Dr. LaPlume is a scientist and assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at Trent University. She uses statistical models and big-data analytics to discover how and why cognition varies with age. As aging is different from one person to another, she explores the influence of individual biological, health, and environmental factors on lifespan cognitive trajectories. 

Her research shapes a niche at the intersection of Cognitive Developmental Psychology and Quantitative Methods. She has pioneered techniques to analyze large-scale web-based datasets and mathematically model lifespan cognitive performance. Her findings produce real-life applications for healthy aging and dementia prevention.

Dr. LaPlume received her BSc (Hons) from Nottingham University (UK), and her PhD from York University (Canada). Her postdoctoral training was at University of Toronto’s Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest Health Sciences (with Drs Nicole Anderson, Angela Troyer, and Brian Levine) and McGill University’s Douglas Mental Health Institute and TMU (with Drs M. Natasha Rajah and Sylvie Belleville). Her research has been funded and was ranked first among applications by Alzheimer Society of Canada and Consortium for Early Identification of Alzheimer’s disease-Quebec.