Helena M. Blumen, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
The Taub Institute
630 West 168th Street
New York, NY 10032
Phone: 212-305-2046
Fax: 212-342-1838
E-mail: hmb2131@columbia.edu
Ongoing Research:
- Collaborative Memory and Aging: I examine the relationship between prior group collaboration and later individual memory in younger and older adults. I examine this relationship across time, stimuli and retrieval tasks. One goal of this research is to specify the cognitive and the neural mechanisms underlying group collaboration. Another goal is to identify collaborative recall situations that are particularly favorable to later individual memory in older adults and can guide the development of cognitive interventions that involve group collaboration. A final goal is to develop a computer-based approach to collaborative learning and memory for older adults.
- Cognitive Training, Aerobic Exercise and Aging: I am also involved in a research project that examines how older adults acquire new, complex, and cognitively demanding skills and whether acquiring such skills improve overall cognitive functions. One goal of this research is to identify and determine the efficiency of the strategies that older adults adopt during complex skill acquisition. Another goal is to identify skills and strategies that also improve overall cognitive functions. Finally, I am involved in a research project that examines the combined effects of cognitive training and aerobic exercise on overall cognitive functions in older adults.
Representative Publications:
Blumen, H.M., & Stern, Y. (2011). Short-term and Long-Term Collaboration Benefits on Individual Recall in Younger and Older Adults. Memory & Cognition. 38(1), 147-154.doi: 10.3758/s13421-010-0023-6
Blumen, H.M., Gopher, D., Steinerman, J., & Stern, Y. (2010). Training Cognitive Control in Older Adults with the Space Fortress Game: The Role of Aiming and Training Instructions.
Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 2(145), 1-12. doi:10.3389/fnagi.2010.00145. PMCID: PMC2991174
Blumen, H.M., & Rajaram, S. (2009). Effects of Repeated Collaborative Retrieval on Individual Memory Vary as a Function of Recall versus Recognition Tasks. Memory, 17(8), 840-846. doi: 10.1080/09658210903266931
Blumen, H.M., & Rajaram, S. (2008). Influence of Re-exposure and Retrieval Disruption during Group Collaboration on later Individual Recall, Memory, 16(3), 231-244. doi: 10.1080/09658210701804495