Dr. Polk is an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Michigan. He received an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Computer Science and Psychology from Carnegie Mellon University and postdoctoral training in cognitive neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Polk’s research uses functional imaging of the human brain to investigate the neural architecture underlying cognition and how that architecture is influenced by age, by experience, and by genetics. He was also named to the Princeton Review list of the best 300 professors in the U.S.

Aging is associated with subtle declines in some cognitive function, but not others. As we age, we become a little more forgetful, we get distracted more easily, and we can’t process information quite as quickly. At the same time, world knowledge, emotional processing and what’s sometimes called wisdom tend to remain stable and may even improve with age. Why is that? This talk will answer that question by explaining what happens to our brains as we age, as well as discussing some scientifically verified approaches that can help our brains age more gracefully.

This is the fifth in OLLI’S distinguished lecture series for 2017-18. A variety of topics will be covered. There is one lecture each month, for a total of ten. The next lecture will be on February 13, 2018. The subject is Getting into Michigan Musical Theater.