Isaac Saywell
Higher Degree by Research Candidate
School of Psychology
Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences
I am a PhD candidate in the Cognitive Neural Sciences Lab. My research is focused on investigating the paradoxical relationship between degree of neurodegenerative disease pathology and patient clinical outcomes. More specifically, I use a combination of data collected from several magnetic resonance imaging modalities and behavioural measures (socio-behavioural measures of lifetime experiences, cognition, motor function, mood) to better understand how one’s cognitive reserve (resilience to age-related brain changes or pathology) contributes to individual differences in healthy ageing and Parkinson’s disease patient prognosis. The potential to predict why certain individuals are more resilient to brain changes is critical for the development of more personalised intervention strategies, adjustments of public health policies, and better interpretation of biomarkers – all with the overarching aim of improving quality of life across populations.
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Education
Date Institution name Country Title 2021 - 2021 University of Adelaide Australia Honours Degree of Psychological Science (First Class) 2018 - 2020 University of Adelaide Australia Bachelor of Psychological Science -
Research Interests
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Journals
Year Citation 2025 Foreman, L., Child, B., Saywell, I., Collins-Praino, L., & Baetu, I. (2025). Cognitive reserve moderates the effect of COVID-19 on cognition: A systematic review and meta-analysis of individual participant data. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 171, 31 pages.
2024 Saywell, I., Foreman, L., Child, B., Phillips-Hughes, A. L., Collins-Praino, L., & Baetu, I. (2024). Influence of cognitive reserve on cognitive and motor function in α-synucleinopathies: A systematic review and multilevel meta-analysis. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 161, 28 pages.
Scopus3 Europe PMC12024 Child, B., Saywell, I., da Silva, R., Collins-Praino, L., & Baetu, I. (2024). Cognitive function in different motor subtypes of Parkinson's disease: A systematic review protocol.. Health Sci Rep, 7(5), e2092.
Scopus1 Europe PMC22023 Saywell, I., Child, B., Foreman, L., Collins‐Praino, L., & Baetu, I. (2023). Influence of cognitive reserve on cognitive and motor function in α‐synucleinopathies: A systematic review protocol. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1522(1), 15-23.
Scopus3 Europe PMC1 -
Preprint
Year Citation 2025 Saywell, I., Sghirripa, S., Walls, A., Dwyer, A., Child, B., Salamon, J., . . . Baetu, I. (2025). The associations between cognitive reserve proxies, multimodal MRI brain measures and cognition, motor function and mood in healthy adults.
DOI
University of Adelaide:
Tutor and Lab Demonstrator for ANAT SC 2006: Foundations of Human Neuroanatomy (2023, 2024, 2025)
Tutor for ANAT SC 2110: The Neuroscience of Human Cognition and Behaviour (2024, 2025)
Tutor for HLTH SC 1001: Essentials of Neuroscience (2023, 2024)
Tutor and Marker for PSYCHOL 2005: Foundations of Health and Lifespan Development (2022)
Marker for PSYCHOL 1001: Psychology 1B (2023, 2024)
University of South Australia:
Tutor, Marker and Practical Demonstrator for HLTH 2026: Motor Control and Learning (2023, 2024, 2025)
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