Attentional Mechanisms of Cognitive Compensation in Subjective Cognitive Decline and AD Risk

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Attentional Mechanisms of Cognitive Compensation in Subjective Cognitive Decline and AD Risk Candidate: Dr. Kimberly Albert, PhD is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center with a strong background in cognitive and systems neuroscience. Her long-term career goals include gaining the necessary training to become an independent investigator with research focused on identifying brain mechanisms that maintain cognitive function in the early stages of pathological brain aging and may underlie subjective cognitive decline (SCD). Career Development: Dr. Albert seeks to translate her mechanistic work to clinical research that mitigates the cognitive effects of early AD pathology. Dr. Albert requires advanced training in 1) clinical trials development, implementation, and management.; 2) the clinical presentation, course, and assessment of SCD and Alzheimer’s Disease; 3) neuroimaging using EEG/ERP to provide the temporal resolution to assess brain activity related to component cognitive processes. This training will build on Dr. Albert’s prior experience in human cognitive neuroscience using functional neuroimaging to examine the neurobiology of cognitive aging. Research Project: These career goals will be facilitated through a research study focused on the role of cholinergic support of attention as a cognitive compensatory mechanism in SCD. As early AD-related neuropathology affects medial temporal areas important for memory, there may be a compensatory enhancement of attention network activity via increased cholinergic function. Although memory performance is maintained through this compensatory process, subtle cognitive changes may be obscured. Additionally, the individual may experience this change as increased required effort or occasional memory failures which result in subjective cognitive decline despite normal cognitive testing. Cholinergic activity may be an integral component of maintaining memory function in early AD, through enhanced attention. The proposed study focuses on attention as a compensatory cognitive process and the relationships between AD-related pathology and cholinergic neurotransmitter mechanisms that may underlie this compensation in SCD. The ultimate aim of the study is to identify the role of attention network changes in supporting cognitive performance in SCD using EEG and fMRI as complimentary neuroimaging approaches. Anticholinergic challenge will be employed to model AD progression and examine the relationships between cognitive concerns, attention, and AD pathology. The results of this study will improve our understanding of brain changes that maintain cognitive performance in the early stages of AD pathology and may underlie SCD. Environment: Mentoring, collaborations, and resources available through the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, the Center for Cognitive Medicine, and the Vanderbilt Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center provide an ideal environment to support Dr. Albert’s transition to independent funding and leadership in the field of attentional changes in cognitive aging.