skip to: page content | links on this page | site navigation | footer (site information)

Neuropsychology Neuroimaging Lab

spm | PubMed |
UW directory | My UW | Doit | Med School |
Alzheimer's Institute | Wisc Comp Memory Program | Institute on Aging
Waisman Brain Imaging Lab | Psych Dept | Center for Neuroscience | Neuroscience Training Program

Publicationspsych logo

Recent Publications [ with or without ] abstracts

Click on the aicon to access a pdf reprint. Email scj@medicine.wisc.edu for the password.

2007

MRI characterization of brain structure and function in Mild Cognitive Impairment: A review.

Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. (in press)

  • Ries ML
  • Carlsson CM
  • Rowley HA
  • Sager MA
  • Gleason CE
  • Asthana, S
  • Johnson SC

Given the predicted increase in prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in coming decades, early detection and intervention in persons with the pre-dementia condition known as Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) is of paramount importance. In recent years there have been substantive advances in the application of neuroimaging and other biomarkers to the study of MCI. The article reviews the most recent developments in the use of MRI to characterize brain changes and to prognosticate clinical outcome of MCI patients. The review begins with description of methods and findings in structural MRI research, delineating findings regarding both gross atrophy and microstructural brain changes in MCI. Second, we describe the most recent findings regarding brain function in MCI, enumerating findings from functional MRI and brain perfusion studies. Third, we will make recommendations regarding the current clinical use of MRI in identification of MCI. As a conclusion, we will look to the future of neuroimaging as a tool in early AD detection.

Atorvastatin therapy is associated with greater and faster cerebral hemodynamic response

Brain Imaging and Behavior (in press)

  • Xu, G
  • Fitzgerald, ME
  • Wen, Z
  • Fain, SB
  • Alsop, DC
  • Carroll, T
  • Ries, ML
  • Rowley HA
  • Sager, MA
  • Asthana, S
  • Johnson, SC
  • Carlsson, CM

Hypercholesterolemia in midlife increases the risk of subsequent cognitive decline, neurovascular disease, and Alzheimer's disease (AD), and statin use is associated with reduced prevalence of these outcomes. While statins improve vasoreactivity in peripheral arteries and large cerebral arteries, little is known about the effects of statins on cerebral hemodynamic responses and cognition in healthy asymptomatic adults. At the final visit of a 4-month randomized, controlled, double-blind study comparing atorvastatin 40 mg daily to placebo, 16 asymptomatic middle-aged adults (15 had useable data) underwent blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), arterial spin labeling (ASL) quantitative cerebral blood flow (qCBF), dynamic susceptibility contrast (DSC) and structural imagings of the brain. Using a memory recognition task requiring discrimination of previously viewed (PV) and novel (NV) human faces, fMRI was used to elicit activation from brain regions known to be vulnerable to changes associated with AD. The BOLD signal amplitude (PV > NV) and latency to each stimulus were tested on a voxel basis between the atorvastatin (n=8) and placebo (n=7) groups. Persons randomized to atorvastatin not only showed significantly greater BOLD amplitude in the right angular gyrus, left superior parietal lobule, right middle temporal and superior sulcus than the placebo group, but also decreased hemodynamic response latencies in the right middle frontal gyrus, left precentral gyrus, left cuneus and right posterior middle frontal gyrus. However, neither the resting cerebral blood flow (CBF) measured with ASL nor the mean transit time (MTT) of cerebral perfusion calculated from DSC showed differences in these regions in either group. The drug related BOLD differences during memory recognition suggest that atorvastatin may have improved cerebral small vessel vasoreactivity, possibly through an effect on endothelial function. Furthermore, these results suggest that the effect of atorvastatin on the task-induced BOLD signal may not be a simple consequence of baseline flow change.

fMRI Activation During Episodic Encoding and Metacognitive Appraisal Across the Lifespan: Risk factors for Alzheimer's Disease.

Neuropsychologia (in press)

  • Trivedi MA
  • Schmitz TW
  • Ries ML
  • Hess TM
  • Fitzgerald ME
  • Atwood CS
  • Rowley HA
  • Asthana S
  • Sager MA
  • Johnson SC

In the present study, we used fMRI to examine the influence of age on two other known risk factors for Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), APOE genotype and parental history of AD (FH status), during episodic encoding (ENC) and metacognitive self-appraisal (SA) paradigms. These paradigms have previously been shown to evoke activity from brain regions that are implicated in AD. First we examined the effect of age across the adult lifespan (age 18 to 84) on cerebral activity in a large sample (n=231) of cognitively healthy individuals. Next we examined a subset (n=155) on whom APOE status and FH status were known. For ENC, we found that increasing age was associated with reduced activity in the ventral temporal lobes and hippocampus. Our analysis of risk factors suggested that FH and age exerted independent effects, but APOE interacted with age such that APOE e4 carriers exhibit age-related increases in activity in the hippocampus. For the metacognitive SA task, increasing age was found to be associated with reduced activity in the medial prefrontal cortex, and increased activity in the mesial temporal lobe, posterior orbital cortex and striatum. Neither AD risk factor significantly modified age-related changes in brain activity during SA. These results suggest that FH and aging are exerting independent effects in both tasks while APOE affected the relationship with age in the hippocampus in one of the two tasks given.

Brain mapping in cognitive disorders: A multidisciplinary approach to learning the tools and applications of functional neuroimaging

BMC Medical Education, 7: 39

  • Kelley DJ
  • Johnson SC

Background: With rapid advances in functional imaging methods, human studies that feature functional neuroimaging techniques are increasing exponentially and have opened a vast arena of new possibilities for understanding brain function and improving the care of patients with cognitive disorders in the clinical setting. There is a growing need for medical centers to offer clinically relevant functional neuroimaging courses that emphasize the multifaceted and multidisciplinary nature of this field. In this paper, we describe the implementation of a functional neuroimaging course focusing on cognitive disorders that might serve as a model for other medical centers. We identify key components of an active learning course design that impact student learning gains in methods and issues pertaining to functional neuroimaging that deserve consideration when optimizing the medical neuroimaging curriculum. Methods: Learning gains associated with the course were assessed using polychoric correlation analysis of responses to the SALG (Student Assessment of Learning Gains) instrument. Results: Student gains in the functional neuroimaging of cognition as assessed by the SALG instrument were strongly associated with several aspects of the course design. Conclusions: Our implementation of a multidisciplinary and active learning functional neuroimaging course produced positive learning outcomes. Inquiry-based learning activities and an online learning environment contributed positively to reported gains. This functional neuroimaging course design may serve as a useful model for other medical centers. [ pubmed ]

Alzheimer Disease Risk in Healthy Middle-Aged Adults Affects Brain Function During Self Appraisal

Archives of General Psychiatry 64(10):1163-71

  • Johnson SC
  • Ries ML
  • Hess T
  • Carlsson CM
  • Gleason CE
  • Alexander AL
  • Rowley HA
  • Asthana S
  • Sager MA

Recently asymptomatic middle-aged adult children of patients with Alzheimer Disease (AD) were found to exhibit fMRI deficits in the mesial temporal lobe during an encoding task. Whether this effect will be observed on other fMRI tasks is not yet known. This study examines the neural substrates of self-appraisal in people at risk for AD. Accurate appraisal of deficits is a problem for many AD patients, and prior fMRI studies of healthy young adults indicates that brain areas vulnerable to AD such as the anterior mesial temporal lobe and posterior cingulate are involved during self appraisal tasks. [ pubmed ]

The Relationship Between Gray Matter Morphometry and Performance on Neuropsychological Tests of Frontal Lobe Function in a Large Sample of Cognitively Healthy Adults

Brain Imaging and Behavior, 1, 3-10

  • Newman LM
  • Trivedi MA
  • Ries ML
  • Bendlin BB
  • Johnson SC

Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was used to examine the relationship between gray matter (GM) volume and performance on two commonly used clinical neuropsychological measures of frontal lobe or executive function, the Trail Making Test part B (TrailsB) and the Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT) in 221 cognitively healthy adults between the ages of 18 and 84. We hypothesized that these measures would be associated with GM volume in the dorsolateral frontal lobes. Voxel-based multiple regression was used to correlate cognitive function with modulated GM probability maps while controlling for age, education, gender, and total intracranial volume. A relationship with TrailsB was found in bilateral lateral inferior frontal gyri and left basal ganglia. A relationship with COWAT was found in the left lateral inferior and middle frontal gyri. Lesion studies have long implicated the importance of these regions for executive function. The present results confirm and extend those prior findings to healthy adults.

Relevance to the Self: A Brief Review and Framework of Neural Systems Underlying Appraisal.

Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 31, 585-596

  • Schmitz, TW
  • Johnson, SC

We argue that many similar findings observed in cognitive, affective, and social neuroimaging research may compose larger processes central to generating self-relevance. In support of this, recent findings from these research domains were reviewed to identify common systemic activation patterns. Superimposition of these patterns revealed evidence for large-scale supramodal processes, which are argued to mediate appraisal of self-relevant content irrespective of specific stimulus types (e.g. words, pictures) and task domains (e.g. induction of reward, fear, pain, etc.). Furthermore, we distinguish between two top-down sub-systems involved in appraisal of self-relevance, one that orients pre-attentive biasing information (e.g. anticipatory or mnemonic) to salient or explicitly self-relevant phenomena, and another that engages introspective processes (e.g. self-reflection, evaluation, recollection) either in conjunction with or independent of the former system. Based on aggregate patterns of activation derived from the reviewed studies, processes in a ventral medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC)-subcortical network appear to track with the former pathway, and processes in a dorsal MPFC-cortical-subcortical network with the latter. As a whole, the purpose of this framework is to re-conceive the functionality of these systems in terms of supramodal processes that more directly reflect the influences of relevance to the self. [ pubmed ]

 

Trivedi MA, Ward MA, Hess TM, Gale SD, Dempsey RJ, Rowley HA, Johnson SC (2007).  Longitudinal changes in global brain volume between 79 and 409 days after traumatic brain injury: relationship with duration of coma. Journal of Neurotrauma, 24, 766-771.[ pubmed ]

 
Ries ML, Torgerson BM, Schmitz TW, Trivedi MA, Gleason CE, Carlsson CM, Rowley HA, Asthana A, Johnson SC (2007).  Anosognosia in mild cognitive impairment: Relationship to activation of cortical midline structures involved in self-appraisal. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 13, 450-461. [ pubmed ]

 

Johnson SC, Schmitz TW, Asthana S, Gluck MA, Myers CE (2007). Associative Learning Over Trials Activates the Hippocampus in Healthy Elderly but not Mild Cognitive Impairment. Aging, Neuropsychology and Cognition. [ pubmed ]

2006

Gleason CE, Schmitz TW, Hess T, Koscik RL, Trivedi MA, Ries ML, Carlsson CM, Sager MA, Asthana S, Johnson SC (2006). Hormone Effects on fMRI and Cognitive Measures of Encoding: Importance of Hormone Preparation. Neurology, 67, 2039-2041. [ pubmed ]

Trivedi MA, Wichman AK, Torgerson BM, Ward MA, Schmitz TW, Ries ML, Koscik RL, Asthana S, Johnson SC (2006). Structural MRI discriminates individuals with mild cognitive impairment from age-matched controls: a combined neuropsychological and voxel based morphometry study. Alzheimer’s and Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, 2, 296-302.
Smith JF, Chen K, Johnson SC, Morrone-Strupinsky J, Reiman EM, Nelson A, Moeller JR, Alexander GE  (2006). Network analysis of single-subject fMRI during a finger opposition task. Neuroimage, 32, 325-332. [pubmed]

Baxter, LC, Sparks, DL, Johnson, SC, Lenoski, B, Lopez, JE, Connor, DJ, and Sabbagh, MN  (2006). Cognitive Status in AD is Associated with Loss of Temporal Lobe Gray Matter using Voxel-Based Morphometry. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 9, 253-260. [pubmed]

Johnson, SC, Schmitz, TW, Moritz, CH, Meyerand, ME, Rowley, HA, Alexander, AL, Hansen, KW, Gleason, CE, Carlsson, CM, Ries, ML, Asthana, S, Chen, K, Reiman, EM, Alexander, GE (in press). Activation of Brain Regions Vulnerable to Alzheimer’s Disease: The Effect of Mild Cognitive Impairment.  Neurobiology of Aging, 27, 1604-1612. a [pubmed]

Johnson SC, Schmitz TW, Trivedi MA, Ries ML, Torgerson BM, Carlsson CM, Asthana S, Hermann, BP, Sager, MA (2006). The Influence of AD Family History and APOE4 on Mesial Temporal Lobe Activation.J Neurosci, 26, 6069-6076. © Society for Neuroscience. a [pubmed]

Schmitz, TW, Kawahara, TN, Rowley, HA, Johnson, SC (2006). Neueral correlates of self-evaluative accuracy after traumatic brain injury. Neuropsychologia, 44, 762-773.   a [pubmed]  

Schmitz, TW, Johnson, SC. (2006). Self-appraisal decisions evoke dissociated dorsal—ventral aMPFC networks. Neuroimage, 30, 1050-1058.  a [pubmed]

Thottakara, P, Lazar, M, Johnson, SC, Alexander, AL (2006). Brodmann’s areas template for ROI selection in white matter tractography studies. Neuroimage, 29, 868-878.  a  [pubmed] 

  Ries, ML, Schmitz, TW, Kawahara, TN, Torgerson, BM, Trivedi, MA, Johnson, SC (2006). Task-dependent posterior cingulate activation in mild cognitive impairment. Neuroimage, 29, 485-492.  a [pubmed]

Trivedi, MA, Schmitz, TW, Ries, ML, Torgerson, BM, Sager, MA, Hermann, BP, Asthana, S, Johnson, SC (2006). Reduced hippocampal activation during episodic encoding in middle-aged individuals at genetic risk for Alzheimer’s Disease: a cross-sectional study. BMC Medicine, 4:1. a [pubmed] open access

2005

  Johnson SC, Schmitz TW, Rowley HA, Alexander AL, Lee J, Davidson RJ. (2005). The cerebral response during subjective choice with and without self-reference. J Cogn Neurosci, 17(12), 1897-1906. a [pubmed] 

Ward, MA, Carlsson, CM, Trivedi, MA, Sager, MA, Johnson, SC (in press).  The effect of body mass index on global brain volume in middle-aged adults:  a cross-sectional study.  BMC Neurology, 5:23   a [pubmed] 

Gleason CE, Cholerton B, Carlsson CM, Johnson SC, Asthana S. Review. Neuroprotective effects of female sex steroids in humans: current controversies and future directions. Cell Mol Life Sci, 62(3):299-312, 2005.   [pubmed]
Gleason CE, Carlsson CM, Johnson SC, Atwood, C, Asthana S. (2005). Clinical Pharmacology and differential cognitive efficacy of estrogen preparations. Annals of the New York Academy of Science, 1052, 93-115.  [pubmed]
Hua LH, Strigo IA, Baxter LC, Johnson SC, Craig AD. Antero-posterior somatotopy of innocuous cooling activation focus in human dorsal posterior insular cortex. Am J Physiology, 289:R319 - R325. 2005.  a [pubmed]
Gale S, Baxter L, Roundy N, Johnson SC. Traumatic Brain Injury and Gray Matter Concentration: A Voxel-based morphometry study of TBI patients. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry, 76:984-988, 2005.   a [pubmed]
2004 and earlier
McMillan AB, Hermann BP, Johnson SC, Hansen RR, Seidenberg M, Meyerand ME. Voxel-based Morphometry of Unilateral Temporal Lobe Epilepsy Reveals Abnormalities in Cerebral White Matter. Neuroimage, 23:167-174, 2004.   [pubmed]

Schmitz TW, Kawahara-Baccus TN, Johnson SC. Metacognition, Self-reflection, and the Right Prefrontal Cortex. Neuroimage, 22:941-947, 2004.    a [pubmed]

Johnson SC, Baxter, LC, Susskind-Wilder L, Connor DJ, Sabbagh MN, Caselli RJ. Hippocampal adaptation to face repetition in healthy elderly and mild cognitive impairment. Neuropsychologia, 42:980-989, 2004.    a [pubmed]
Baxter LC, Caselli RJ, Johnson SC, Reiman EM, Osborne D. Apolipoprotein E ε4 affects new learning in cognitively normal individuals at risk for Alzheimer’s Disease. Neurobiol Aging 24:947-952, 2003.   [pubmed]

Johnson SC, Baxter LC, Susskind-Wilder L, Pipe JG, Heiserman JE, Prigatano GP, Neural substrates of self-reflective thought. Brain, 125:1808-1814, 2002.   a  [pubmed]

 

Contact Us | ©2008 University of Wisconsin | Want to be a part of our research?? We're hiring!