Arthur Kramer is Swanlund Chair and Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Illinois. He received his Ph.D. in Cognitive/Experimental Psychology from the University of Illinois in 1984. Professor Kramer’s research projects include topics in Cognitive Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience, Aging, and Human Factors.  He has published over 200 papers in referred journals and numerous book chapters on these topics.  A major focus of his lab’s recent research is the understanding and enhancement of cognitive and neural plasticity across the lifespan.  He is the Director of the Biomedical Imaging Center at the University of Illinois, and Co-Director of the NIH Center for Healthy Minds. Professor Kramer served as an Associate Editor of Perception and Psychophysics and is currently a member of seven editorial boards. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association, American Psychological Society, a member of the executive committee of the International Society of Attention and Performance, and a recent recipient of a NIH Ten Year MERIT Award. Professor Kramer’s research has been featured in a long list of print, radio and electronic media including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, CBS Evening News, Today Show, NPR, and Saturday Night Live.  Last year Professor Kramer had the opportunity to testify to the U.S. Congress on Successful Aging.
 

The presentation will provide a brief but critical review of the literature on the relationship of cognitive training, intellectual engagement, and fitness training on cognition and brain function of older adults. In the presentation I will contrast the effects of cognitive and fitness training with regard to the breadth of their effects on cognition and dementia. The presentation will include a description of the results of a recent meta-analysis, that included longitudinal fitness studies conducted over the past thirty five years, that we conducted to examine the methodological and theoretical factors which influence the fitness-cognition relationship. This analysis revealed robust benefits of fitness training on neurocognitive function. I will also describe the results of recent and on-going cross-sectional and longitudinal studies in which we are examining changes in cognition and brain function, as indexed by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and event-related brain potentials, with fitness and cognitive training interventions. Finally, I’ll conclude by describing issues for future research as well as potential applications of what we have already learned – as well as what we still need to learn.