Cognitive-Communication in Aging and Neurogenic Disorders Laboratory

UW-Madison Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders

Welcome to the Cognitive-Communication in Aging and Neurogenic Disorders Laboratory

Welcome to the homepage for the Cognitive-Communication in Aging and Neurogenic Disorders Laboratory (CCANDL). Our team seeks to understand preclinical signs of dementia, shed light on possible methods of early identification, and explore innovative intervention options. We seek interdisciplinary collaboration and community input for our projects.

Please feel free to contact our team at any time with questions about our work or how you can get involved!

Primary Aims of Our Lab

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Understanding neural mechanisms of speech/language in aging individuals, and individuals with preclinical Alzheimer’s disease, Alzheimer’s Disease, Mild CognitiveImpairment (MCI), and other forms of dementia.

Design and testing of identification methods of early cognitive change in the presence of AD biomarkers.

Green Lab Certified

Analysis of naturalistic speech-language samples as a means of gaining insight from subtle changes to communication in the context of aging and neurodegenerative diseases.

Creation of multimodal therapeutic interventions to address cognitive-communication difficulties in MCI and dementia due to neurodegenerative disease.

News from CCANDL

  • New WRAP Publication!

    Check out this paper by Studer and Cody, “Lifestyle, genetic risk, plasma pTau217, and incident cognitive impairment in the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer’s Prevention (WRAP).” https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.70573  

  • CCANDL at AAIC 2025!

    Last month CCANDL presented at Alzheimer’s Association International Conference(AAIC) 2025 in Toronto, Canada! Rising second year PhD student, Madeline Hale presented two posters, “Automated pause analysis of connected speech from story recall as markers of …

  • New Publication on Lucid Episodes in Advanced Dementia!

    New publication from the Gilmore-Bykovskyi Lab!! Click below to read more about this exciting new study from our collaborators, the first prospective study focused on direct observation and documentation of lucid episodes in individuals with …

  • New Publication with the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer’s Prevention (WRAP) is out now!

    Check out Dr. Mueller’s publication with the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer’s Prevention (WRAP) on using telephone-based cognitive assessments to reduce barriers for research participants and improve continuity in longitudinal studies! https://alz-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/dad2.70153

  • More News