Sarah Fraser
Sarah Fraser
Associate professor

2015: Postdoctorate, Qualitative methodology, McGill University
2013: Postdoctorate, Neuroimaging / portable fNIRS, Institut de gériatrie de Montréal
2010: PhD, Psychology (cognitive aging), Concordia University
2004: MA, Psychology, Concordia University
2002: BA, Psychology (social cognition honours thesis), Concordia University
1994: BComm, Economics, Concordia University

Room
LEE 516H


Biography

Sarah Fraser pivoted in her life when her grandmother fell and was later diagnosed with cognitive impairment. She wanted to understand how and why this happened and how she could prevent something like this happening to other people. She changed my career plans and switched to studying multitasking (walking and talking) at Concordia University with Drs. Li and Penhune. As a postdoctoral fellow, Sarah Fraser continued studying multitasking but delved into interventions and neuroimaging with Dr. Bherer at the Institut de gériatrie in Montreal. She then took a leap and tried something completely different: qualitative research with people with sensory impairments with Drs. Wittich and Southall at McGill. All these experiences have made her the interdisciplinary researcher she is today.

Professor Fraser is accepting new students for thesis supervision.

Research interests

  • Cognitive aging
  • Neuroimaging with functional near infrared spectroscopy
  • Ageism
  • Mobility and multitasking

Research

The aim of Sarah Fraser's interdisciplinary research program is to track factors that influence cognitive abilities in older adults. Her research focuses on four areas: (1) cognitive aging, (2) motor control, (3) neuroimaging and (4) ageism.

She explores older adults “in action” during everyday activities (for example, while walking and talking, that is, multitasking). Thanks to portable technology, she can measure changes in brain activity in real-time as people perform these activities. She also involves people in the community in fall prevention using a phone app developed by an interdisciplinary team of researchers at uOttawa and UHN Toronto.

If cognitive decline is perceived as “normal” and expected with age, why do anything about it? Using qualitative methods, Sarah Fraser explores what people say and think about older adults.

She is also the co-lead of Stigma and Social inclusion group and a member of Team 12 of the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging.

Member of:

Publications

See Sarah Fraser’s publications on Google Scholar, ResearchGate or Web of Science.