Maryam Ziaei
Research
What do we know?
We normally talk about aging concerning cognitive decline and so-called “deficits” in cognitive aspects or slowness in physical processes. While we observe slowing and deterioration in physical and cognitive domains, this is not the whole story of aging. Research has shown that emotional processes stay the same or even improve with age. This phenomenon is known as the “positivity effect” which posits that older adults’ motivational shift helps them to focus on positive emotions and prioritize information that is relevant to their goals.
We have shown that older adults show a preference for positive, over negative, items related to the engagement of a different brain network known as the cognitive control network (Neuropsychologia, 2016). In other words, older adults can control their negative emotions better than younger adults. Importantly, such a shift in preference for different emotions has consequences for older adults’ social communications. Older adults’ preference for emotional items impacts their empathic response toward others (Neuropsychologia, 2019) and their ability to understand others’ mental states (Neurobiology of Aging, 2016)! So now the question is: what are the predictors explaining whether individuals show attentional biases toward positive emotions in older age?
Key questions:
- What are the age-related neural correlates underlying individual responses towards social and emotional cues in the environment?
- How do neural correlates of emotional and social processes contribute to mental health in healthy and clinical aging?
Tools
- functional magnetic resonance imaging using 3T and 7T
- Volumetric analysis of cortical and subcortical areas
- White matter tractography
- Eye-tracking
- Physiological response recording
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Join our research, contribute to science, and learn more about your brain!
Master / PhD projects
Detecting brain disorders using deep neural networks, resting state fMRI, and structural MRI
PhD project
Predicting psychopathology using a combination of physiological, fMRI, cognitive and self-report measures.
PhD Project
Uncertainty processing and activation of the basolateral amygdala in healthy aging
Master / PhD project
The role of cortical-subcortical brain connectivity during ambiguity processing and change with age
Participate in our study!
Participate in our study to help us better understand emotional well-being during aging!
Publications
Ziaei, M., Bonyadi, M.R. & Reutens, D.C. Age-related differences in structural and functional prefrontal networks during a logical reasoning task,
We examined structural and functional profiles of logical reasoning in healthy aging in this project
Ziaei, M., Persson, J., Bonyadi, M.R., Reutens, D.C. & Ebner, N.C. (2019) Amygdala functional network during recognition of own-age vs. other-age faces in younger and older adults.
Amygdala network is differentially activated in response to facial cues
Ziaei, M., Salami, A.R. & Persson, J. (2017). Age-related alterations in functional connectivity patterns during working memory encoding of emotional items
Older adults process negative emotions differently than younger adults, using a more regulatory network
Ziaei. M., Burianová, H., von Hippel, W., Ebner, N., Phillips, L.H. & Henry, J.D. (2016), The impact of aging on the neural correlates involved in gaze and emotional processing
Facial cues are processed differently depending on the emotional valence among younger and older adults
For a full list of publications please visit my google scholar page
Peer-Reviewed Publications (Selected Prior to 2021)
- Ziaei, M., Bonyadi, M.R. & Reutens, D.C. Age-related differences in structural and functional prefrontal networks during a logical reasoning task, Brain Imaging and Behavior, DOI: 10.1007/s11682-020-00315-5
- Shaw, T., York, A., Ziaei, M., Barth, M. & Bollmann, S. Longitudinal Automatic Segmentation of Hippocampal Subfields (LASHiS) using Multi-Contrast MRI, Neuroimage, 218, 116798.
- Ziaei, M., Bonyadi, M.R. & Reutens, D.C. Role of the hippocampus in logical reasoning and belief bias in aging, Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 12:111
- Ziaei, M., Persson, J., Bonyadi, M.R., Reutens, D.C. & Ebner, N.C. (2019) Amygdala functional network during recognition of own-age vs. other-age faces in younger and older adults. Neuropsychologia, 129, 10-20.
- Horta, M., Ziaei, M., Lin, T., Porges, E.C., Fischer, H., Feifel, D., Spreng, N., and Ebner, N.C. (2019). Oxytocin alters patterns of brain activity and amygdalar connectivity by age during dynamic facial emotion identification, Neurobiology of Aging, 78, 42-51.
- Ziaei, M., Samrani, G. & Persson, J. (2018). Age differences in the neural response to emotional distraction during working memory encoding, Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience, 18, 869–883.
- Ziaei, M., Salami, A.R. & Persson, J. (2017). Age-related alterations in functional connectivity patterns during working memory encoding of emotional items, Neuropsychologia, 94, 941-12.
- Ziaei. M., Ebner, N.C. & Burianová, H. (2016). A multivariate analysis of brain networks involved in gaze and emotional processing, European Journal of Neuroscience, 45, 2: 312-320.
- Ziaei. M., Burianová, H., von Hippel, W., Ebner, N., Phillips, L.H. & Henry, J.D. (2016), The impact of aging on the neural correlates involved in gaze and emotional processing, Neurobiology of Aging, 48, 182-194.
- Peira, N., Ziaei, M. & Persson, J. (2015), Age differences in brain systems supporting transient and sustained processes involved in prospective memory and working memory. NeuroImage, 125, 745-755.
- Ziaei, M., von Hippel, W., Henry, J.D., Becker, S.I. (2015), Are age effects in positivity influenced by the valence of distractors? PLOS one, 10(9): e0137604.
- Ziaei, M., Peira, N. & Persson, J. (2014), Brain systems underlying attentional control and emotional distraction during working memory encoding, NeuroImage, 87, 276-286
Invited Book Chapter
Ziaei, M. & Fischer, H. (February 2016), Emotion and Aging: The impact of emotion on attention, memory, and face recognition in late adulthood. In J. R. Absher & J. Cloutier (Eds.), Neuroimaging Personality Neuroimaging Personality, Social Cognition, and Character. Elsevier.
Selected Posters since 2016:
- Ziaei, M., Oestreich, L., Persson, J., Reutens, D.C. & Ebner, N.C. Neural correlates of affective empathy in aging: A multimodal imaging and multivariate approach, Federation European Neuroscience Societies, Paris, 2022.
- Ziaei, M., Oestreich, L., Reutens, D.C. & Ebner, N.C. Age-related differences in negative cognitive empathy but similarities in positive affective empathy, Oral presentation, Australian Society for Social and Affective Neuroscience, Online, 2021.
- Ziaei, M., Oestreich, L., Reutens, D.C. & Ebner, N.C. Age-related differences in negative cognitive empathy but similarities in positive affective empathy, Organization for Human Brain Mapping, Online, 2021.
- Pehlivanoglu, D., Polk, R., Lin, T., Horta, M., Frazier, I., Ziaei, M., Feifel, D. & Ebner, N.C. Perceived facial trustworthiness in older men is modulated by chronic intranasal oxytocin administration, 2020 Cognitive Aging Conference, Atlanta, USA.
- Pehlivanoglu, D., Polk, R., Lin, T., Horta, M., Frazier, I., Ziaei, M., Feifel, D. & Ebner, N.C. Chronic intranasal oxytocin administration in older men modulates decisions about facial trustworthiness as a function of eye gaze and facial age, Interdisciplinary Symposium on Decision Neuroscience conference, 2019, North Carolina, USA.
- Horta, M., Ziaei, M., Lin, T., Porges, E.C., Fischer, H., Feifel, D., Spreng, N. & Ebner, N.C. Intranasal oxytocin modulates amygdalar connectivity by age during dynamic facial emotion identification, Poster Presentation, Sixth Biennial Conference on Resting State and Brain Connectivity, 2018, Montreal, Canada.
- Schaumberg, M., Blackmore, D., Ziaei, M., Riek, S. & Bartlett, P. Optimising exercise for cognitive health in older adults: a randomised controlled clinical trial, Oral Presentation, Research to Practice conference, 2018, Brisbane, Australia.
- Carroll, A.M., Sanders, E., Forrest, K., Bower, J., Marstaller, L., Ziaei, M., Fynes-Clinton, S., Flynn, L. & York, A. Mindfulness and health enhancement interventions for teachers: Results of a mixed methods study, Oral Presentation, International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development, 2018, Gold Coast, Australia.
- Becker, S.I., Ziaei, M., Jones, E. & Remington, R.W. Participant beliefs determine whether VSTM items capture attention or not, Oral presentation, International Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, 2018, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
- Ziaei, M., Bonyadi, M.R. & Reutens, D. Neural networks of logical reasoning and the influence of belief system, Oral presentation, International Science of Learning Conference, 2017, Brisbane, Australia.
- Ziaei. M., Burianová, H., von Hippel, W., Ebner, N.C., Phillips, L.H. & Henry, J.D. Age-related changes in processing facial cues in aging, poster presentation, Annual Meeting of the Society for Social and Affective Neuroscience, 2017, Los Angeles, USA.
- Horta, M., Lin, T., Ziaei, M., Soliman, A., Porges, E.S., Feifel, D., Oliveira, D., Fischer, H., Cohen, R.A., & Ebner, N.C. Effects of single-dose intranasal oxytocin on dynamic facial emotion identification among young and older adults, Annual Meeting of the Society for Social and Affective Neuroscience, 2017, Los Angeles, USA.
Media
Research participation!
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Panel Discussion - World Science Festival (2018)
I have been invited to a panel discussion with the world-known physicist and founder of the World Science Festival, Prof. Brian Greene, to discuss neural mechanisms underpinning belief and how that might be related to different behaviours.
Documentary Memory Matters (2018)
We presented a task to measure memory while the moderator of the episode (shown below) while she went through brain imaging herself and shared her experience in the episode afterwards. This was aired on national TV in Australia on ABC catalyst.
Public talk - Pint of Science (2018)
I participated in the Pint of Science where we had a presentation in a local pub and discussed scientific evidence for how to keep our brain healthy
Brain health course (2021)
I have created a course on brain and mental health in which I discuss the 7 pillars of brain health and provide easy, evidence-based, practical tips on how to improve brain health.
Public talk - Brain health in aging (2022)
My first public engagement was for the library as part of the public lecture for the Royal Norwegian Society for Sciences and Letters.
NTNU Researchers' night (2022)
I had a presentation for high school students as part of the Researchers’ night where I presented how emotions are made in the brain.
Public talk - Kavli prize week (2022)
As part of the Kavli prize week, I presented the work of four Kavli Prize Laureates of 2022, Prof. Huda Zoghbi, Prof. Christopher Walsh, Prof. Jean-Louis Mandel, and Prof. Harry Orr at the Dokkhuset.