System-level neuroanatomy of the human brain, experimental neuropathology of Alzheimer’s disease, focal dementias, and the mapping of cognitive domains onto large-scale neural networks of the human brain.

Complex cognitive functions are organized at the level of interconnected networks of association and limbic cortex (1,2). Our objective is to explore this organization with the help of two distinct approaches:

Quantitative studies of neurocognitive function in patients with focal
lesions and dementias

Functional imaging with magnetic resonance.

One current focus is on the networks that mediate spatial attention and the right hemisphere dominance for hemispatial neglect. Another is on a language-based dementia known as primary progressive aphasia.

Imaging with echoplanar magnetic resonance

As part of the Alzheimer Center neuropathology core, our basic science laboratory is focused on the system-level neuroanatomy of the human brain, the experimental neuroanatomy of aging and Alzheimer’s disease and the chemical neuroanatomy of cholinergic pathways.