Sponsored by the National Institute on Aging                                                                                                           November 24, 2009
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Patricia Tun

Patricia Tun

Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Psychology
Brandeis University
tun@brandeis.edu

Dr. Patricia Tun serves as Associate Director of the Memory and Cognition Laboratory at Brandeis University. She has a long-standing interest in cognitive aging, and has carried out extensive NIH-funded research that investigates changes in memory and language across the lifespan. Her work has focused primarily on adult age-related changes in processing spoken language, such as sentences and meaningful discourse, and the role of attention and memory in processing spoken materials. She has published numerous chapters and journal articles on these topics. Dr. Tun has a particular interest in teasing apart the relative contributions of hearing ability and cognitive abilities to the individual differences found in memory for speech in adulthood. As a MIDUS investigator, her focus is on biopsychosocial influences on cognition in midlife and old age, and factors that contribute to successful cognitive aging. Her professional memberships include American Psychological Association, American Psychological Society, Gerontological Society of America, and Psychonomic Society.



Representative Publications
Stawski, R.S., Almeida, D.M., Lachman, M.E., Tun, P.A., & Rosnick, D.B. (In Review)Cognitive resources are associated with greater exposure and diminished emotional reactivity to daily stressors: Findings from the National Study of Daily Experiences. Psychology & Aging.

Lachman, M. E., Agrigoroaei, S., Murphy, C., & Tun, P. A. (In Press)Frequent cognitive activity compensates for education differences in episodic memory. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

Lachman, M.E., & Tun, P.A. (2008). Cognitive testing in large-scale surveys: Assessment by telephone. In S. Hofer & D. Alwin (Eds.). Handbook on Cognitive Aging: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (pp. 506-522). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publication.

Tun, P.A., & Lachman, M.E. (2008). Age differences in reaction time and attention in a national telephone sample of adults: Education, sex, and task complexity matter. Developmental Psychology, 44(5), 1421-1429.

Tun, P.A., & Lachman, M.E. (2008). Age differences in reaction time and attention in a national telephone sample of adults: Education, sex, and task complexity matter. Developmental Psychology, 44(I.5), 1421-1429.

Tun, P.A., & Lachman, M.E. (2006). Telephone assessment of cognitive function in adulthood: The Brief Test of Adult Cognition by Telephone (BTACT). Age and Ageing, doi:0.1093/ageing/af1095, 629-632.

McCoy, S.L., Tun, P.A., Cox, L.C., & Wingfield, A. (2005). Aging in a fast-paced world: rapid speech and its effect on understanding memory disorders in baby boomers. ASHA Leader, 12(3).

Wingfield, A., Tun, P.A., & McCoy, S.L. (2005). Hearing loss in adulthood: What it is and how it interacts with cognitive performance. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14, 144-148.

Wingfield, A., Tun, Patricia A., O’Kane, G., & Peelle, J.E. (2005). Language comprehension in complex environments: Distraction by competing speech in young and older adult listeners. In S.P. Shohov, (Ed.), Advances in Psychology Research, Vol.33. New York: Nova Science Publishers.

McCoy, S.L., Tun, P.A., Cox, L.C., Colangelo, M., Stewart, R.A., & Wingfield, A. (2005). Hearing loss and perceptual effort: Downstream effects on older adults’ memory for speech. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 58A, 22-33.

Tun, P.A., & Lachman, M.E.L. (2004). Test of Adult Cognition by Telephone (TACT). Technical Report, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA.

Lahar, C.J., Wingfield, A., & Tun, P.A. (2004). Sentence-final word completion norms for young, middle-aged, and older adults. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Science, 59B, P7-10.

Tun, P.A., O'Kane, G., & Wingfield, A. (2002). Distraction by competing speech in younger and older listeners. Psychology and Aging, 17, 453-467.

Wingfield, A., & Tun, P.A. (2001). Spoken language comprehension in older adults: Interactions between sensory and cognitive change in normal aging. Seminars in Hearing, 22, 287–301.

Tun, P. A., & Wingfield, A. (2000). Slow but sure in an age of 'Make it quick'. Cerebrum: The Dana Forum on Brain Science, 2, 31-43.

Tun, P.A., & Wingfield, A. (1999). One voice too many: Adult age differences in language processing with different types of distracting sounds. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 54B.

Tun, P. A. (1998). Fast noisy speech: Age differences in processing rapid speech with background noise. Psychology and Aging, 13, 424-434.

Tun, P. A., Wingfield, A., Rosen, M. J., & Blanchard, L. (1998). Response latencies for false memories; Gist-based processes in normal aging. Psychology and Aging, 13, 230–241.