UCSB was awarded a three-year grant from the Alzheimer's Association to develop a Facebook-based online system to improve and support lifestyle changes that lead to good cognitive health. The grant will fund both the development of the system and an outcome study testing its effectiveness. A multidisciplinary team at UCSB will develop the system: principal investigator Debra Lieberman, Ph.D. (communication researcher at UCSB's Institute for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Research; lecturer in the Department of Communication; and director of the Health Games Research national program headquartered at UCSB); co-investigator Kenneth Kosik, M.D. (professor and holder of the Harriman Chair in Neuroscience, co-director of UCSB's Neuroscience Research Institute, and medical director of CFIT); and co-investigator Xifeng Yan, Ph.D., assistant professor and holder of the Narayanamurti Chair in Computer Science). The project will be aimed at people ages 50 and older and will focus on improving four lifestyle areas known to improve cognitive health and to delay onset or slow the progression of dementia: healthy diet, physical activity, challenging mental activity, and social interaction with friends.