2009 Age Plus Prize Winner: Stanley Govenlock

The effect of aging on the orientational selectivity of the human visual system.

Very little attention has been paid as to how the brain does and does not change with normal aging.  Mr. Govenlock’s research is aimed at understanding the aging process of the brain, and to learn some of the clever tricks that the brain employs to remain mentally agile into older age.

For this research, community-dwelling older people came into the lab in order to participate in the research project. These volunteers played specially designed video games that aided in determining how well the brain sees the world.

Prior to designing ways to make the brain work better, we must first understand how the normal brain works. This research is part of this basic effort to simply understand how the brain works.

This research project forms a major part of Stanley’s training as a brain scientist.  The skills acquired during the course of this project will serve the rest of his career as a Canadian brain scientist specializing in aging.

He has one year remaining in his PhD at McMaster, but is currently spending a few months at a US Government research facility in Washington DC learning advanced brain imaging techniques in order to become a better brain researcher with an interest and specialty in aging.