The Hamilton Spectator's Peter Van Harten Interviews Prof. Allison Sekuler

Spec Interview

Hendrik Poinar Sept. 14

Ian Bruce November 2

Gurmit Singh December 14

Michael Atkinson January 24

Milena Head February 8

Alison Sills March 8

Brian McCarry April 12

Allison Sekuler May 3

Past Lectures
September 2003-May 2004

Past Lectures
January 2003-June 2003

Science in the City
Overview & Schedule

Professor Allison Sekuler
(photo by Glenn Lowson)

The following article is reprinted courtesy of the Hamilton Spectator, McMaster University’s partner in the Science in the City Lecture Series.

Grey matter workout key to aging, says prof
By Peter Van Harten
The Hamilton Spectator
(May 2, 2005)

That's one powerful 40-year-young brain belonging to neuroscientist Allison Sekuler.

You have to picture her in a doctor's office, comforting and distracting the nimble three-year-young brain of her son, Aidan, suffering with an ear infection.

At the same time she's cradling a cellphone, detailing years of her research and offering advice to a 60-year-old brain belonging to a Spectator reporter.

Sekuler is Canada Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience at McMaster University.

"Crossword puzzles, playing Scrabble and regular physical exercise," are the things to keep aging brains in shape and rewiring themselves.

"My mother who is turning 65 has just started learning Hebrew," she says.

Tomorrow at 7 p.m., Sekuler outlines her work in a free lecture on the The Amazing Changing, Aging Brain.

The presentation at The Hamilton Spectator auditorium is part of the popular Science In The City series.

Sekuler has won distinction as one of the few young Canadian scientists named as a Leader of Tomorrow by the Partnership Group for Science and Engineering and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council.

And she's provided comfort for older folks and challenged stereotypes with her research showing brains do not turn to mush as they age.

"You can teach an old brain new tricks," she says.

A February article in The Spectator reported the findings of her group of Mac researchers showing that older folks are actually better and faster at grasping the "big picture" than their young counterparts who may be better at picking out details. In her lab research with volunteers, Sekuler studies aging and its effects on vision and the brain.

People used to think that when you passed a certain age, nothing happened to the brain, or it just started to deteriorate, she said.

"There's more to it. The aging brain is tremendously plastic; it can change a lot and new neurons can be born in the brain."

The way the brain processes information can be completely different in young and old people, she said.

And older folks can recruit new areas of the brain -- as a trade-off for lost functions such as ability to recall words -- so that they can perform tasks as they age.

"The most important thing for people to realize is that they are able to learn new things, able to try new things and they should be doing that and staying active ," she said.

Your brain is like a muscle and if you don't use it, you lose it.

With Canada's looming aging population, that's become an all-important issue.

And McMaster with its many scientists carrying out various long-term studies on aging is at the forefront of research and new findings on aging, says Sekuler.

To register for a spot at the Science in the City lecture, call 905-525-9140, ext. 24934, or send an e-mail to sciencecity@mcmaster.ca.

Doors for the lecture open at 6:30 p.m. for the 7 p.m. lecture.

pvanharten@thespec.com

905-526-3328