Scientists, Scientific Associates, and Clinician Associates

My research program combines neuroimaging, behavioural and neuropsychological methods to investigate how we remember past experiences, imagine future events, construct a coherent sense of self, and think creatively. A major focus of my research is to understand the relationship between memory and imagination. To this end, my studies explore whether memories and imagined events rely on the same cognitive processes and brain networks such as the default mode network. To date, our findings indicate considerable overlap in memory and imagination, suggesting that past and future events may in fact be different outputs of a single brain system designed to construct mental simulations of reality. Another focus of my work is to understand the ways in which future imagination differs with age, mood and mood disorders such as depression, and memory loss as a result of amnesia or dementia. This work is important in understanding how memory and imagination are linked to other aspects of psychological well-being, but also in identifying what persists in the face of memory loss, such as a strong sense of self, and ways in which future thinking could be enhanced. A new aspect of my research program is exploring how the uncertainty and changes in mood experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting various aspects of future thinking, from simulating upcoming experiences to making decisions related to public health.

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I am maintaining a successful program of research in cognitive neuroscience of auditory perception and aging, particularly in terms of generating and integrating new research approaches to theories of cognitive function. My research group was one of the first to provide evidence of the “what” and “where” pathways in the human auditory system. This dual pathway model is a widely accepted model for investigating the impact of age, hearing loss, and noise on speech comprehension. Our research also aims to identify the core processes enabling perception, attention, and memory for auditory information, and to develop a comprehensive theory of auditory attention. It builds on our past achievement in formulating the theory of object-based auditory attention and showing that musical training lessens age-related decline in cognition, which affords potential for the development of interventions that capitalize on musical activities.

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My research program answers two questions: how are memory and attention affected by healthy aging and mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and what can we do to help maintain brain health and reduce dementia risk among older adults? To answer the first question, I am studying how feelings of familiarity and the ability to inhibit irrelevant information are affected by aging and MCI, and how early life trauma (e.g., the Holocaust) affects people’s memory for their childhood. These studies advance our understanding not only of normal cognitive aging and MCI, but also more fundamentally of how memory and attention work. To address the second aim, I am running interventions involving exercise, nutrition, cognitive training, and cognitive and social engagement with colleagues in the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA; ccna-ccnv.ca). Many of these interventions will move into the new Kimel Family Centre for Brain Health and Wellness, where I am Associative Scientific Director. We aim to discover how these interventions affect cognitive functioning and brain health to reduce the risk of dementia.

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It is through observation that scientific teams improve our understanding of how the brain works and enhance our toolbox for maintaining and improving brain health.  We observe how people eat and move, where they live, their social activity, electrical activity in their brain, how they use the healthcare system, and their memory and cognition. My research is focused on methods and processes for translating these observations into knowledge and care. Research opportunities can be identified by embedding statistical thinking into how studies are developed and designed, how data are collected and prepared, and how they are analyzed and interpreted. Modifying the way we randomize participants to treatments can lead to a more efficient balance of clinical and demographic characteristics in small clinical trials. New detection methods for observations that appear usual along a single measure but suspicious across several – such as a six-foot-tall person who weighs 130 pounds – can identify recording errors, illuminate new perspectives, and signal human diversity.  Developing new analytic approaches can highlight natural relationships among measures of memory, attention, mood, imaging, movement, blood chemistry, and nutrition. The return on this biostatistical research is better quality, nuance, and efficiency of brain health discovery based on quantitative evidence. 

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Our conscious memories of the past vary in the way they are experienced: some are sharp and vivid, some are fuzzy and vague, while others may be no more than dimly recognizable feelings of a different time in one’s life. My laboratory aims to understand how the varieties of conscious memory experience may be understood at the level of brain networks and activation patterns. We use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to capture and “decode” the patterns of neural activity that give rise to memory experiences. Using statistical techniques and machine learning methods, we are developing ways of “reading out” the content, precision, and quality of a person’s memory from the functional images that we acquire during the act of remembering. We are using these approaches to study how memory changes with age, how individual differences in memory ability are explained by differences in brain activity patterns, and why some memories seem bright and vivid while others are vague and indistinct. With our methods for probing what the brain is doing when we relive the past, we are not only gaining critical insight into the basic neural mechanisms of human memory but offering new and powerful ways of assessing what is going right and what is going wrong in healthy people and in those experiencing a pathological decline in their ability to remember the past.

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My research program uses clinical and advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques to study the brain’s structure and physiology. Our methods are applied to the study of aging and various neurological disorders. We are mainly interested in: (1) how resting-state functional MRI can be more accurately used to map brain networks; (2) how vascular health of the brain is associated with brain tissue integrity; and (3) how to map the vascular physiology and oxygen metabolism of the brain more non-invasively for clinical use. These questions help us to better understand the relationship between vascular, structural, and cognitive health of the brain and can help inform lifestyle and clinical decisions in terms of disease treatment and prevention.

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My research aims to advance our understanding of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. There are five themes in my lab:

1. How can we better diagnose Alzheimer’s disease at its earliest manifestations using cognitive tools and biomarkers?
2. How does language break down in the brain in Alzheimer’s disease, and what areas are responsible for this breakdown?
3. Is Alzheimer’s disease a single entity, or does it consist of multiple subtypes? This work is done in collaboration with other researchers in the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA), of which I am the Scientific Director.
4. Can the language and memory symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia be improved with neuromodulation treatment with mild electricity applied to the scalp, using a technique called “transcranial direct current stimulation” (tDCS)? This work is being done alongside Scientific Associate Dr. Tyler Roncero.
5. Can we use combinations of diet, lifestyle, and medications to slow the onset of or prevent Alzheimer’s disease? This work will be based in Baycrest’s new Kimel Family Centre for Brain Health and Wellness.

 
All of the work involves volunteer subjects with various forms of memory loss. Many of these individuals enter my studies through the Sam and Ida Ross Memory Clinic at Baycrest, where I work as a neurologist.
Some of this work overlaps with the Anne and Allan Bank Centre for Clinical Research Trials (CCRT) at Baycrest, which I also direct. The CCRT oversees a variety of therapy trials including medications, tDCS, and other modalities, to try to treat and prevent Alzheimer’s disease.

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I am now retired as a full-time researcher, so I no longer run an active lab but am still involved in a number of projects. My work over the last few decades has been in the areas of attention and memory, and how these abilities decline in the course of healthy aging. The findings are featured in a variety of journal articles and are now also published in a book in which I introduce and annotate a representative selection of previously published articles. At present, I am involved in a collaborative project with Drs. Buchsbaum and Moscovitch using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the effects of divided attention on memory encoding processes. I am also continuing collaborative work on bilingualism with Professor Ellen Bialystok (York University), who is an Adjunct Scientist at the Rotman Research Institute. Finally, I am engaged in several writing projects. One is a book on my views on remembering as an activity of mind and brain, currently under production at Oxford University Press, and another popular book on memory for the intelligent layperson to be published in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge Series. This book is to be written in collaboration with my friend and colleague Professor Larry Jacoby who recently retired from Washington University in St. Louis.

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My research program aims (1) to understand how impairments in cognitive processes that arise from acquired brain disorders and aging affect people’s abilities to be autonomous in community living, and (2) to develop and evaluate effective interventions that train individuals to manage these impairments so they can participate fully in their everyday life. To understand how these impairments affect everyday life, I am developing assessments of how people perform routine tasks in everyday life when some novelty is introduced. I am also characterizing the strategies used in relation to cognitive abilities. As well, I am involved in the development of interventions involving cognitive training, individualized goal setting, nutrition and social engagement, with funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and with colleagues from the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA; ccna-ccnv.ca). We believe these interventions have the potential to prevent cognitive and behavioural decline and to promote well-being and quality of life, and we seek to understand how this occurs.

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I am carrying out research aimed at improving our understanding of how cognitive functions break down in dementia due to disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia. My research also includes the development of cognitive tests for the evaluation of dementia, such as the Toronto Cognitive Assessment and the Object Alternation Test, as well as studies on clock drawing as a cognitive assessment tool. In addition, I have special expertise in distance learning at a global level using videoconferencing, an area in which I have taken a major leadership role

• My lab is devoted to understanding disturbances of human memory in people with brain damage caused by trauma or disease. We use various methodologies to investigate the cognitive neuroscience of memory, including behavioural and lesion analyses, brain imaging (structural and functional MRI), psychophysiology (SCR) and electrophysiology (ERP, MEG). We focus on three main questions. One is whether parts of the brain that were thought to be “slow learners” are in fact capable of forming new memories rapidly, if provided with the right learning conditions. We are particularly exploring the influence of having prior knowledge on accelerating new learning. In addressing this question, we are working with individuals who suffer from memory loss (amnesia), as well as testing healthy individuals using fMRI and MEG. The second, related, area of research concerns different types of prior knowledge, how they are represented in the brain and how they can be brought online to support new learning. Here we are focusing on how the brain prepares itself to process information, using measures of cross-regional connectivity before information is presented. Finally, we are interested in how we know whether our memories are true. Measuring electrical neural activity from patients with confabulation, a rare memory disorder that leads to false memories, we have identified very rapid neural signatures that are pre-conscious and that influence our conscious experience of the veracity of our memories.

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My research uses brain imaging techniques to study how brain structure and function are modified by age and how age differences in the brain translate into age differences in behaviour. We are particularly interested in how the connections between various brain areas change with age. These connections define brain “networks,” and we are studying the network activity that accompanies cognitive processes, such as memory and cognitive control (i.e., being able to manage and organize a set of tasks that you need to carry out). Our aim is to identify the brain mechanisms that underlie successful aging and whether the function of some brain networks can serve as compensation that supports cognition in older adults. Knowledge of which brain networks to target for interventions will help us design and implement such interventions to improve quality of life in older adults.

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I am interested in the relationship between diet and brain function, with specific interest in cognitive function and appetite regulation. One area of investigation focuses on healthy seniors and the impact of lifelong dietary patterns on risk of cognitive decline with aging. My current focus is on the role of type 2 diabetes (non-insulin dependent) as a risk factor for cognitive decline and dementia. These studies include an examination of the impact of meal, or food, consumption on cognitive function since many older adults with type 2 diabetes experience transient decreases in cognitive function following meal ingestion. My studies aim to understand the biologic means whereby food ingestion interferes with cognitive function in those with diabetes and to identify food strategies which minimize this decline. My other area of investigation focuses on institutionalized seniors with cognitive impairment, such as that observed with advanced Alzheimer Disease, and identifying nutrition strategies to reduce their risk of developing malnutrition. I am studying eating patterns in institutionalized seniors to understand how Alzheimer Disease influences eating behaviour and whether eating behaviours change at different stages of disease progression. Through this understanding, I am testing nutrition interventions which accommodate disease induced alterations in eating behaviours and appetite regulation to determine whether they are effective approaches to increase food intake which can be implemented in the institutional setting.

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My research program answers three interrelated questions: How do ideas and social responses shape what we know and understand about later life? To what extent do these correspond with older people’s experiences? How do disadvantage and inequality alter expectations and experiences of aging and late life? To answer the first question, I study the language used in international frameworks, cultural discourses on aging, and textual sources, such as policies or practices for older people. For example, older people are often given messages to “age in place” and to be “healthy or successful.” For the second, I interview older people from varying social locations to understand their experiences of aging and how these may correspond or conflict with the expectations and ideas in texts and popular frames. For example, are there particular life experiences that may alter whether they are deemed to achieve these gold standards, such as the challenges homelessness raises for “aging in place” or the idea that success is not possible alongside impairment or disability? I then consider how disadvantages can be carried across the life course and into late life, and I draw on older people’s insights to suggest changes to policy, practice and expectations.

A major focus of my research is on cognitive inhibition – the ability to prevent irrelevant information from entering consciousness, and the ability to delete it from consciousness if it does get in. We have found that older adults allow more irrelevant information to enter consciousness, and they attend to that information more and for longer compared to younger adults. The good news is that if this irrelevant information later becomes relevant and beneficial for performance, older adults are at an advantage over young adults. We have also examined how cognitive inhibition varies throughout the day. We have shown that older adults, who tend to be early birds, are far better at ignoring irrelevant information at their optimal time of day (usually in the morning) than at their non-optimal time of day (usually in the afternoon). We have also observed associated brain differences throughout the day that enable better cognitive performance in the morning. This affects older adults’ ability to perform well on tasks that are vulnerable to distraction, including attention and memory, depending on the time of day.

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My primary research focuses on auditory sensation and cognition in older adulthood. The goal of this research is to understand how we engage in listening and communication as we age and why some people who are hard of hearing disengage from social, communication-mediated activities.  We focus on how sounds are encoded in sensory systems, how cognitive processes support listening under challenges, and how sensation and cognition intact to shape listening experiences. The research aims to help develop better knowledge of the changes in neural circuits associated with aging and hearing loss that lead to adverse listening experiences and disengagement. We tackle these questions from different angles ranging from mechanistic neurophysiology to listening experiences in real social situations.

My clinical and research efforts are directed at preserving communication abilities for people on a continuum between healthy aging and language-based dementia, known as primary progressive aphasia (PPA). I developed wordfinding.ca, a website for older adults experiencing tip-of-the-tongue moments, to counteract the influence of aging on word retrieval. As well, I am involved in the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA; ccna-ccnv.ca), examining how cognitive and social stimulation may reduce the risk of dementia. I also developed the first comprehensive program for people with PPA and their caregivers and am continuously seeking new, effective ways of stimulating language in PPA through transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS).

Depression is the number one brain health problem in Canada for individuals over the age of 40.  People who experience untreated depression in mid-life are twice as likely to develop dementia later in life, compared to those who don’t share that untreated history. Taking care of your mental health today saves your brain health tomorrow. Depression is highly treatable, while dementia is currently incurable. I develop research-based, self-management treatments that target mid-life depression to prevent the development of dementia later on. Our team at Baycrest was one of the first to show that cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT – the gold standard talk therapy for depression and anxiety) improved mood in older adults, as well as their scores on thinking, attention and concentration. Self-management treatments like CBT teach us to think more adaptively for improved mood. They also help older adults think more clearly. My dream is to help older adults understand that “your brain health is in your hands” and improve mental and brain health through cost-effective, scalable self-management strategies. After all, self-care is the new healthcare.

Dr. Brian Levine is a scientist and clinical neuropsychologist interested in the function and dysfunction of large-scale neural systems as expressed in complex human behaviours, including episodic and autobiographical memory, self-regulation, and goal management. Much of his research concerns syndromes seen in patients with focal brain lesions due to strokes and tumors, traumatic brain injury, dementia, and psychiatric disorders; he also studies healthy young and older adults. Dr. Levine is particularly interested in the real-life deficits faced by patients with brain disease. As these deficits are often not readily apparent in standard neuropsychological or neurological examinations, Dr. Levine uses novel assessment techniques, coupled with multimodal neuroimaging (structural and functional MRI, EEG, and MEG) in his research.

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My research program focuses on 1) advancing our understanding of the relationship between cognition and emotion in healthy aging and in disorders of the elderly, including late-life depression (LLD), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and 2) applying this knowledge to improve diagnosis and treatment of disorders associated with late life. My aim to answer questions such as: How does depression or worry about memory changes increase the risk of developing AD and other dementias? Do interventions that target brain regions relevant to depression improve cognition in older adults? To address these questions, my research employs converging methods including behavioural paradigms, neuropsychological tools, psychophysiology, brain imaging, and neurostimulation in healthy older adults and in clinical populations. I am leading studies that examine the impact of emotion dysregulation on risk of developing AD and is the PI or site PI on clinical trials using non-invasive brain stimulation to reduce risk of AD in older adults with subjective cognitive decline, MCI, or LLD.

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My research focuses on language, with applications to treatment of acquired neurological disorders such as stroke and dementia. Our lab uses brain imaging techniques (e.g. fMRI, MEG) and behavioural experiments to study how the brain processes words and sentences when producing or comprehending speech and text. One area of intense interest is how the two hemispheres of the brain interact with each other. The hemispheres need to share information with each other to function harmoniously, but they also sometimes compete with each other, and this balance can be thrown off after brain damage. Our research seeks to tease apart these cooperative and competitive dynamics and understand their role in recovery and resilience. Additional work aims to characterize the activity of brain regions that are suffering from subtle forms of damage that are potentially reversible, given interventions including drugs and non-invasive brain stimulation. Current projects with brain stimulation include investigations of both language and hand function.

Besides the neuroimaging work, a portion of our research is purely behavioural, investigating applications of language technology to enhance quality of life for older adults. Topics have included tele-rehabilitation of post-stroke speech disorders, early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease from speech samples, the cognitive benefits of learning a second language via a smartphone app, and revitalization of endangered languages through development of learning materials that take advantage of the brain’s natural tendencies to remember and forget information on a certain schedule.


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I study memory, cognition and the brain. With regard to memory and the brain, I am interested in recent and remote memory for personal and public events, and for spatial location. I study the changes these memories undergo with time and experience, from childhood to old age, in people who are neurologically intact and in people with brain damage or brain degeneration associated with dementia. I use behavioural and neuroimaging techniques to illuminate the psychological processes and brain mechanisms that are involved.  I also am interested in how memory interacts with other functions, such as attention, perception, problem solving, emotion and social behaviour. In addition, I study face perception and recognition, as well as specialization of the cerebral hemispheres.

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I am interested in understanding how our brains support the ability to create new memories and remember our past. I also study how the brain changes with age, due to brain atrophy, and how this brain atrophy relates to declines in memory. My research uses high-resolution structural and functional neuroimaging, as well as eye movement monitoring, to investigate memory formation, retention, and retrieval. I have helped develop specialized, reliable and valid tools for regional brain measurements. Some of this work has examined the structural brain changes that occur in older adults who are exhibiting early (i.e. pre-dementia) signs of cognitive decline. We are currently conducting longitudinal studies, which study the same people over a period of five years, to better define the brain changes that occur with typical aging in contrast to brain changes in those who develop dementia. This work also aims to determine if the changes in these brain regions can also be detected using simpler, more cost-effective screening tools, which ultimately could be used in more widespread settings (e.g. rural and suburban areas), when neuroimaging is not available. Altogether, my research program will help inform, update, and refine current theories of aging and human memory function.

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I use transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to improve cognitive functioning in people living with dementia. Currently, we are running multiple studies for various symptoms. For example, we are examining the use of tDCS to improve naming in people with primary progressive aphasia, a form of dementia that affects language, as well as how tDCS can improve executive function in people with Alzheimer’s disease. The goal of these studies is to show that tDCS is a valuable therapy option for dementia. In the future, we will also explore how various factors such as sex, mood, and skull thickness differences can impact how much someone improves in response to tDCS therapy. These results will allow us to tailor the administration of tDCS to optimize its beneficial effects for each person.

My main research questions for the recent years were “What makes speech understanding difficult in aging?” (and how can we overcome those difficulties?) and “What is special to music, that we can apply to medicine?”. At the first glance, both questions seem mutually exclusive, however when studying the underlying neural mechanisms it becomes clear that both are strongly interconnected.

My research about speech understanding in noise is informed by the common complaint of elderly people that amplification with hearing aids restored sensation, specifically at high frequencies, which become more difficult to hear in older age. However, hearing aids did not help separating speech from noise and consequently improve understanding. Our previous research supported the hypothesis that hearing sensation and registration of sound at the brain level are sufficiently well preserved in elderly listeners, however the efficacy of neural processes for interpreting the sound, which then result in perception of the meaning of speech, is affected by age. Also neural processes of perception seems to be more vulnerable to noise in older than young adults. A broad part of my research is dedicated to identify neural mechanism underlying auditory perception and how those are affected by aging.

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The primary aims of my research are to improve our ability to monitor brain health as we age and to identify effective methods to promote optimal perceptual and cognitive function in older adults. To address the first aim, I am studying how visual and attentional functions are affected in healthy aging, mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease and related dementias, using both behavioural measures and electroencephalography (EEG). This research may lead to the development of simple vision-based tests that can assist in the screening or diagnosis of age-related brain disorders, or in the monitoring of brain health. This research will also help us understand how different types of visual functions are affected at different stages of the dementia continuum. To address the second aim, I am conducting intervention studies examining the effect of mindfulness meditation on cognition and psychological well-being of older adults. I am also testing whether directly training perceptual abilities can counteract age-related declines in those abilities, and whether it can also improve performance in contexts relevant for daily life.

Research in my lab examines memory and the widespread impact that memory has on other aspects of cognition and behaviour. We study the content and organization of memory in healthy younger and older adults, neuropsychological cases and individuals with neurodegeneration (including mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease). To do this, we employ a converging-methodologies approach – that is, we combine findings from behavioural paradigms, eyetracking, neuroimaging and computational modelling, to obtain a comprehensive description regarding the nature of memory, how it is supported in the brain and the deficits that arise from brain damage or neurodegeneration. Through our fundamental understanding of memory, we seek to develop tools that provide early screening for neurodegeneration, and cognitive strategies that may help individuals overcome, or otherwise circumvent, their memory deficits.


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My research focuses on how we perceive the world around us, and how those perceptions are influenced by aging, context, and experience. We conduct research in a variety of research areas, asking questions such as:

• how do aging, experience, context, and perceptual learning impact the perception and neural processing of visual information?

• how do we process and interpret faces, spatial vision, depth perception, motion perception, perceptual organization and shape perception?

• how does information across our senses (e.g., vision and hearing) interact and influence our perception of the world, both in the lab, and in everyday activities such as driving?

• what are the behavioural and physiological links between vision and higher level cognitive functions, such as attention and memory?

• and, how can we develop and use technologies (including augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and mind-machine technologies) to improve perception, attention, and memory?

 

We conduct research with adults across the lifespan, and have laboratories in the Rotman Research Institute (RRI; VisAge Lab, run with Dr. Eugenie Roudaia) and at McMaster University (Vision & Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, run with Dr. Patrick Bennett).  I accept graduate students both through the University of Toronto (Department of Psychology) and McMaster University (Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, Graduate Programs in Neuroscience, and Graduate Program in Computational Science & Engineering), and students can be focused in one lab or span both labs. Current research at the RRI focuses on understanding how vision changes across the lifespan in both healthy older adults and individuals with mild cognitive impairment and dementia, and how vision, memory, and attention interact in those populations. We also are conducting a number of intervention studies related to falls prevention, mindfulness training, and the effectiveness of social robots. Our research uses a combination of behavioural, computational, and imaging techniques, including EEG, and we welcome and encourage students to apply to our lab from a range of disciplinary backgrounds (e.g., psychology, neuroscience, computer science, mathematics, artificial intelligence, engineering, kinesiology, etc.).

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My research focuses on ways to reduce the replicability crisis in modern neuroscience. To do this, my group develops open science techniques and tools that can improve the replicability, reliability, accuracy and interpretability of data, particularly when collecting large, multi-institutional, multi-modality data sets in brain diseases (e.g., OPPNI, OuRS). Such tools are used to improve data quality assurance and control, data curation, and interpretation and analysis of big, multi-modal brain data sets using statistical and machine-learning techniques. Earlier in my career, I primarily focused on neuroimaging, but during the last decade, the focus has broadened to include techniques suitable for a wide range of human data types, e.g., clinical, behavioural, genetic, etc. In particular, I apply our techniques and tools to improve our understanding and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases and depression as an executive member and co-leader of several multi-institutional research programs including the Ontario Neurodegenerative Disease Research Initiative (ONDRI), the Toronto Dementia Research Alliance (TDRA), and the Canadian Biomarker Integration Network in Depression (CAN-BIND). I have also been nationally and internationally active in promoting standards for and sharing of neuroscience data and tools. I was a past chairman of an international Neuroinformatics Standards Committee that produced the neuroimaging NIfTI standard at the National Institutes of Health in the US; a senior investigator in the Canadian Open Neuroscience Platform (CONP); and a Canadian representative on the Council for Training, Science and Infrastructure at the Neuroscience standards organization, INCF, Sweden.

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My research is concerned with cognitive changes associated with selective brain damage and normal aging in humans and animal models.

Current projects, involving animals and humans, investigate the pattern of lost and spared memory loss following damage to the hippocampus, with a particular interest in spatial memory and remote memory. A new initiative investigates the impact of stroke on cognition and motor function and recovery in rats considered to be at high or low risk. Other ongoing projects involving animal models study the effects of high dietary fat and insulin resistance on learning and memory, the effects of chemotherapy on aspects of cognition, hippocampal neurogenesis and memory, and the cognitive profiles of transgenic mice carrying genetic abnormalities associated with Alzheimer's disease.

Following a recently completed trial of a new cognitive rehabilitation protocol involving older adults, a new study is assessing the effectiveness of this program in cognitively impaired patients with white matter disease who are at high risk for stroke. The long-term plan includes extending this work to other populations, such as traumatic brain injury, and Mild Cognitive Impairment.

This research is supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, Canadian Centre for Stroke Recovery (Heart and Stroke Foundation).

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