Collaborators
Cameron Carter , M.D.
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The work in Dr. Carter's laboratory focuses on neural mechanisms of attention and memory, and on the pathophysiological processes underlying clinical disorders that involve these cognitive systems. His lab's research integrates behavioral, computational, and functional neuroimaging (fMRI, PET, ERP). They are particularly interested in the relative contribution of the prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate to executive processes and the interaction of this circuitry with related brain regions involved in motivation, learning and memory.
A second avenue of research focuses on the pathophysiology of disturbances in cognition in mental disorders such as schizophrenia and OCD, with the goal of developing more effective therapies which can improve patients chances of rehabilitation. Dr. Carter's lab are also involved in the development of new treatments for cognitive disability in schizophrenia and other brain disorders. A key element of the philosophy of his lab is that good clinical research can only proceed if it is being constantly informed by ongoing theoretical and methodological progress in basic cognitive neuroscience, and that the experiments of nature provided by clinical brain disorders may provide us with powerful additional insights into the neural basis of normal cognition. |
Charles Decarli, Ph.D.
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Charles S. DeCarli has a strong interest in behavioral neurology, with specific emphasis on dementing disorders, including degenerative dementias such as Alzheimer’s disease and frontal dementias. He also focuses on dementias related to movement disorders and vascular disease, as well as cognitive impairment after closed head injury. DeCarli’s research interests are divided into two areas: using neuroimaging techniques to understand the relationship between brain structure and function with aging and disease; and studying the role of brain antioxidant systems, primarily quinone oxidoreductase, on the pathophysiology and potential treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.
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Arne Ekstrom, Ph.D.
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The primary mission of Dr. Ekstrom's lab is to better understand the neurophysiological basis of human memory. Their particular focus is on spatial memory and attempting to understand the cognitive and neural components underlying it. The lab employs several different recording methodologies to better understand spatial memory, including intracranial EEG, fMRI, and scalp EEG. Studies in Dr. Ekstrom's lab focus on how human hippocampal theta oscillations code for aspects of a spatial layout, which brain areas are involved in overview and first-person representations, how navigation and memory processing are represented in overlapping or unique brain systems, and how the different recording modalities we use tie together or provide complementary information about underlying brain processes.
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Daniel Ragland, Ph.D.
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Dr. Ragland's work investigates the effect of schizophrenia on brain function during episodic memory encoding and retrieval. Of particular interest is the role that organizational abilities play in new learning and subsequent memory retrieval, how schizophrenia disrupts these organizational processes, and how these deficits might be remediated to improve patients' frontotemporal brain activity and daily function. His research has used a combination of neuropsychological and functional imaging techniques (133Xenon, PET 0-15, BOLD fMRI) to identify the cognitive functions and brain regions underlying these memory processes. Other research interests include developing translational fMRI memory paradigms for mouse and human, and investigating the neurological basis of food craving.
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Andrew Yonelinas, Ph.D.
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Dr. Yonelinas is examining the processes underlying human memory. In order to characterize the functional nature of different memory processes he is currently using implicit and explicit tests as well as several second generation procedures such as the process dissociation procedure, the independence remember/know procedure, and ROC modeling procedure. In order to determine the neural substrates of memory encoding and retrieval processes he is i) examining memory impaired patients such as amnesics and Alzheimer's patients, and ii) examining the physiological correlates of memory processes using neuroimaging techniques such as event related potentials and function magnetic resonance imaging. The goal of this work is to develop and test models of memory that address recent behavioral, neuropsychological and brain imaging data. Other research interests include studying action slips (i.e., habitual actions that interrupt intended actions) and examining the relationship between performance and conscious awareness.
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