# Imaging of Cognition, Learning and Memory in Aging

> **NIH NIH R01** · COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · 2020 · $977,369

## Abstract

The proposed research is aimed at better understanding the neural underpinnings of cognitive reserve (CR).
We have postulated that CR moderates the relationship between age- or Alzheimer’s disease (AD)-related
brain pathology and the clinical impact of that pathology. Our findings suggest that CR operates through
individual differences in how tasks are processed in the brain and that we can use fMRI-measured task-related
activation to understand these processing differences. We have also begun to look at the factors influencing
brain integrity, or brain reserve (BR). The promise of better understanding CR and BR is that these concepts
have implications for preservation of function over time, so the neural mechanisms underlying reserve are
optimally studied in a longitudinal context. We propose to initiate longitudinal follow-up at 5 years of a large,
well characterized, initially healthy group of young (n=50) and older (N=150) adults, in order to elucidate the
neural mechanism underlying CR that help maintain BR and successful cognitive performance in the face of
advancing age-related brain changes and AD pathology. These participants have already been studied at
baseline with two fMRI tasks, as well as quantified measures of age- and AD-related brain changes and
pathology, including MR measures of brain volume, cortical thickness, white matter hyperintensities, resting
cerebral blood flow and default network integrity, as well quantified amyloid burden from Florbetaben PET. We
have already identified candidate neural mechanisms for CR. We will determine whether differential
expression of these CR networks in healthy elders is associated with reduced risk of important clinical
outcomes including cognitive decline and developing mild cognitive impairment MCI or AD. We will also
explore how measured CR and CR networks maintain BR and how they moderate the effect of observed brain
changes and advancing AD pathology in order to preserve cognitive functioning.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9913429
- **Project number:** 5R01AG026158-14
- **Recipient organization:** COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES
- **Principal Investigator:** YAAKOV STERN
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $977,369
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-05-01 → 2022-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9913429

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9913429, Imaging of Cognition, Learning and Memory in Aging (5R01AG026158-14). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9913429. Licensed CC0.

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