Position: PhD Student

Start Year: 2018 – Present

Aging, Cognitive Control, and Cue Salience

According to the Dual Mechanisms of Control framework (Braver, 2012), when using proactive cognitive control goal-relevant information is actively maintained in working memory to prepare an optimal response ahead of a given stimulus. When using reactive cognitive control, this goal-relevant information is only reactivated in working memory when an immediate response is required. For her MA thesis, Cassandra used a modified AX-Continuous Performance Test (AX-CPT; Cohen et al., 1999) to investigate the efficacy of increased cue salience for improving older adults’ proactive control use. Dichotomous cues alone were insufficient for inducing a proactive behavioral shift, but some evidence suggests that increased distinctiveness may improve older adults’ proactive cognitive control use.

Aging, Cognitive Control, and Event Segmentation

Cassandra also co-supervised Charles Stone’s undergraduate thesis project investigating the relationship between event segmentation and cognitive control mode use in a modified AX-CPT. Results demonstrated that dividing the cues and probes into distinct perceptual events effectively enhanced older adults’ reactive control biases. Future work aims to further probe how event segmentation may be used to modify older adults’ cognitive control mode use.

Future Thinking in Chinese Immigrants in the Context of COVID-19

Cassandra was also awarded the RBC Partnership for Change: Immigrant, Diversity, and Inclusion Project Award to investigate how immigration affects Chinese Canadians’ prospective cognitions and psychosocial wellbeing. This study is expected to shed exciting new insights into how immigration and global pandemics affect future thinking styles and psychosocial wellbeing.

Social Media Use and the Elderly in the Context of COVID-19

Cassandra is also actively involved in a project investigating the effect of social media use on older adults’ psychosocial wellbeing in the context of COVID-19. This project aims to understand if, and how, online social engagement affects older adults’ wellbeing in the unprecedented context of a global pandemic, and what factors may moderate this relationship.