Researchers find brain's default network shrinks in healthy aging and dementia

Researchers at York University and Cornell University have found the brain’s default network, a collection of brain regions thought to be involved in cognitive functions such as memory, declines in volume with both normal aging and in Alzheimer’s disease. These new findings suggest that structural changes in this collection of brain regions may be critical […]

CFI awards York researchers $274,000 in funding

Funding will support three projects in biology, kinesiology and psychology The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) has awarded York University $274,689 in infrastructure funding to support the research of three York professors. Olivier Birot, professor in the School of Kinesiology & Health Science in York's Faculty of Health and a member of the Muscle Health Research […]

PhD student Kara Hawkins wins CIHR award to diagnose Alzheimer's early stages

On Saturday, Kara Hawkins stepped forward to receive a $2,500 award recognizing her as the highest-ranking applicant in Canada for a graduate scholarship in the field of aging. She accepted the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Institute of Aging Recognition Prize in Research in Aging at the annual conference of the Canadian Association on Gerontology in […]

Professor Ellen Bialystok co-authors CIHR-funded study on Alzheimer's and bilingualism

A team of Canadian researchers, including a York University professor, has uncovered further evidence that bilingualism can delay the onset of Alzheimer’s by up to five years. The study, published today in the journal Neurology, follows up on a 2007 study led by York University, which found that lifelong use of two or more languages […]

Why some smart people do dumb things: Professor Maggie Toplak on intelligence and rationality

Why is it that some smart people do really dumb things? That’s the question York psychology Professor Maggie Toplak is trying to answer through her research on rationality. What she’s found is that intelligence as measured by IQ tests is not the same as rationality or a rationality quotient (RQ). “There’s a folk idea that […]

Killam Prize winner Professor Ellen Bialystok interviewed by Globe & Mail

Professor Ellen Bialystok was interviewed by The Globe and Mail April 14 about winning the Killam Prize and her award-winning research in bilingualism and brain development across the human lifespan: Distinguished Research Professor of Psychology Ellen Bialystok, of York's Faculty of Health, is one of five scholars to be awarded this year’s Killam Prize in […]

Audio: York developmental psychology professor speaks to Metro Morning about winning the Killam Prize

York University Professor Ellen Bialystok spoke to CBC's "Metro Morning" April 14 about winning the prestigious Killam Prize for outstanding career achievement. The award provides five winners with $100,000 to support their research. Bialystok, a Distinguished Research Professor in York’s Department of Psychology, Faculty of Health, is known internationally for her research on language, bilingualism […]

York developmental psychology professor wins Killam Prize

York University Professor Ellen Bialystok has been awarded the prestigious Killam Prize for outstanding career achievement. Bialystok, a Distinguished Research Professor in York’s Department of Psychology, Faculty of Health, is known internationally for her research on language, bilingualism and cognitive development. She received the award this morning from the Canada Council for the Arts, which […]

Listen to York PhD student describe research on babies and manipulation

Heidi Marsh's study about infants reading and interpreting the intentions of adults as early as six or nine months was featured on Saturday, February 13, 2010 on CBC's Quirks & Quarks, hosted by Bob McDonald. Download the podcast to hear Marsh, a psychology PhD candidate in the Faculty of Health at York's Centre for Infancy […]

Think baby knows when you tease? Study from Centre for Infancy Studies says six-month-olds know difference between play and teasing

A study by York University researchers reveals that infants as young as six months old know when we’re “playing” them – and they don’t like it. Researchers in York’s Centre for Infancy Studies examined six- and nine-month-old babies’ reactions to a game in which an experimenter was either unable or unwilling to share a toy. […]