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Selected Works

Kristy Nielson

FMRI

Articles 1 - 3 of 3

Full-Text Articles in Psychology

Semantic Memory Activation In Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment, John L. Woodard, Michael Seidenberg, Kristy A. Nielson, Piero Antuono, Leslie Guidotti, Sally Durgerian, Qi Zhang, Melissa A. Lancaster, Nathan Hantke, Alissa Butts, Stephen M. Rao Jul 2014

Semantic Memory Activation In Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment, John L. Woodard, Michael Seidenberg, Kristy A. Nielson, Piero Antuono, Leslie Guidotti, Sally Durgerian, Qi Zhang, Melissa A. Lancaster, Nathan Hantke, Alissa Butts, Stephen M. Rao

Kristy Nielson

Cognitively intact older individuals at risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease frequently show increased functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain activation presumably associated with compensatory recruitment, whereas mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients tend not to show increased activation presumably due to reduced neural reserve. Previous studies, however, have typically used episodic memory activation tasks, placing MCI participants at a performance disadvantage relative to healthy elders. In this event-related fMRI study, we employed a low effort, high accuracy semantic memory task to determine if increased activation of memory circuits is preserved in amnestic MCI when task performance is controlled. Fifty-seven participants, aged …


Interactive Effects Of Physical Activity And Apoe-Ε4 On Bold Semantic Memory Activation In Healthy Elders, J. Carson Smith, Kristy A. Nielson, John L. Woodard, Michael Seidenberg, Sally Durgerian, Piero Antuono, Alissa Butts, Nathan Hantke, Melissa A. Lancaster, Stephen M. Rao Jul 2014

Interactive Effects Of Physical Activity And Apoe-Ε4 On Bold Semantic Memory Activation In Healthy Elders, J. Carson Smith, Kristy A. Nielson, John L. Woodard, Michael Seidenberg, Sally Durgerian, Piero Antuono, Alissa Butts, Nathan Hantke, Melissa A. Lancaster, Stephen M. Rao

Kristy Nielson

Evidence suggests that physical activity (PA) is associated with the maintenance of cognitive function across the lifespan. In contrast, the apolipoproteinE-ε4 (APOE-ε4) allele, a genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD), is associated with impaired cognitive function. The objective of this study was to examine the interactive effects of PA and APOE-ε4 on brain activation during memory processing in older (ages 65–85) cognitively intact adults. A cross-sectional design was used with four groups (n = 17 each): (1) Low Risk/Low PA; (2) Low Risk/High PA; (3) High Risk/Low PA; and (4) High Risk/High PA. PA level was based on …


Prediction Of Cognitive Decline In Healthy Older Adults Using Fmri, John L. Woodard, Michael Seidenberg, Kristy A. Nielson, J Carson Smith, Piero Antuono, Sally Durgerian, Leslie Guidotti, Qi Zhang, Alissa Butts, Nathan Hantke, Melissa A. Lancaster, Stephen M. Rao Jul 2014

Prediction Of Cognitive Decline In Healthy Older Adults Using Fmri, John L. Woodard, Michael Seidenberg, Kristy A. Nielson, J Carson Smith, Piero Antuono, Sally Durgerian, Leslie Guidotti, Qi Zhang, Alissa Butts, Nathan Hantke, Melissa A. Lancaster, Stephen M. Rao

Kristy Nielson

Few studies have examined the extent to which structural and functional MRI, alone and in combination with genetic biomarkers, can predict future cognitive decline in asymptomatic elders. This prospective study evaluated individual and combined contributions of demographic information, genetic risk, hippocampal volume, and fMRI activation for predicting cognitive decline after an 18-month retest interval. Standardized neuropsychological testing, an fMRI semantic memory task (famous name discrimination), and structural MRI (sMRI) were performed on 78 healthy elders (73% female; mean age = 73 years, range = 65 to 88 years). Positive family history of dementia and presence of one or both apolipoprotein …