Molly Maxfield
Arizona State University Campus Immersion, AZ·Psychology
More than 6 million U.S. adults live with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (AD/ADRD), and there is no cure.
- Fields
Psychology
Public Health & Epidemiology
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
Alzheimer's disease
dementia prevention
physical activity
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Aug 2027
What they work on
- Establish the feasibility of, and refine, a Fitbit-supported goal-setting physical activity intervention for insufficiently active midlife adults with obesity in a Phase 1 pilot study.
- Compare static 150-minute, self-selected and 20% incremental weekly activity goals against a no-goal control in a 9-month, 4-arm randomized trial, testing effects on physical activity and adherence to national guidelines.
- Test whether gains in self-regulation and self-efficacy explain the effects of goal setting on physical activity, with the incremental goal group predicted to improve most, as proposed by Goal Setting Theory.
- Determine whether greater activity adherence improves dementia risk factors, including memory and processing speed, plasma amyloid 42/40 and phosphorylated tau 231, and cardiometabolic measures such as blood pressure, glucose and cholesterol.
More about the research
Lifestyle factors account for at least a third of cases, and regular physical activity, especially in midlife, is linked to lower risk. Yet nearly half of midlife adults fall short of the national guideline of 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity activity. Goal setting is a common way to help people be more active. Still, it is unclear which kind of goal best builds the self-regulation and self-efficacy (confidence in one's ability) thought to drive lasting behavior change.
Why it matters
Identifying which goal-setting technique best helps inactive midlife adults meet physical activity guidelines could give public health campaigns and care providers a more effective tool. Because midlife activity is linked to lower dementia risk, these strategies could eventually help reduce rates of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Puja Agarwal
Rush University, IL·Public Health & Epidemiology
Examine whether long-term diet, nutrients and flavonoids relate to activated microglia, the brain's immune cells, in the hippocampus and mid-frontal cortex of autopsied brains from community cohorts of older adults.
Laura Martin
University of Kansas, KS·Psychology
Test whether brief guided imagery using positive affect imagery (PAI) engages the brain's reward system and builds positive associations with exercise in mid-life adults.
Carmina Valle
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC·Public Health & Epidemiology
Test whether a 6-month mHealth weight-loss program tailored to adolescent and young adult cancer survivors produces greater weight loss at 6 months than a self-guided program, in a nationwide randomized trial of 240 survivors.
The school
Arizona State University Campus Immersion: 36 labs on PI Pages, $1.0B a year on research, 625 research doctorates a year.
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