Maggie Boros

Major: Integrative Neuroscience

Bio: Maggie is a volunteer researcher at the Memory and Aging Lab at Fordham University under Dr. Karen Siedlecki as well as the NARC lab. She is currently a senior at Fordham University in the Integrative Neuroscience program, where she will graduate in May of 2023 with a BS in neuroscience and philosophy. She is also a part of the Engaged Leaders research Fellowship through Fordham's Center for Community Engaged Learning, where she studies literacy rates of students at Title I schools in the Bronx.

Title of Research: Relationship Between COVID-19-Induced Taste and Smell Loss and Cognitive Functioning

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Karen Siedlecki, Department of Psychology

Abstract: Current scientific literature suggests that COVID-19 can create long-term alterations to an individual’s brain (Boldrini et al., 2021). The current study assesses the relationship between long-term neurocognitive effects of COVID-19 and COVID-19-induced loss or change in taste or smell. It is hypothesized that reduced or lost sense of taste and smell will be negatively associated with performance on cognitive tests, since alterations in taste or smell are indicative of neural inflammation. Self-reported and objective measurements of cognitive functioning were collected from a sample of participants who tested positive for COVID-19 in the past two years. Statistical analyses found no significant correlation association between subjective or objective cognitive functioning and loss or change in taste or smell. Although these findings do not support the hypothesis, the current study is still relevant in that it may help to ease anxieties surrounding health, COVID-19, and day-to-day public tasks.