Michele Diaz, director of Human Imaging for the Social, Life, & Engineering Sciences Imaging Center (SLEIC) and associate professor of psychology, linguistics, and neuroscience, has recently received an R01 grant renewal from the National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health. This grant will support Diaz’s research on how aging affects language production.
Diaz, who is also an SSRI cofounded faculty member, will use both behavioral measures and neuroimaging techniques to compare older and younger adults to understand why we have more difficulty speaking as we age. As older adults are the largest growing demographic in the country, understanding how we age has large social, financial, and societal significance. Declines in communication can be both frustrating and lead to decreased social and intellectual interactions. This renewal will support Diaz’s research for the next five years.
SLEIC, part of the Social Science Research Institute, provides researchers imaging technologies, expertise, support, and educational opportunities in areas such as social, biological, behavioral, engineering, and materials sciences.