The objective of this proposal is to support the candidate's training in behavioral neurology, which will provide the clinical skills and knowledge that will enable her to translate her previous cognitive neuroscience and functional neuroimaging training to clinical populations, especially aging and dementia. The research plan uses behavioral testing, anatomical and functional MRI to investigate the biological bases of attention dysfunction in frontotemporal dementia patients. These patients exhibit a progressive degeneration of the frontal and anterior temporal lobes, often associated with profound changes in attention and behavior. The successful completion of this work requires the candidate to receive training in a new environment that supports the development of sound skills in theoretical and practical bases of behavioral neurology. She will learn methods of neurological and neuropsychological testing in clinical populations, acquire knowledge of the dementia literature, and learn how to target relevant research methodologies to specific clinical questions. Her training will also include the mentored development of skills in quantitative structural MRI analysis, and coursework in behavioral neurology and neuroscience, advanced biostatistics, and the responsible conduct of research. The proposed research will assess changes in specific component processes of attentional control with aging and FTD (behavioral testing), and the relationship with regional neural activity (functional MRI) and regional brain volume (structural MRI). The following three component processes of attentional control are assessed by separate dependent measures in two complementary experimental paradigms: deploying attention according to task demands, monitoring performance and making compensatory adjustments in behavior, and mapping reward outcomes to stimulus-response associations. This research will 1). Characterize performance of these component processes of attentional control in FTD patients, normal older controls, and normal young controls, 2). Identify the brain activity underlying performance of these components of attentional control in FTD patients, normal older controls, and normal young controls, and 3). Compare regional abnormalities in anatomical MRI with behavioral and functional neuroimaging measures of attentional control.
| Simpson, Gregory V; Weber, Darren L; Dale, Corby L et al. (2011) Dynamic activation of frontal, parietal, and sensory regions underlying anticipatory visual spatial attention. J Neurosci 31:13880-9 |
| Luks, Tracy L; Oliveira, Michael; Possin, Katherine L et al. (2010) Atrophy in two attention networks is associated with performance on a Flanker task in neurodegenerative disease. Neuropsychologia 48:165-70 |
| Luks, Tracy L; Sun, Felice T; Dale, Corby L et al. (2008) Transient and sustained brain activity during anticipatory visuospatial attention. Neuroreport 19:155-9 |
| Luks, Tracy L; Simpson, Gregory V; Dale, Corby L et al. (2007) Preparatory allocation of attention and adjustments in conflict processing. Neuroimage 35:949-58 |
