Progress on the Product

Due to the inclement weather, my mentor and I were unable to meet for our fifth mentor visit last week. Luckily we made a cohesive and detailed plan of my tasks each week at our fourth mentor visit so I was able to complete the work we would've discussed on my own. I have continued to skim the abstracts of various neuropsychology, psychology, and neurology articles in hopes of finding the most relevant information. I have had some luck in finding a few articles on cognition. Cognition involves processing speed, memory, concentration, motor skills, perception, reasoning, learning, and other key attributes that I have been searching for as I skim the abstracts.

After this week of researching more articles on the link between cognition and COVID-19, I will move into my research on mental health. This will definitely pose a larger challenge than cognition as defining mental health effects is a complicated and elusive task. Common mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression are normal in a time of such uncertainty where families are losing jobs, family members, daily routines, and social time as a result of quarantining. However, distinguishing this "consequential anxiety" from the direct biological impact of the SARS-CoV-2 virus on mental health itself will be difficult, but I am up to the task. I hope to gain some clarity in this matter as I discuss with my mentor this week and proceed to explore the connection between the brain and COVID-19.