The scientific literature reports neurocognitive abnormalities in persons infected with HIV that may have critical implications for daily function, medication adherence, and engagement in sexual and injection high-risk behaviors that may spread HIV, as well as the hepatitis C virus. Drug use is thought to exacerbate cognitive dysfunction in those with HIV. Although various neurocognitive functions in drug users with HIV have been studied, there is a paucity of literature on procedural learning abilities, which may be a factor in the neurocognitive and functional deficits of drug users with HIV. The proposed investigation will examine motor and cognitive procedural teaming in HIV infected drug users recruited from an ongoing NIDA-funded parent project that examines executive functions in this population. Toward this goal, a program has been designed to provide new training and skills in neurocognitive theories of addiction, collection and analysis of data from cognitive neuropsychological measures, working with an underserved urban minority sample, and developing/conducting a supervised independent research project that will lead the applicant to a career as a federally-funded researcher in the cognitive neurosciences.
