AOF Activities & Events

Mynga Futrell Presents

A whole-life research model is behind this (non-medical) presentation on the brain. The model spans early-life “brain building” through late-life “cognition keeping.” We will look at how some important nature/nurture factors of brain development, reserve, and plasticity come into play across a lifetime.

Let us be frank. As of now, you are simply stuck with whatever conditions of brain development came your way as a child, factoring in how well you’ve maintained supportive elements of cognition in adulthood so far. You may find your own brain occasionally letting you down, such as when you can’t recall someone’s name only five minutes after an introduction or know why you came into a room. Situations like that are likely not of any real consequence.

But we do know about dreaded neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, don’t we? (So now go back to sentence #1 above, and to the research model that deals with some key factors at play in both healthy brains and suffering brains.)

Our speaker, Mynga Futrell, is co-founder of AOF and The Brights, the-brights.net.  Since 2001 she has been a volunteer on the Education and Programs/Services Committees of the regional Alzheimer's Association. Since 2019, she has taught a semester-long seminar on dementia at the CSUS Renaissance Society.