Outstanding Presentation – 2023 ACNS Conference
Congratulations to MARCS PhD Candidate, Olivia Maurice, for winning the Outstanding Presentation award at the 12th Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Society (ACNS) Conference held in November 2023. Her poster was titled, "Multilingualism confers executive functioning advantages in older adults: Reviewing cognitive and neuroscientifc evidence."
Olivia is interested in neurocognitive assessment and risk reduction interventions for dementia focused on culturally and linguistically diverse populations. Her recent work explores the benefits of multilingualism on cognitive functioning in older adults.
Wonder what inspires Olivia’s choice of field and area of research? Read more below.
Tell us more about your research.
My research explores the effect of multilingualism on domain-specific executive functioning and cognitive reserve in older adults.
Why do you think this is important? How does it affect the community or society?
The world is progressively becoming more multilingual. In fact, there are more multilinguals than monolinguals. Research, however, has not caught up, and most data fail to capture the diversity of linguistic experience (effects of proficiency, age of acquisition, frequency of use, etc.)
There is evidence to suggest that multilingualism could act as a neuroprotective cognitive resource against age-related decline processes such as dementia. My research is examining the mechanisms driving this potential advantage, which could help us develop better models of multilingual cognition, as well as inform future interventions.
What inspires/motivates you to delve into this area of research?
I come from a multilingual household and language has always interested me. I'm also passionate about researching age-related decline and investigating modifiable risk as I think it is important to learn more about what we can do to improve our quality of life as we get older.
What are some of your plans for 2024?
I will be conducting experiments in 2024 to isolate effects on specific executive functioning domains, as well as doing some collaborative research which will be rewarding. I hope to be presenting findings from this research later in the year, so stay tuned!
