# Multi-modal imaging of the mechanisms underlying impaired executive attention after traumatic brain injury

> **NIH NIH R01** · WEILL MEDICAL COLL OF CORNELL UNIV · 2020 · $555,799

## Abstract

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a leading cause of death and long-term disability, and there are more than 5.3
million persons in the US alone with chronic executive attention and cognitive dysfunction. There is a funda-
mental gap in knowledge of the functional and structural mechanisms underlying executive attention impair-
ments after TBI. Without this knowledge it will not be possible to establish reliable ways to predict potential for
recovery or, ultimately, create individualized therapies. The long-term goal of this integrated research effort is
to identify the mechanism(s) underlying cognitive deficits in TBI patients, as this will enable accurate classifica-
tion of their impairments, more accurate prognoses and precise evaluation of the effectiveness of interventions.
The overall objective of this proposal is to relate clinically applicable EEG metrics of executive attention to
quantitative metrics of structural connectivity alterations within the anterior forebrain mesocircuit (medial frontal
cortex, striatum and central thalamus) and to evaluate their role in predicting cognitive outcomes after TBI. The
central hypothesis is that individually measured electrophysiologic responses and anatomical injuries within the
anterior forebrain mesocircuit of TBI subjects will correlate with executive attention deficits, as measured by the
ANT, and accurately predict broad cognitive outcomes. This hypothesis is based on preliminary work from two
studies of EEG and diffusion MRI in TBI patients, as well as related published research supporting the underly-
ing model in more severely brain-injured subjects. The rationale underlying the proposed research is that char-
acterizing the relationship between the anterior forebrain mesocircuit and executive attention deficits at an indi-
vidual level, using both physiological and anatomical measurements, will allow insight into the biological un-
derpinnings of the deficits and help frame mechanistic approaches to future diagnosis and therapy. Guided by
strong preliminary data, this hypothesis will be tested with two specific aims. The first Aim is to determine the
extent to which executive attentional impairment, measured with the ANT, relates to injury-related changes in
the anterior forebrain mesocircuit a) physiology (EEG) and b) white matter connectivity (diffusion MRI). Part c)
of Aim 1 will integrate the two modalities and relate them back to clinically-applicable EEG. {Aim 2 is to a)
cross-sectionally relate and b) longitudinally predict cognitive outcomes via cutting-edge machine learning
techniques applied to imaging metrics collected in Aim 1.} The approach is innovative, in the applicant's opin-
ion, because they propose to link attentional impairments, as measured by the ANT, to measures of physiology
and connectivity on an individual basis and predict cognitive outcomes {using machine learning.} The pro-
posed research is significant, because knowledge of the biology underlying attention imp...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9828783
- **Project number:** 5R01NS102646-03
- **Recipient organization:** WEILL MEDICAL COLL OF CORNELL UNIV
- **Principal Investigator:** Amy Frances Kuceyeski
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $555,799
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-12-01 → 2022-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9828783

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9828783, Multi-modal imaging of the mechanisms underlying impaired executive attention after traumatic brain injury (5R01NS102646-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9828783. Licensed CC0.

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