Martin L. Albert - US grants

This is a continuation of a program for the study of clinical, neurolinguistic, and neuroanatomic aspects of aphasia. The long-term objectives are to advance the understanding of the mechanisms of normal language and their neural basis so as to develop a coherent view of how the symptomatology of aphasia relates to the injury of particular brain structures and the consequent modification of linguistic and cognitive capacities. A concurrent goal is to apply developing theoretical insights to a rationally based diagnostic assessment and treatment of aphasia. Specific goals in the proposed project period and methods of accomplishing them are: 1. to investigate disorders of sentence comprehension and sentence production in terms of the explanatory power of specific cognitive and linguistic principles. 2. to study word production and word comprehension with techniques that probe the unfolding of these processes and their breakdown in real time. 3. to compare the comprehension of discourse -- particularly pragmatic aspects -- in aphasic and right brain damaged subjects. 4. to examine the cognitive basis for the success of global aphasics in mastering a nonverbal computerized communication system. 5. to study changes in attentional functions, associated with frontal lobe lesions and how they modify aphasic symptoms due to left temporal lobe lesions.

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Language in the Aging Brain (LAB) lab has been continuously funded since 1976, first by the VA, and since 1997 by the NIA. During this time we demonstrated that lexical retrieval and sentence-level processing decline with aging, correlated these changes with age-related deficits in cognitive function (specifically, components of executive system function), and began to examine health-related and brain-related correlates. In our current funding cycle, we are integrating health (including brain structure and function) into our studies of cognition and language, and testing the hypothesis that age-related declines in certain language functions are mediated by brain-based changes in executive system functions associated with declining vascular health. Our current research supports this hypothesis, but opens several new avenues for investigation. We find that hypertension (but, surprisingly, not diabetes) is linked to deficits in both lexical retrieval and executive function, and to bilateral changes in frontal cortical and subcortical regions. We are finding, further, that executive abilities (specifically, ability to change set and shift attention) emerge as powerful predictors of sentence-level processing deficits in normal aging. With these new findings in hand, we now propose to address two principal research questions: 1) What are the cognitive, health, and brain predictors of decline in language function with normal aging; 2) What are the cognitive, health, and brain predictors of successful language function with normal aging? Given our extensive study of age-related changes in language over 30 years, the unique opportunity this renewal proposal affords is to integrate theory, methods, and findings from four disciplines (cognitive neuroscience, neurolinguistics, neuroimaging, and geriatrics) to allow comprehensive explanations not only of performance decline in language skills with aging but also of performance maintenance (or improvement). This project is poised to yield direct and immediate diagnostic and intervention strategies that can optimize functional communication of older adults. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: By uncovering cognitive-, health-, and brain-related predictors of language decline in aging, our research program will yield results leading directly to diagnostic and intervention strategies that can optimize functional communication of older adults. Aging does not automatically signify decline. In this new funding cycle we will also delineate a set of predictors for successful language and communication performance in aging. Data from our new research will be transferable to communication partners and caretakers of elderly individuals, enabling older adults to improve and enrich their communication in everyday life.

[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The unifying agenda of the Harold Goodglass Aphasia Research Center (HGARC) is to integrate research and researchers to arrive at a coherent picture of how language is represented in the brain for the purpose of diagnosis and treatment of persons with communication disorders due to brain damage. We are a consortium of clinicians, clinical researchers, and research scientists representing the disciplines of cognitive neuroscience, neurolinguistics, behavioral neurology, speech-language pathology, neuropsychology, communication sciences, and neuroimaging. A foundational element of the HGARC is the NIH-supported Boston University Aphasia Research Core Center (P30). The P30 currently provides core research services to 24 research projects affiliated with the HGARC, of which 14 are NIH-supported RGTs (11 NIDCD). The P30 consists of two research support cores, a Clinical Assessment Core and a Data Management and Analysis (DAMA) Core, together with administrative support for these cores. The Clinical Assessment Core recruits research participants, provides comprehensive assessments of brain damaged adults and healthy elderly subjects, and coordinates their participation in all research. Clinical Core examinations include four major components: medical/neurological, language, neuropsychological, and neuroimaging. The Data Management and Analysis Core provides a comprehensive, protected database of all assessment and research data for each research participant. The specific aims of this Core are to manage the data obtained by members of the clinical core and all research projects, ensure data integrity, make data accessible to all HGARC researchers, and provide research design and statistical support for on-going analysis of data and development of new research protocols. Our P30 allows for the centralization of labor-intensive tasks that could not otherwise be supported on the budgets of the affiliated research projects. [unreadable]

Administration The Harold Goodglass Aphasia Research Center (HGARC) is a consortium of researchers who are investigating the neural underpinnings of language. Through the P30 mechanism, the HGARC capitalizes on the long-standing cooperative and cohesive interaction of the institutions in the consortium and the clinical entities that refer potential research participants to the HGARC for evaluation. Cooperating institutions and entities include Boston University School of Medicine;VA Boston Healthcare System;Brandeis University;Brown University;Boston College;Harvard University;Massachusetts Institute of Technology;Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professionals;Emerson College: Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital;HEALTHSOUTH Braintree Hospital, HEALTHSOUTH New England Rehabilitation Hospital;HEALTHSOUTH Ludlow;Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center;and Brigham and Women's Hospital. Dr. Martin L. Albert, as the P30 Principal Investigator and Core Center Director, and Dr. Kristine Lundgren, Administrative and Clinical Director, are responsible for overall leadership of the P30 Core Center and the day-to-day operational management. The Administrative Core is the operational hub of the P30 Core Center. Dr. Albert establishes procedures for utilization of resources, coordinates activities of the P30 Core Center staff, and administers the fiscal, personnel, and physical facilities of the Core Center. Drs. Albert and Lundgren work together on regularly recurring tasks and ad hoc problem-solving, including Core utilization, human studies issues, subject protection, program coordination, and program planning and evaluation. Drs. Albert and Lundgren provide liaison with the staff of other entities with which the P30 is administratively linked;these include the VA Boston Healthcare System Administration;the Psychology, Audiology/Speech Pathology, Research, and Radiology Services of the VA Medical Center;the Neurology Department of Boston University Medical School;and the Office of Research Administration of Boston University School of Medicine. Organizational and Administrative Structure The description of the administrative structure is presented in four sections: chain of responsibility for decision-making and administration;specific managerial responsibilities;determining the distribution and utilization of funds for cores;relation to applicant institution.