Group Leader
Aging is characterized by changes in many sensory, motor, and cognitive functions that affect a person's daily life and work. How a person ages is influenced by a variety of factors. These factors include lifestyle, working conditions, and stress, as well as diseases, infections, and genes. One goal of aging research is to understand how these factors interact and how they change over (life) time.
Aging is not just a matter of loss of functions. Compensation, experience, lifelong learning and training can effectively counteract functional decline. In the light of demographic change and its impact on the labor market, maintaining mental abilities, well-being and the ability to work is an important task for the future.
The networking group Aging investigates the determinants and mechanisms of healthy aging with a focus on cognitive functions and the work context. The focus here is on the Dortmund Vital Study, an IfADo research project that uses a longitudinal approach to investigate the interaction of various influencing factors over the course of a working life. Human research is complemented by animal studies, for example on the long-term effects of a healthy nutrition.
Another aim is to learn more about the effects and compensation of age-related changes in cognitive functions. By including tasks and activities close to everyday life, a bridge is built from basic research to the life and work of older people. Research will also focus on how healthy aging can be actively promoted in the workplace through training and the role that technical solutions can play.
The networking group Aging cooperates closely with the other departments of the IfADo in the field of aging research, is active in Leibniz research alliances such as the research alliance "Resilient Ageing" and supports the European Cognitive Aging Society (EUCAS).
The Dortmund Vital Study investigates the interaction of exogenous and endogenous factors on cognitive aging across the lifespan with a special focus on human work. The data collected includes neuropsychological, psychophysical, neurophysiological, immunological, genetic, medical as well as biochemical parameters, thus reflecting the diversity of processes involved in the aging process.
The Dortmund Vital Study started in 2016 and is a joint project of all IfADo departments. After the successful initial examination of more than 600 people aged 20 to 70, the first follow-up examination started in 2021. Additional survey instruments are being used, for example to determine the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on work, daily life and mental health. Publications on various aspects of cognitive aging and an increasing number of collaborations with external scientists on topics such as dementia, stress, and work ability show the importance of the data obtained for future questions.
Current Publications:
- Gajewski, P.D., Bröde, P., Claus, M., Hengstler, J.G., Wascher, E., Watzl, C. Getzmann, S. (2025). The association between hair cortisol and burnout is moderated by age, psychosocial, and immunological markers. Brain, Behavior, & Immunity - Health 43, 100909.
- Getzmann, S., Arnau, S., Gajewski, P.D., Wascher, E. (2024). Auditory distraction, time perception, and the role of age: ERP evidence from a large cohort study. Neurobiol Aging 144, 114-126.
- Larra, M.F., Gajewski, P.D., Getzmann, S., Wascher, E., Metzler, Y. (2024). Stress from early life to adulthood: Is there a protective role of cognitive control? Brain Cogn 178, 106165.
- Kleinert, T., Nash, K., Koenig, T. Wascher, E. (2024). Normative Intercorrelations Between EEG Microstate Characteristics. Brain Topogr 37, 265-269.
- Kleinert, T., Koenig, T., Nash, K. Wascher, E. (2024). On the Reliability of the EEG Microstate Approach. Brain Topogr 37, 271-286.
- Mundorf, A., Getzmann, S., Gajewski, P.D., Larra, M., Wascher, E., Genç, E. Ocklenburg, S. (2024). Phenotyping in clinical laterality research: a comparison of commonly used methods to determine mixed-handedness and ambidexterity. Laterality 29, 331-349.
In addition to the fundamentals of healthy cognitive aging, we consider its practical implications for the lives of older people. In our third-party funded research projects, we focus on tasks and activities that are particularly sensitive to cognitive aging and have a high relevance to everyday life. Using neurophysiological methods such as mobile EEG, we investigate the influences of aging and cognition on and in everyday and work activities are investigated, focusing on their functional role in work ability and well-being.
This applies, for example, to speech comprehension under complex listening conditions. Here, we explore the neurocognitive mechanisms for age-related changes in auditory attention. The role of audio-visual speech was the focus of the DFG project AuViSpeech. Other examples are age effects on distraction while driving in the DFG project DisDrive. The longitudinal development of parameters relevant to road safety was the focus of the BASt-funded study DoBoLSiS, in which about 400 older drivers were studied over a period of 5 years. Other examples include the management of work interruptions in the DFG project Interruption and the influences of age influences on the use of virtual reality in human-machine interaction in the DFG priority programme AUDICTIVE.
Current Publications:
- Ülkü, S., Getzmann, S., Wascher, E. & Schneider, D. (2024): Be prepared for interruptions: EEG correlates of anticipation when dealing with task interruptions and the role of aging. Scientific Reports, 14, 5679.
- Stodt, B., Neudek, D., Getzmann, S., Wascher, E. & Martin, R. (2024). Comparing auditory distance perception in real and virtual environments and the role of the loudness cue: A study based on event-related potentials. Hearing Research, 444, 108968.
- Getzmann, S., Reiser, J.E., Gajewski, P.D., Schneider, D., Karthaus, M. & Wascher, E. (2023). Cognitive aging at work and in daily life – a narrative review on challenges due to age-related changes in central cognitive functions. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1232344.
- Getzmann, S., Schneider, D. & Wascher, E. (2023). Selective spatial attention in lateralized multi-talker speech perception: EEG correlates and the role of age. Neurobiology of Aging, 126, 1-13.
- Karthaus, M., Getzmann, S., Wascher, E., Graas, F. & Rudinger, G. (2023). Die Entwicklung verkehrssicherheitsrelevanter Personenmerkmale im höheren Lebensalter und ihre Einflussfaktoren. Erste Querschnittsanalysen aus der Dortmunder-Bonner-Längsschnittstudie (DoBoLSiS). Bergisch Gladbach: Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen, 2023 (Berichte der Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen: Mensch und Sicherheit, Heft M 336)
- Klatt, L.-I., Begau, A., Schneider, D., Wascher, E. & Getzmann, S. (2023). Cross-modal interactions at the audiovisual cocktail-party revealed by behavior, ERPs, and neural oscillations. NeuroImage, 271, 120022.
Maintaining and improving cognitive function in old age is of particular importance. Building on our research on the effects of cognitive aging on everyday activities and work performance, we are investigating the benefits of learning and training interventions. We develop, implement, and evaluate cognitive, physical, and stress management training interventions that can effectively improve appropriate resources of younger and older workers. In addition, we investigate the efficacy of short-term trainings that can be easily integrated into people's daily working routines.
Technology-based approaches will increasingly support older people in the future. The development of such a solution is the focus of projects to improve the occupational safety and health of older workers. For example, the EU Horizon 2020 project sustAGE aimed to develop and evaluate a person-centered smart solution to support older workers in the form of a personalized recommendation system to provide feedback on a person's current mental, physical and motivational status. The BMBF-funded project "Digital Angel" aimed to improve the working conditions of nursing staff by developing assistance systems to improve the emotional work involved in dealing with patients. Our current DFG project StressDrive aims to investigate the behavioral, emotional and physiological consequences and possible interventions to reduce work stress in younger and older truck drivers.
Current Publications:
- Gajewski, P.D., Stahn, C., Zülch, J., Wascher, E., Getzmann, S. & Falkenstein, M. (2023). Effects of cognitive and stress management training in middle-aged and older industrial workers in different socioeconomic settings: A randomized controlled study. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1229503.
- Velana, M., Xenakis, H. & Rinkenauer, G. (2023). Integrating the embodiment-projection-role paradigm to develop and implement a two-hour-workshop for stress management among nurses. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 86, 102090.
- Kardys, C., Küper, K., Getzmann, S., Falkenstein, M. & Voelcker-Rehage, C. (2022). A comparison of the effects of short-term physical and combined multi-modal training on cognitive functions. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19, 7506.
- Velana, M., Sobieraj, S., Digutsch, J. & Rinkenauer, G. (2022). The advances of immersive virtual reality interventions for the enhancement of stress management and relaxation among healthy adults: a systematic review. Applied Science, 12, 7309.
- Digutsch, J., Velana, M., Rinkenauer, G. & Sobieraj, S. (2021). Capturing interactive work for nurses – first validation of the German IWDS-N as a multidimensional measure. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18, 7786,
- Velana, M. & Rinkenauer, G. (2021). Individual-level interventions for decreasing job-related stress and enhancing coping strategies among nurses: A systematic review. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 708696.
Team
