The primary goal is to elucidate further the relation between (a) brain structure, conceptualized as network systems of neural units, and (b) cognitive processes traditionally studied in the disciplines of behavioral neurology, neuropsychology, cognitive science, and linguistics. The cognitive domain under scrutiny encompasses vision, memory, language and executive control. The principal subjects for the study are human beings who have sustained focal brain damage as a result of neurological disease or surgical ablation, although in one of the projects non-human primates are utilized in anatomical investigations. In addition, in three of the projects, regions of interest in brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease will also be studied anatomically. The approach encompasses (a) experimental neuropsychological, psychophysical, psychophysiological, and related assessment techniques, (b) human neuroanatomical techniques, including neuroimaging methods such as computerized tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR), as well as the study of post-mortem cerebral tissue, and (c) neuroanatomical tracing techniques in experimental animals. The distinct aspects of the methodology relate (1) to an experimental, basic science attitude towards clinical material, and (2) to a strong interaction between basic and applied neuroanatomy, and between anatomical and cognitive data. The detailed understanding of the organization of the neural systems that subtend vision, language, memory and executive control is a desirable goal. Firstly, it provides crucial constraints in the evolving research models of mind and brain relationships. Secondly, it contributes to clinical neurology, by providing new knowledge pertinent to cerebrovascular disease, Alzheimer's disease, and related conditions; such knowledge is important for the improvement of diagnosis and for the development of new remediation strategies in patients with acquired cognitive impairments (it is especially important regarding Alzheimer's, because the anatomical elucidation we have been developing can provide clues to potential mechanisms of the disease). Finally, the project is meant to bring human neuroanatomy closer to non-human primate neuroanatomy and to promote the integration of data derived from neuropsychological and neurological studies in the body of neurophysiology and neuropathology.
Showing the most recent 10 out of 353 publications
