2002 — 2004 |
Luks, Tracy L |
F32Activity Code Description: To provide postdoctoral research training to individuals to broaden their scientific background and extend their potential for research in specified health-related areas. |
Neuroimaging of Attentional Control and Monitoring @ University of California San Francisco
Two frontal brain regions, Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC) and Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex (DLPFC) appear to be particularly involved in attentional control and self-monitoring. There is evidence that while these regions work in tandem to regulate behavioral, DLPFC is specifically responsible for allocating attention to meet task demands, and ACC is specifically responsible for monitoring the stimulus processing and responding for performance difficulties and signaling the DLPFC and general arousal systems when reallocation of attention is needed. Important recent studies have revealed the complexities of the roles of these areas, and the need to understand their interactions. The four proposed experiments will use fMRI, EEG and behavior measures to address the following unresolved issues: 1) Whether ACC is involved in switching attention states, and whether separate subregions of the ACC are involved in the allocation of attention and in the detection of processing conflict, 2) How preparatory attention and performance monitoring functions interact, 3) What regions are responsible for reallocating attention to resole processing conflict, and 4) Whether the ACC or DLPFC are in error evaluation, and if so, whether these operations involve different subregions than preparatory attention and monitoring operations. This research will add to our understanding of the mechanisms that underlie dynamic behavioral control, and will inform the study of neurological disorders in which behavioral control is impaired, such as Schizophrenia, Alzheimer's Disease, Attention Deficit Disorder, and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
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0.958 |
2006 — 2010 |
Luks, Tracy L |
K01Activity Code Description: For support of a scientist, committed to research, in need of both advanced research training and additional experience. |
Neuroimaging of Attentional Control in Ftd @ University of California San Francisco
[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): 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. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]
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0.958 |