Cognition Mobility
Can autistic traits predict changes in cognition and mobility in older adults?
Welcome to our project!
Meet the team.
We are three researchers who are interested in how the brain changes over the lifespan. We are particularly interested in how autistic people experience ageing and if there are any additional risks for autistic people. Here is a short introduction to each of us.
Sarah Ottahal is a PhD candidate at Sheffield Hallam University, whose research focuses on cognition, physical health and quality of life in autism across the lifespan. Her research explores a range of factors affecting the well-being of the autistic population, including the care needs of bereaved autistic children and young people, cognitive changes in older autistic adults, and the impact of unequal access to care. She studied her MSc at University of Nottingham and a BSc at Nottingham Trent University. She has also worked for Mencap and works for the NHS.
Professor Danielle Ropar has worked at the University of Nottingham since 2000. Her research focuses on understanding both social and sensory processes related to a range of neurodivergent conditions such as Autism and ADHD. Specifically, she is interested in how differences in these areas impact upon neurodivergent individuals in everyday life contexts such as education and employment. A key part of her research is to adopt a participatory approach involving key stakeholders in her projects to ensure it will have real-world benefits to the public. If you want to know more about her research please visit the website for Autism Research Nottingham.
Professor Harriet Allen also works at the University of Nottingham. Her research is about how the brain and mental processes change with age. She is interested in how autism changes the way people experience the world, for example through sight or movement. This is part her wider interest in how the brain changes throughout the lifespan, for example you can find out about her work on menopause at the Menocog lab website. You can find out more about her research at her webpage (Linked here).
About the Project.
In this study we want to know whether there are differences in cognition and mobility depending on levels of autistic personality traits and how this affects quality of life. While most people experience cognitive changes and decline as they age, there is relatively little research investigating cognitive decline in ageing adults with autism. Most previous research on autism focused on children which missed out the experiences of autistic adults. Very little is known about the differences in trajectories of ageing in the neurodivergent population; Do autistic people age differently, or have more problems moving about when older?
Can you help?
We are looking for people who are over 45 years old to complete an online questionnaire, which will take about 30 minutes. We are looking for people who do and do not have a diagnosis of Parkinsonism. The questions are in English so you need to have a good level of reading ability in English.
This research is investigating cognition and mobility in older adults based on levels of autistic traits. Therefore, it is possible that thinking about some of these topics may cause distress. This research was designed with autistic people on the team and in the best interest of furthering our knowledge about ageing with autism or autistic traits.
If you would like to take part, please go to the survey pages here: https://nottinghampsych.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_72nTNbJqw6Rt92e
Project Updates.
We are still collecting data.
For more information you can contact Harriet at h.a.allen@nottingham.ac.uk
