Lab Events and News
May 2025
Members of our lab participated in the 40th Undergraduate Research Convocation hosted by the Department of Psychological Sciences, an event dedicated to celebrating the outstanding research achievements of undergraduate scholars. Olivia delivered a talk highlighting her research, while Jordyn, Elayna, and Lex presented their work during the poster session. We were also excited to have our high school lab member, Rachel, join the poster session and share in the experience.
April 2025
Lex, a member of our lab, and Rachel, who is participating through the University-Level Research Mentorship program at Manhattan High School, both presented research posters at the Spring 2025 Undergraduate Research Symposium. Lex’s poster was titled The Relationship Between Facets of Trait Conscientiousness and Cognitive Performance in Younger and Older Adults, while Rachel’s was titled The Predictive Potential of Smell Identification Tests for Alzheimer’s Disease.
Four of our undergraduate students—Olivia, Jordyn, Elayna, & Lex—attended the Midwestern Psychological Association (MPA) Conference in Chicago, IL. Each student participated in poster sessions, presenting their independent research projects. Our graduate student, Trevor, also gave a talk showcasing his dissertation research. While at the conference, we were excited to run into our PhD student, Taylor, who was attending with her own group of undergraduate students.
March 2025
In March, Dr. Bailey and lab manager Trase McQueen traveled to Logan, Kansas, alongside fellow collaborators to lay the groundwork for an exciting new study. This research will explore the impact of a groundbreaking intergenerational model that brings together residents, students, and staff within a shared environment. The rural town of Logan, located in northwest Kansas, has recently unveiled a state-of-the-art nursing home directly connected to its public school system—an innovative design aimed at fostering meaningful cross-generational interactions. Stay tuned for more updates as this unique study unfolds!
Our postdoctoral fellow, Rujuta, and graduate student, Mohsen, recently attended the annual Cognitive Neuroscience Society conference in Boston, MA—an international gathering that highlights cutting-edge research in cognitive neuroscience. Rujuta presented a research poster titled Does Functional Connectivity between the Medial Pre-frontal Cortex and Hippocampus at Event Boundary Encoding Support Prior Knowledge–Leveraged Acquisition of Novel Event Information in Older Adults? Mohsen presented his poster, EEG Correlates of Event Model Stability in Aging.
Undergraduate students from Dr. Bailey’s Lab and Psychology of Aging class participate in monthly Memory Class activities at Meadowlark Hills Retirement Community. These sessions provide opportunities for students to engage with residents and Manhattan community members around various memory-related topics. March’s meeting featured a reminiscence therapy activity, sparked by sensory stimulation, which encouraged meaningful conversations and memory sharing. If you’re interested in getting involved with these enriching experiences, be sure to reach out to Dr. Bailey!
One of our graduate students, Kaitlyn Sievers, presented a poster titled Can an AI chatbot detect early cognitive decline? at Posters, Pinot, and Partnerships last night. Good job, Kaitlyn!
Another one of our graduate students, Mohsen, presented his research titled Why do we remember some moments and forget others? Exploring brain activity and memory at the annual K-State GRAD Forum. Good job, Mohsen!
February 2025
Dr. Bailey recently obtained an Aging Simulation Suit. A few of our lab members tried it on to get a better appreciation of the mobility differences in older adults! Dr. Bailey's Psych of Aging class also got the opportunity to try on this aging suit, as well as other activites to develop a deeper level of empathy for older adults.
One of our graduate students, Mohsen Davouskhani, participated in the Three Minute Thesis Competition where he gave a three minute presentation defending his work titled Sniffing Out Memory Loss.
November 2024
Our staff scientist, Kristen; postdoctoral fellow, Rujuta; and graduate student, Mohsen, attended the 65th Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society. This international conference brings together cognitive psychologists from more than 40 countries, including some of the field’s most distinguished researchers, innovative early career scientists, and students making meaningful scientific contributions. Kristen, Rujuta, and Mohsen each presented their current research at the meeting.
October 2024
Our lab attended the annual Walk to End Alzheimer's event in Manhattan. We were able to have a table set up, allowing us to recruit participants and share information about the research we do in the lab! Our team, Bailey Memory & Aging Lab, also participated in the walk itself.
June 2024
The CNAP Center hosted their annual site visit on June 11th and 12th. Younes, a graduate student in the lab, presented a poster titled 'Prediction error: When events violate our expectations'.
May 2024
The 39th Undergraduate Research Convocation of the Department of Psychological Sciences was held on Thursday, May 2nd. Undergraduate lab members Trase, Sarah, and Olivia presented their research posters. This convocation consists of undergraduate students presenting their posters and answering any questions from professors, students, family, and friends. Trase presented his poster titled "Memory Validation Throughout the Life Stages", which focused on whether developmental stages influence memory for younger and older adults. Sarah presented her poster titled "Impact of interpretation bias modifications on academic comprehension", which focuses on WSAP intervention and improved comprehension and reduced interpretation biases in trauma-exposed individuals. Olivia presented her poster titled "Assessing the Relationship Between two Early Dementia Screeners", which focused on the relationship between the MoCA and AD-8 Dementia screeners.
April 2024
One of our lab members, Alexia Bouslog presented her Developing Scholars Program research poster at the Undergraduate Research Symposium in the Student Union Ballroom. The sympsium was not department-specific and included research from all areas. Alexia's poster was titled: "The Relationship Between Facets of Trait Conscientiousness and Cognitive Performance in Younger and Older Adults." Other authors of this poster include Mohsen Davoudkhani and Heather Bailey.
Trase McQueen, Sarah Sanders, and Ashlynn Smith all recieved the SDUR Travel Grant. The SDUR Travel Grant is for conference funds and is used to pay for travel and/or registration fees for a conference in which undergraduate students will be presenting their research. Trase, Sarah, and Ashlynn will be using their travel grants to attend the Midwestern Psychology Association (MPA) Conference in Chicago, IL later this month.
Trase McQueen, Sarah Sanders, Ashlynn Smith, and Olivia Edwards attended the Midwestern Psychology Association Conference (MPA) April 18-20th. This conference consisted of many different presentations covering diverse concepts in Psychology. Trase presented his poster titled "Memory Validation Throughout the Life Stages." Sarah's poster was titled "Impact of interpretation bias modifications on academic comprehension." Ashlynn's poster was titled "Intrustive Thoughts May Lead to More Memory Errors." Olivia's poster was titled "Assessing the Relationship Between two Early Dementia Screeners." Taylor Vargo, a graduate student, attended the conference to support the lab, as she has served as a mentor for several undergraduate research posters.
March 2024
Rujuta Pradhan joined the Memory and Aging Lab as a Postdoctoral Fellow. Rujuta earned her Bachelor's in Psychology from the University of Mumbai, India in 2008. After receiving her Bachelor's, Rujuta earned a Master's in Psychology from S.N.D.T University in Mumbai, India in 2010 and then a Master's of Cognitive Science from CBCS, University of Allahbad, India in 2015. In 2023, Rujuta received a PhD in Psychology from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India. Rujuta's research interests include the human memory system with a specific focus on memory for everday events and episodes. Welcome, Rujuta!
July 2023
Taylor Vargo will start a tenure-track faculty position at Simpson College, just south of Des Moines. This small, liberal college will allow Taylor to continue her passions of teaching and mentoring student-led research projects. As the sole Cognitive Faculty member, Taylor will also be heavily involved in the Neuroscience program designed for pre-med and other related majors to get more hands-on experience with Cognitive neuroscience research methods (i.e., EEG, eye-tracking).
Trevor Bell was hired on as a graduate research assistant for the Army Research Institute, where they study behavioral and social sciences impact on issues within the Army. Nice work, Trevor!
May 2023
Taylor proposed her Dissertation and hopes to defend in the fall 2023 semester. This study will investigate different pedagogical techniques that could be implemented into the classroom to help increase student comprehension and memory for classroom content.
Undergraduate lab members, Trase, Ellie, Kayli, and Sarah, presented their research posters at the 38th Annual Undergraduate Research Convocation on the fourth floor of Bluemont Hall. Undergraduates lined up around the halls of the fourth floor, presented their posters, and answered questions from professors, graduate students, friends, and family. Trase and Ellie presented their poster titled "Reminiscence and the Evaluation of Socialization Trends (REST)", which focused on examining the ways in which reminiscing and socializing affect memory processing across all of the age ranges. Kayli and Sarah presented their poster titled "Should Older Adults Take Their Vitamins?: Impacts on Memory", which highlighted if taking vitamins could affect memory processes within older adults. Nice job everyone!
April 2023
A large portion of the lab went to Chicago, Illinois to attend and present at the Midwestern Psychological Association (MPA) Conference! This conference consisted of many different presentations covering diverse concepts in Psychology. There were a total of eight undergraduates from the lab that presented in the undergraduate poster presentation section of the conference. These undergraduate students included: Ellie Warnes, Trase McQueen, Claire Weaver, Estefani Fernandez-Patlán, Kayli Potter, Kelly Krehbiel, Ryan Dix, and Sarah Sanders. There were two graduate students who presented a powerpoint to an audience, and another graduate student who attended a poster session. These graduate students included: Taylor Vargo, Trevor Bell, and Younes Elbishari.
February 2023
Taylor was awarded the William L. Stamey Award for Graduate Teaching Assistants. She was one of two winners across the entire college of Arts and Sciences. The late William "Bill" Stamey was a mathematician who served as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences from 1970-1987. In recognition of his success in recruiting outstanding faculty to the university, and to continuously foster excellence in teaching and advising, the college established the William L. Stamey Awards.
Trevor competed in the Three Minute Thesis Competition, which is an academic competition that challenges graduate students to present a compelling oration on their thesis/dissertation topic and its significance to a non-expert audience in just three minutes using a single, static slide. He presented his work that looked to answer the question "Why do we fail to remember information, despite using strategies to help?" To answer his question, he measured the brain activity of participants as they attempted to remember information. He found that people remember more information when it has been connected to past experiences. For example, if you needed to remember the word pair "aunt - sofa" you might think of the orange couch your aunt used to have growing up. When there is an increase in brain activity related to connecting past experiences with new information, the participants were more likely to remember the word pairs. When there was decreased activity related to connecting the past, they were less likely to remember the word pair.
December 2022
Taylor was awarded the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences Small Grant Program ($1000). This grant will help fund Taylor's dissertation research. Congratulations Taylor!
September 2022
Dr. Heather Bailey receives a 5-year $1.95 million National Institutes of Health grant for her research related to the role of prior knowledge and event segmentation in age- and Alzheimer's-related changes in event memory! See the full article in the K-State News here.
August 2022
Kristen McGatlin, who was an undergraduate research assistant in the lab for three years (from 2015 to 2018) is now our lab manager! After graduating from K-State in Fall 2017, she got her Masters at the University of Michigan in Fall 2021. There she studied aging and memory, specifically emotion and its influence on memory in older adults. Welcome back to the lab, Kristen!
March 2022
Taylor was nominated by the Psychological Sciences Department for the Presidential Graduate Student Teaching Assistant Award. This award recognizes and rewards excellence in teaching performance in undergraduate courses. Congrats on the nomination, Taylor!
January 2022
Taylor was awarded the Development Grant from K-State's Global Campus! The purpose of the grant is to help direct the use of incentives and financial support toward developing courses that closely align with the priorities and strategic goals of the university. Recipients of this award "promote innovation and excellence while also incorporating best practices and quality standards into teaching and learning and will recognize that the learner of today is a multi-faceted, lifelong learner looking for opportunities to fulfill knowledge gaps and immediately apply learning outcomes". Taylor will receive $9,000 to aid in her development of Psych 625, Human Factors.
December 2021
Trevor was awarded the Human Behavior & Evolution Society's Student Funding Grant! This grant is awarded to students who aim to bring guest speakers related to behavior and evolution to their university. Trevor was able to sponsor Dr. Laith Al-Shawaf, Associate Professor from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs with a talk titled "Evolutionary Psychology: Foundations and Misconceptions". He was also able to sponser Dr. Oliver Sng, Assistant Professor from the University of California at Irvine's talk titled "The Psychology of Ecology: How Environments Influence Culture and Stereotyping".
October 2021
We have an outstanding graduate instructor in our lab! Trevor was just given this award which acknowledges and recognizes outstanding graduate teaching assistants and instructors for their contributions to the teaching mission of the University!
September 2020
Taylor was named Psychological Science's outstanding graduate instructor! This award acknowledges and recognizes outstanding graduate teaching assistants and instructors for their contributions to the teaching mission of Kansas State.