Ally Support
1) Type:
Research Project Grant [R01 AG038471]
Agency:
NIH-National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Period:
2/11 – 1/16
Role:
PI, “The cognitive and neural correlates of the picture superiority effect in Alzheimer’s”
Abstract:
Pictures improve memory over words, and patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) show
a much greater improvement than healthy older adults. This simple fact has tremendous implications
for millions of patients with AD. If we were able to better understand exactly how pictures improve
memory in these patients, new memory enhancing techniques could be developed to further increase
their memory, improving quality of life and saving money for caregivers and the healthcare system. This
proposal will use the techniques of experimental psychology (computer-based behavioral studies) and
cognitive neuroscience (EEG-based event related potential [ERP] studies) to examine the cognitive and
neural processes that underlie the robust picture superiority effect in patients with AD. Aim 1 examines
the hypothesis that intact perceptual processing of distinctive visual information enhances the encoding,
storage, and retrieval of pictures in patients with AD. Expts 1 and 2 examine whether adding or
subtracting perceptual detail at encoding increases or decreases the picture superiority effect. Expt 3
uses a perceptual masked identification task to determine whether patients can recognize unidentifiable
test pictures based only on stored perceptual information. Expt 4 examines whether removing
distinctive visual information from the retrieval cues eliminates the picture superiority effect. Aim 2
examines the hypothesis that intact conceptual processing enhances the encoding, storage, and
retrieval of pictures in patients with AD. Expt 5 uses ERPs to determine whether picture stimuli allow for
better encoding of conceptual information than ambiguous images with and without conceptual labels.
Expt 6 uses a conceptual implicit memory test to determine whether the conceptual information stored
for pictures is superior to the conceptual information stored for words. Expt 7 uses ERPs to examine
whether patients demonstrate the picture superiority effect for a category-based retrieval task. Finally,
Aim 3 examines the hypothesis that impaired encoding, storage, and retrieval of words contributes to
the robust picture superiority effect in patients with AD. Expt 8 uses ERPs to examine differences in
brain activity for successful encoding of pictures compared to successful encoding of visually and
auditorily presented words. Expt 9 uses ERPs to examine whether limitations in the ability to generate
an internal image representation of words at encoding contributes to the robust picture superiority effect
in AD. Expt 10 examines whether forgetting rates of stored words and pictures are differentially affected
by AD. Finally, Expt 11 examines whether words are less effective as retrieval cues compared to
pictures. Successful completion of these aims and experiments will provide us with a detailed
understanding of how pictures enhance memory in AD. This understanding could subsequently improve
methods of clinical assessment, and serve as the basis of promising new learning techniques, such as
errorless learning. These new techniques may help patients remember how and when to take their
medications and perform activities of daily living, thereby improving their quality of life.
2) Type:
K23 Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award [K23 AG031925]
Agency:
NIH-National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Period:
09/08 – 08/13
Role:
PI, “Using pictures to understand recognition memory in Alzheimer's disease”
Abstract:
The goal of this project is to use pictures to better understand the specific nature of
memory loss in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). By using techniques of experimental
psychology and cognitive neuroscience, this work will help to elucidate which processes of recognition
memory are impaired and which are relatively intact. Behavioral data will inform us about the patients’
performance, and event-related potentials (ERPs) will allow us to record discrete changes in brain
activity, without the necessity of overt behavioral responses from study participants. Dual-process
models of memory argue that recognition is subserved by recollection and familiarity. While it is
understood that recollection is impaired early in AD, research is conflicted as to whether patients with
mild AD can successfully use familiarity to support memory judgments. Our previous work suggests
that pictures are an important class of stimuli that may allow patients with mild AD to use enhanced
familiarity to improve their memory accuracy over words. Based on this hypothesis, the primary aims of
the proposed research are to determine 1) whether pictures allow patients with mild AD to successfully
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Ally Support
use familiarity to support picture recognition, 2) whether pictures allow patients with mild AD to
successfully use post-retrieval monitoring and verification, and 3) whether patients with mild AD can
use imagery strategies to turn words into pictures. As part of this proposed research, the candidate
seeks training in: 1) the methodology and ethics of clinical research pertaining to patients, 2) advanced
cognitive neuroscience of learning and memory and 3) understanding complex high-density ERP data
and how it relates to cognitive and neural correlates of memory. The proposed research plan, didactic
courses, and tutorial instruction from mentors and advisors will foster the candidate's development into
an independent clinician-scientist focusing on understanding how memory breaks down in Alzheimer’s
disease.
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