MEMORY DISTORTION IN ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE

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This is an application for a Mentored Patient-Oriented Career Development Award (K-23) entitled "Memory Distortion in Alzheimer's Disease." The candidate's interest is in the study of the cognitive decline that occurs in Alzheimer's disease, with a particular emphasis on memory distortion. Distortions of memory can impair the ability of the patient with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD) to live independently. The candidate proposes to test hypotheses generated from his previous study to better understand the cause of these memory distortions. The candidate's previous training was in clinical aspects of dementia and neurology, and he has had initial training in cognitive neuroscience from an NIMH-sponsored National Research Service Award under the direction of Daniel L. Schacter, Ph.D. The proposed project will provide more advanced training in (1) cognitive neuroscience and (2) the design and analysis of behavioral experiments, as well as training in (3) the design and analysis of cognitive event-related potential (ERP) experiments. The research project designed to achieve these goals integrates several experimental approaches to study false recognition, a type of memory distortion that occurs in AD. First, behavioral paradigms will be used in AD patients to understand whether the candidate's previous false recognition findings using semantically associated words can be generalized to other types of items. Second, behavioral paradigms will also be employed in patients with AD and focal brain lesions to better understand which parts of memory and what brain structures contribute to AD patients' false recognition. Third, ERPs of AD patients will be examined to explore electrophysiological correlates of true and false recognition. Didactic courses in statistics and cognitive neuroscience will complement the research work. This integrated program, providing training in behavioral experiments, electrophysiological (ERP) techniques, and cognitive neuroscience, will foster the candidate's development into an independent investigator in the fields of Alzheimer's disease and behavioral neurology. The research conducted will advance our understanding of memory and its distortions in patients with AD, and may provide insights into encoding and retrieval in healthy individuals.