# Bilateral Brain Dynamics Supporting Cognition in Normal Aging and Dementia

> **NIH NIH K01** · DUKE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $102,239

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
This is an application for a K01 award to Dr. Simon Davis, an Assistant Professor and cognitive neuroscientist
at the Duke Institute of Brain Sciences, a scientific institute that supports researchers bridging basic science
and translational applications. Dr. Davis is establishing himself as a young investigator in both basic and
translational research of age-related disorders of cognition. This K01 award will provide Dr. Davis with the
support necessary to accomplish the following goals: (1) become an expert in Cognitive Electrophysiology
(EEG) and Clinical Research, with a focus on Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), (2) gain practical expertise in
electrophysiological approaches to hemispheric communication during memory, (3) integrate novel brain
stimulation and EEG techniques in both basic and translational studies, and (4) develop novel brain stimulation
protocols to enhance attentional control and memory in normative and demented elderly populations. To
achieve these goals, Dr. Davis, who has a background on the neural mechanisms of episodic and semantic
memory, has assembled a mentoring team comprised of his primary mentor, Dr. Marty G. Woldorff, a senior
cognitive neuroscientist with extensive experience in electrophysiological studies of attentional and cognitive
control, and co-mentor Dr. Richard O’Brien, Chair of the Neurology Department at Duke, who has extensive
experience conducting multimethodological investigations of aging and neurodegenerative disease, including
AD and amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI-AD), the population examined in the current proposal.
 This proposal is focused on the gap in understanding of bilateral brain interactions and their role in helping
normative and clinical elderly populations maintain cognitive health. Dr. Davis’ research will focus on
investigating this neural mechanism of these interactions and promoting them with a precise application of
TMS, in order to test the hypothesis that excitatory interactions between the hemispheres can provide positive
outcomes for patients with pre-clinical AD (amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment or MCI-AD). In Aim 1, Dr.
Davis will establish the spatial specificity of bilateral brain mechanisms with combination of behavior and high-
resolution structural neuroimaging in cortical sites known to be active during memory encoding. In Aim 2, Dr.
Davis will establish the underlying dynamics of interhemispheric frontal communication using a novel
combination of single-sided TMS, rTMS entraining conditions, and electroencephalography (EEG) to establish
the coordinated activity between the hemispheres; Lastly, in Aim 3, Dr. Davis will use the rTMS entraining
parameters delineated in Aim 2 to promote specific cross-hemispheric communication, applied to participants
performing a Picture Encoding task, a general task of memory performance. The outcome of these studies will
allow Dr. Davis to evaluate the strength of this brain stimulation protocol in alleviating ag...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9933765
- **Project number:** 5K01AG053539-04
- **Recipient organization:** DUKE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Simon W Davis
- **Activity code:** K01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $102,239
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-09-01 → 2022-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9933765

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9933765, Bilateral Brain Dynamics Supporting Cognition in Normal Aging and Dementia (5K01AG053539-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9933765. Licensed CC0.

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