intervention? Are older adults being advised and possibly pressured to get tested for MCI? How are treatment decisions made by physicians or nurse practitioners and how are hope and suffering negotiated between patients and experts? Is there an increased public and financial interest in off-label and prophylactic use of drugs to lower risks for MCI and/or Alzheimer disease?
Work Plan, Communication of Results and Knowledge Transfer
We plan to communicate the results of our research through conference papers, publications in scholarly journals, a small conference and the development of this website. We are interested in networking with others in the relevant fields of sociology, social studies of science and medicine, gerontology, public health, the neurosciences and dementia. We aim to contribute to interdisciplinary conversations between the social and health sciences regarding aging, memory loss and cognitive culture. We also want our research to be useful to public audiences and groups, such as Alzheimer Associations, the Canadian Association of Retired Persons, the Canadian Caregivers Association, the Canadian Caregiver Coalition, and decision-making bodies such as Health Canada, Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-term Care, the National Pharmacists Association, the Canadian Medical Association and the Ontario and Canadian Gerontological Nursing Associations, the Ontario Association for Non-profit Homes and Services for Seniors. Please visit this website regularly to follow our progress.
This activity explores the historical background and development of the brain sciences and their role in establishing memory as a measurable and treatable cognitive function associated with aging. Behind our society's neuroscientific and cognitive cultures lie the discourses and metaphors by which Western thought has historically individualized memory as the guarantor of civilized personhood. Hence this activity will address three relationships: a) the historical relationship between memory, aging and the brain and shifting cultural conceptions about personhood, the body and the life course, b) the technical relationship between memory decline in the aging brain and professional definitions of healthy and successful aging, and c) the popular relationship between the neurosciences and cognitive culture, and their extensions into industry, marketing, the military, the arts, education, and lifestyle products.
2. The Capitalization, Science and Technology of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI):
This activity investigates MCI and the reliability, validity and implications of its criteria. We hope to develop an overview of the pharmaceutical capitalization of treatments for MCI, the impact MCI may have on programs aimed at optimizing standards of successful aging and the influence of dementia research and its technologies on the MCI enterprise. This activity will address two research areas: a) the relevant historical and clinical factors that have shaped the current operational definitions of MCI, and b) the reliability and validity of these definitions. Our effectiveness review plans to look at data from effectiveness studies on cholinesterase inhibitors in treating/preventing Alzheimer disease and MCI, and to think more about the measurement of the effectiveness of such drugs. To understand why and how these and other memory drugs have become so capitalized as a growth sector in the new cognitive culture and their role in transforming MCI into a medical 'at-risk' category of susceptibility requires critical sociological research, to which this data review can contribute.
3. The Public Life of Cognitive Impairment: Perceptions and Experiences
This activity conducts research on the human and social contexts of MCI and addresses how such contexts are embodied, negotiated and made meaningful in the everyday lives and experiences of older adults who face or suffer from memory loss. Using qualitative approaches that include interviews and focus groups, we wish to learn more about and document what members of the public claim to know and perceive about their risks. Other questions informing this activity include: What is the public understanding of the effectiveness of memory drugs and how do people evaluate advertised claims about early intervention? Are older adults being advised and possibly pressured to get tested for MCI? How are treatment decisions made by physicians or nurse practitioners and how are hope and suffering negotiated between patients and experts? Is there an increased public and financial interest in off-label and prophylactic use of drugs to lower risks for MCI and/or Alzheimer disease?
Work Plan, Communication of Results and Knowledge Transfer
We plan to communicate the results of our research through conference papers, publications in scholarly journals, a small conference and the development of this website. We are interested in networking with others in the relevant fields of sociology, social studies of science and medicine, gerontology, public health, the neurosciences and dementia. We aim to contribute to interdisciplinary conversations between the social and health sciences regarding aging, memory loss and cognitive culture. We also want our research to be useful to public audiences and groups, such as Alzheimer Associations, the Canadian Association of Retired Persons, the Canadian Caregivers Association, the Canadian Caregiver Coalition, and decision-making bodies such as Health Canada, Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-term Care, the National Pharmacists Association, the Canadian Medical Association and the Ontario and Canadian Gerontological Nursing Associations, the Ontario Association for Non-profit Homes and Services for Seniors. Please visit this website regularly to follow our progress.