Clinical Research Directory

Screening for Memory Studies

We hope to recruit participants into various clinical trials and research projects.

Spatial Scene Recognition Memory in Epilepsy Surgery

This study investigates the anatomical and physiological basis of spatial scene recognition memory in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy and temporal lobe lesions. Standard neuropsychological tests are insensitive to important memory deficits experienced by patients, particularly in spatial/scene memory, recollective experience, and familiarity processing. Using a validated virtual tour paradigm, the study examines how familiarity-based recognition and recall of spatial scenes relate to specific brain structures. In Aim I, a large cohort of patients with varied temporal lobe lesions at Emory University undergoes the virtual tour task with voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping to localize necessary brain regions. In Aim II, scalp event-related potentials and eye tracking in healthy participants at UC Davis characterize the temporal dynamics and lateralization of scene recognition. In Aim III, intracranial EEG recordings (including local field potentials and single-unit activity) in epilepsy surgery patients at UC Davis determine the precise network dynamics underlying spatial scene familiarity and recall. The long-term goal is to improve the prediction and prevention of cognitive morbidity from epilepsy surgery by providing a more complete model of spatial recognition memory circuits.

Neural and Cognitive Consequences of COVID-19 Survival

The novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 infection, COVID, continues to rage throughout the world with 115,000,000 confirmed cases and over 2,500,000 deaths (as of Mar 3, 2021). This translates to millions of people surviving COVID19 infection. While the lungs are ground zero, COVID tears through organ systems from brain to blood vessels. We are now beginning to see people recover but complain of ongoing problems, including lingering cognitive problems, depression, and anxiety. We have brought together 2 laboratories with complementary techniques including psychological testing and neuroimaging methods togethers with markers in the blood that may signal damage in the brain. A close look at these problems is timely and imperative if we are to understand the pathophysiology of 'COVID brain' and prepare for downstream problems.