Stanford Psychiatry receives grant to research biopsychological mismatch during cognitive training in MCI as a means of improving transfer

We are pleased to announce that the National Institute on Aging has awarded a grant to Adam Turnbull, Social Science Research Scholar in psychiatry and behavioral sciences.

This grant funds Dr. Turnbull’s project, “Characterizing biopsychological mismatch during cognitive training in mild cognitive impairment as a means of improving transfer.”

Cognitive training is a scalable, well-tolerated intervention for slowing cognitive decline related to Alzheimer’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease related dementias (AD/ADRD) with minimal side effects. Despite much promise, there have been mixed findings on strong, reliable transfer of cognitive training to non-trained domains in older adults at risk for AD/ADRD, including those with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) — a critical pre-clinical stage for intervention.

Transfer is hypothesized to occur when a mismatch between cognitive resources and task demands leads to increases in the efficiency with which existing cognitive resources can be applied to untrained tasks. However, few studies have attempted to quantify mismatch.

“We aim to develop a conceptual and operational framework for quantifying biopsychological mismatch, measured using experience sampling and ECG measures within and across cognitive training sessions in MCI,” says Dr. Turnbull, “with the goal of understanding and improving transfer effects for future personalized, scalable cognitive training programs that can reach those most in need for intervention in MCI.”

Dr. Turnbull is part of the CogT lab. He is interested in improving non-pharmacological interventions by measuring and understanding participant states while they engage in interventions. This career development funding will support Dr. Turnbull’s research career, which is focused on developing personalized, adaptive, scalable behavioral interventions that can reach those most at risk for dementia. He will work closely with his research mentor, Dr. F. Vankee Lin, and with a mentorship team, including Dr. Booil Jo, Dr. Ehsan Adeli, Dr. James Gross, and Dr. Michelle Odden.

Recent publications co-authored by Dr. Turnbull on topics related to this work include:

• Vision-based estimation of fatigue and engagement in cognitive training sessions.
• Positive affect disrupts neurodegeneration effects on cognitive training plasticity in older adults.
• Effect of online tDCS to left somatomotor cortex on neuropsychiatric symptoms among older adults at risk for dementia.
• Improving comparability across cognitive training trials for brain aging: A focus on interoperability.
• Unifying framework for cognitive training interventions in brain aging.
   

More Information

Read more details about the project on NIH RePORTER.