Grantee: Brain Trauma Foundation, New York, NY, USA Project Summary: This collaborative seeks to understand how disruption of communication among brain areas contributes to the cognitive impairment evidenced in individuals with mild brain injury. A novel aspect of this hypothesis is the idea that a crucial and vulnerable function of neural networks is to allow the predictive timing needed to support consistent behavioral performance. A prevalent finding in mild TBI patients, and other brain pathologies characterized by attentional deficits, is an increase in reaction time variability. The quantification and specificity of damage to white matter tracts using new imaging techniques and analyses, relating focal structural connectivity disruption to functional changes in neurophysiology and behavior, is a novel aspect of this collaborative's research plan.
Project Lead: Jamshid Ghajar, M.D., Ph.D.Co-PIs: Roland Lee, Mingxiong Huang, Deborah Harrington, Rebecca Theilmann, Terry Sejnowski, Pratik Mukherjee, Maurizio Corbetta, Gordon Shulman, Josh Shimony, and Avi Snyder
Grant Title: Attention Dynamics Consortium in Traumatic Brain Injury (ADC-TBI)
Program Area: Understanding Human Cognition
Grant Type: Collaborative Activity Award
Year Awarded: 2008
Duration: 3 years