Clinical Neuroimaging Lab
Junghoon Kim, PhD, Director
The broad research goals of the Clinical Neuroimaging Lab at MRRI are to apply principles of basic cognitive neuroscience
to various neurological conditions to provide more effective isolation and characterization of the cognitive dysfunctions
involved, and with this improved understanding, to assess the efficacy of rehabilitation and prevention strategies for the
patients with such conditions. To achieve these objectives, combinations of neuropsychological and sophisticated multi-modal
neuroimaging techniques are employed.
The research topic we have particularly focused upon was the study of neural correlates of attention deficits and pharmacological
treatment effects in traumatic brain injury. Patients with traumatic brain injury have been frequently characterized by difficulties
in attention function including increased distractibility and reduced concentration. Given the fact that impairments in attention
become significant obstacle to recovery and rehabilitation efforts in this population, it is very important to understand
the exact nature of attentional deficit in TBI. In collaboration with Drs. John Whyte (MRRI) and John Detre (Center for Functional
Neuroimaging, University of Pennsylvania), we are working on a series of BOLD and ASL perfusion fMRI experiments that can
dissociate different components of sustained attention, orienting, and executive attention/working memory. After identifying
the key components in attention deficits in TBI, we are investigating the neural correlates of these components in the subsequent
fMRI drug study utilizing three psycho-stimulants (methylphenidate, bromocriptine, and nicotine) that target different neurochemical
pathways.
Our lab is also interested in solving methodological issues arising from applying neuroimaging techniques to the neurological
population. One example is how the activations from injured brains can be effectively summarized to allow valid inferences
on group difference. Recently, we found that conventional normalization method such as the one implemented in SPM2 are doing
unsatisfactory job in the presence of lesions and atrophies. Thus, in collaboration with Drs. James Gee and Brian Avants (Neuroradiology
department, University of Pennsylvania), we are currently exploring a new normalization method, the large deformation symmetric
normalization, as an attempt to warp images of injured brains to a common coordinate space with minimal individual variability.
Selected Publications
Publications
Kim, J., Whyte, J., Wang, J., Rao, H., Tang, Z. K., & Detre, J. A. (2006). Continuous ASL perfusion fMRI investigation of
higher cognition: Quantification of tonic CBF changes during sustained attention and working memory tasks. Neuroimage, 31: 376-385.
Ances, B. M., Roc, A. C., Wang, J., Korczykowski, M., Okawa, J., Stern, J., Kim, J., Wolf, R., Lawler, K., Kolson, D., & Detre,
J. A. (2006). Caudate blood flow and volume are reduced in HIV+ neurocognitively impaired patients. Neurology, 66: 862-866.
Cannon, T. D., Glahn, D. C., Kim, J., Van Erp, T. G. M., Karlsgodt, K., Cohen, M. S., Nuechterlein, K., Bava, S. & Shirinyan, D. (2005).Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activity during maintenance and manipulation of information in working memory in patients with
schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry, 62: 1071-1080.
Kim, J., Whyte, J., Hart, T., Vaccaro, M., Polansky, M., & Coslett, H. B.(2005). Executive function as a predictor of inattentive behavior after traumatic brain injury. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 11: 434-445.
Hart, T., Whyte, J., Kim, J., Vaccaro, M. (2005). Executive function and self-awareness of “real-world” behavior and attention deficits following traumatic brain injury.
The Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, 20: 333-347.
Kim, J., Glahn, D., Nuechterlein, K., & Cannon, T. (2004). Maintenance and manipulation of information in schizophrenia: Further
evidence for impairment in the central executive component of working memory. Schizophrenia Research, 68: 173-187.
Glahn, D. C., Kim, J., Cohen, M. S., Poutanen, V.-P., Therman, S., Bava, S., Van Erp, T. G. M., Manninen, M., Huttanen, M.,
Lonnqvist, J., Standertskjold-Nordenstam, C. G., & Cannon, T. (2002). Maintenance and manipulation in spatial working memory:
Dissociations in the prefrontal cortex. Neuroimage, 17: 201-213.
