Online Now: Toward embodied, ecological cognition with ambulatory virtual reality
Headed to SfN? My group will be presenting new work on aging, memory, and immersive VR, including early Alzheimer’s markers, aphantasia, and a new VR tool for spatial behavior. Come check us out.
This book has just been published, open access, edited by Ken Cheng and me. It contains multiple chapters originating in a wonderful Strungmann Forum held in Frankfurt around a year ago.
link.springer.com/book/10.1007...
Impressive MEGA-analysis:
Vulnerability to memory decline in aging revealed by a mega-analysis of structural brain change
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Excited to announce our new paper in Trends in Cognitive Science (TICS) on the importance of naturalistic body movements and mobile immersive virtual reality to the study of cognition! Check it out!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
New paper in Imaging Neuroscience by Jonas Kransberg, Kristine B. Walhovd, et al:
Failure to detect entorhinal grid-like signals in a passive navigation human fMRI study
doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...
Honoring Dr. Denise C. Park, the Aging, Neuropsychology, & Cognition journal invites manuscripts building on her work. Send your 200-word abstract and cover letter to Dr. Ian McDonough: [email protected] by Aug 31. Decisions on invitations for full submissions will be made by Sep 30.
Replicability of representational similarity and its role in
successful memory retrieval
direct.mit.edu/imag/article...
Trends in Cognitive Sciences
We are deeply saddened to share that Dr. Denise C. Park, founder of CVL, passed away on Sunday, Feb 1. A pioneering cognitive neuroscientist, mentor, & leader, Dr. Park shaped the study of memory, aging, & the brain. Read the full remembrance here: cvl.utdallas.edu/in-memory-of-dr-denise-c-park/
Paul Hill
Aging reorganizes human large-scale brain networks, with consequences for cognition & dementia risk. We’ve now mapped brain network changes over a wide range of the mouse lifespan. The changes mirror key features of human aging, but not entirely
New @pnas.org paperđź§µ
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Nora Newcombe
Hugo Spiers
Across 13 longitudinal studies (3,737 adults), the authors show that brain atrophy parallels memory loss, with a stronger coupling in later life. APOE ε4 increases decline, yet genetic risk does not m...
Virtual reality (VR) is a powerful tool for bridging ecological validity and experimental control in cognitive science. VR techniques enable more naturalistic behavior and offer value for assessment and rehabilitation in aging and clinical populations. In this review, we describe how emerging ambulatory VR approaches that support more naturalistic movements, actions, and interactions within immersive environments offer important advances for studying cognition and neural systems in ecologically valid contexts. We highlight the ways in which ambulatory VR paradigms enrich memory, navigation, and cognitive control through embodied sensorimotor engagement, and explore the mechanistic basis for these enhancements, including potential compensatory components in aging and disease. We also discuss methodological challenges and opportunities for combining ambulatory VR with mobile neuroimaging.
This open access book explores navigation across species using a multidisciplinary approach to address challenges in research and clinical applications.
Abstract. Studies of hippocampal pattern similarity during event encoding and its relationship to subsequent memory retrieval have revealed inconsistent results. Our lab recently found evidence that d...
In Memory of Dr. Denise C. Park Dr. Denise C. Park passed away on Sunday, February 1, 2026, at age 74. She was a beloved cognitive neuroscientist and colleague whose remarkable career spanned over 50…