Center for Healthy Minds

描述（由申请人提供）：伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校（UIUC）有一群独特的研究人员，他们有能力寻求随着年龄增长，什么条件和干预措施维持或增加认知健康的问题的答案。我们建议在UIUC建立一个Edward R. Roybal健康思想中心，它将有四个主要目标。首先是组织一组初级和高级研究人员，他们将集中研究这一主题，研究社会、认知和身体（锻炼）干预，以及这些变量的组合。第二个目标是在这个主题上建立一个引人注目的国家中心，并使健康思想的研究成为UIUC的核心焦点。第三个目标将是促进这一主题的研究，不仅在UIUC内部，而且通过中心项目刺激研究人员的国际网络来解决这一主题并共享数据。最终目标将是制定一套持续的美国中老年可能参与的日常行为建议，以促进或维持认知健康，并广泛传播这些建议。中心的研究人员将集中精力研究六个相关假设。现有的专业知识和对所有这些假设的一些研究在UIUC。假设是：(1)体育活动改善认知功能；(2)认知参与和训练有助于心智健康；(3)社会参与对认知健康有重要影响；(4)社会/认知参与的结合在维持成年后期的认知健康方面可能特别有力；(5)文化背景和刻板印象对认知健康的影响；(6)环境支持促进和支持成年后期健康的认知功能。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): There is a unique confluence of researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) who are well-positioned to seek answers to the question of what conditions and interventions maintain or increase cognitive health with age. We propose to develop an Edward R. Roybal Center for Healthy Minds at UIUC that will have four primary goals. The first will be to organize a group of junior and senior investigators who will focus research efforts on this topic, studying social, cognitive, and physical (exercise) interventions, as well as combinations of these variables. A second goal will be to have a highly visible national Center on this topic and to make research on the topic of healthy minds a central focus at UIUC. A third goal will be to facilitate research on the topic, not only within UIUC, but to stimulate international networks of researchers to address this topic and share data through Center programs. A final goal will be to develop an ongoing set of recommendations of everyday behaviors that middle-aged and senior Americans may engage in to promote or maintain cognitive health and to disseminate these recommendations widely. Center researchers will focus efforts on six related hypotheses. There is existing expertise and some research on all of these hypotheses at UIUC. The hypotheses are: (1) Physical activity improves cognitive function; (2) Cognitive engagement and training supports a healthy mind; (3) Social engagement plays an important role in cognitive health; (4) Combinations of social/cognitive engagement may be particularly powerful in sustaining cognitive health in later adulthood; (5) Cultural context and stereotypes impact on cognitive health; and (6) Environmental supports promote and support healthy cognitive function in late adulthood.