Edmarie Guzman-Velez works with Daniel Tranel, director of the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Neuroscience, to conduct memory and emotion research on individuals with Alzheimer’s disease using clips of happy and sad movies. Her research is focused on findings that translate to improved quality of life for Alzheimer’s patients.

This research follows a 2010 UI study that found that patients with amnesia still feel emotions, despite memory loss. The current study is different in two ways: it focuses on Alzheimer’s patients and adds a neuroimaging component to see how emotion and memory correlate with brain structures.

To date, her study has yielded behavioral data consistent with the 2010 study, an important step in confirming the earlier findings. 

Guzman-Velez is a:

• Ph.D. candidate in psychology
• Dean’s Graduate Research Fellow
• NSF Graduate Research Fellow
• UI Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP) alumna