Isaac Saywell

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.

  • 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.
    DOI
    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.
    DOI Scopus2 Europe PMC1
    2024 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.
    DOI Scopus1 Europe PMC2
    2023 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.
    DOI Scopus2 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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