Janie Corley

Research Fellow

  • Lothian Birth Cohorts group
  • Psychology
  • School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences

Contact details

Address

Street

Room F3, Psychology Building

City
7 George Square, Edinburgh
Post code
EH8 9JZ

Biography

Background

I am a Research Fellow specialising in psychometric methods and longitudinal research on cognitive ageing. I am a Researcher Co-Investigator and core member of the Lothian Birth Cohorts team, contributing to the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council–funded programme supporting Waves 6 and 7 of the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 (LBC1936). My role includes the design and conduct of statistical analyses, interpretation of findings, and dissemination of results.

I have worked with the Lothian Birth Cohorts for over 20 years and have published widely on the associations between lifestyle, health, and environmental factors and cognitive and brain ageing in older adults. My research integrates detailed phenotypic, cognitive, and biological data to better understand variation in ageing trajectories.

My current work adopts a life-course perspective, examining how behavioural, psychosocial, and environmental exposures relate to cognitive decline, mental health, biological ageing markers, and survival in later life. I am particularly interested in identifying modifiable influences that may support healthier ageing.

 

Qualifications:

PhD, Psychology, University of Edinburgh, 2016

MA Hons (1st), Psychology, University of Glasgow, 1993

 

Representative publications:

Corley J, Pattie A, Harris SE, Deary I J, & Cox, SR (2026). Gardening, healthy aging, and longevity: Longitudinal evidence from 25 years of the Lothian Birth Cohort 1921. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 109, 102889.

*Deary IJ, Harris SE, Russ TC, Cox SR, & *Corley J. (2026). Effect sizes of APOE e4 on the same general cognitive ability test taken by the same people from age 11 to age 90: The Lothian Birth Cohorts 1921 and 1936. Molecular Psychiatry, 31(1), 27-38. *authors contributed equally

Corley J, Redmond P, Lane MM, Jacka FN, Ashtree DN, & Cox SR (2025). Dietary exposures and risk of anxiety and depression symptoms in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936: a cohort-level GLAD Project analysis. medRxiv, 2025-10.

Corley J, Pattie A, Batty GD, Cox SR, Deary IJ. (2024). Life-course pathways to exceptional longevity: Evidence from the Lothian Birth Cohort of 1921. The Journals of Gerontology, Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, 79(8):glae166.

Corley J, Pattie A, Deary IJ, Cox SR (2024). Gardening and cognitive ageing: Longitudinal findings from the Lothian Birth Cohort of 1921. Journal of Environmental Psychology. 2024 Aug 1;97:102361.

Corley J, Conte F, Harris SE, Taylor AM, Redmond P, Russ TC, Deary IJ, Cox SR (2023). Predictors of longitudinal cognitive ageing from age 70 to 82 including APOE e4 status, early-life and lifestyle factors: the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936. Molecular Psychiatry, 28(3):1256-71.

Corley J, Deary IJ (2021). Dietary patterns and trajectories of global-and domain-specific cognitive decline in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936. British Journal of Nutrition, 126(8):1237-46.

Corley J (2022). Adherence to the MIND diet is associated with 12-year all-cause mortality in older adults. Public Health Nutrition, 25(2):358-67.

Corley J, Okely JA, Taylor AM, Page D, Welstead M, Skarabela B, Redmond P, Cox SR, Russ TC (2021). Home garden use during COVID-19: Associations with physical and mental wellbeing in older adults. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 73:101545.

Corley J, Cox SR, Taylor AM, Hernandez MV, Maniega SM, Ballerini L, Wiseman S, Meijboom R, Backhouse EV, Bastin ME, Wardlaw JM (2020). Dietary patterns, cognitive function, and structural neuroimaging measures of brain aging. Experimental Gerontology, 1;142:111117.

Corley J, Cox SR, Deary IJ (2018). Healthy cognitive ageing in the Lothian Birth Cohort studies: marginal gains not magic bullet. Psychological medicine, 48(2):187-207.Psychological Medicine 48 (2), 187-207.

 

Research summary

Life-course influences of lifestyle, health, and environmental factors on cognitive decline, brain ageing, wellbeing, and longevity.

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