The Candidate's primary interest is in the study of brain mechanisms underling mental states, particularly in relation to changes in memory function that occur during the course of aging. Many mental health disorders of aging are characterized by abnormal memory decline. Thus, the proposed research should have important implications concerning the pathophysiology of clinical disorders of aging. The Candidate's previous training in clinical psychology, event-related potentials (ERP), and neuropsychology led to his current interest in memory changes with aging and methods of evaluating these changes with neuroimaging. Functional neuroimaging techniques, such as positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), provide powerful tools with which to examine regional brain activity during cognitive tasks. In addition, new statistical methods have become available, such as linear structural relations modeling (LISREL) which can be used to test models describing the relationship between brain function cognitive performance. The research project designed to complement this training program involves the development and application of functional neuroimaging activation techniques to examine neural systems mediating memory in young and elderly adults. Specifically, the Candidate proposes to study implicit skill learning in young and elderly subjects. Previous cognitive research indicates that explicit memory is consistently impaired with aging, while changes in implicit memory depend on the specific function examined. For instance, studies of implicit memory suggest that skill learning may decline in older adults, while other types of implicit memory, such as repetition priming are preserved. The initial phase of the research project will include paradigm development off-line in both young and old subjects, and subsequent application as an activation technique for PET in young (30-39) and elderly (70-79) adults. Later phases of the research project will involve the evaluation of skill learning in similar subjects with fMRI. In addition some of the subjects will receive both PET and fMRI during this phase of the project in order to provide data for direct comparisons of the two technologies. LISREL analyses will be used to test models of brain function, including changes in function related to aging.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Scientist Development Award (K21)
Project #
5K21MH001230-03
Application #
2392841
Study Section
Mental Disorders of Aging Review Committee (MDA)
Project Start
1995-04-01
Project End
2000-03-31
Budget Start
1997-06-01
Budget End
1998-03-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
1997
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Massachusetts General Hospital
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
Boston
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02199
Henin, A; Savage, C R; Rauch, S L et al. (2001) Is age at symptom onset associated with severity of memory impairment in adults with obsessive-compulsive disorder? Am J Psychiatry 158:137-9
Savage, C R; Deckersbach, T; Heckers, S et al. (2001) Prefrontal regions supporting spontaneous and directed application of verbal learning strategies: evidence from PET. Brain 124:219-31
Rauch, S L; Whalen, P J; Curran, T et al. (2001) Probing striato-thalamic function in obsessive-compulsive disorder and Tourette syndrome using neuroimaging methods. Adv Neurol 85:207-24
Savage, C R; Deckersbach, T; Wilhelm, S et al. (2000) Strategic processing and episodic memory impairment in obsessive compulsive disorder. Neuropsychology 14:141-51
Rauch, S L; Kim, H; Makris, N et al. (2000) Volume reduction in the caudate nucleus following stereotactic placement of lesions in the anterior cingulate cortex in humans: a morphometric magnetic resonance imaging study. J Neurosurg 93:1019-25
Deckersbach, T; Savage, C R; Phillips, K A et al. (2000) Characteristics of memory dysfunction in body dysmorphic disorder. J Int Neuropsychol Soc 6:673-81
Rauch, S L; Whalen, P J; Curran, T et al. (1998) Thalamic deactivation during early implicit sequence learning: a functional MRI study. Neuroreport 9:865-70
Rauch, S L; Savage, C R; Alpert, N M et al. (1997) Probing striatal function in obsessive-compulsive disorder: a PET study of implicit sequence learning. J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 9:568-73
Rauch, S L; Whalen, P J; Savage, C R et al. (1997) Striatal recruitment during an implicit sequence learning task as measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging. Hum Brain Mapp 5:124-32
Rauch, S L; Savage, C R; Alpert, N M et al. (1997) The functional neuroanatomy of anxiety: a study of three disorders using positron emission tomography and symptom provocation. Biol Psychiatry 42:446-52

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