Lectures by Dara Manoach
About the lecturer
Dara Manoach is a neuropsychologist whose work focuses on understanding the neural basis and nature of fundamental cognitive deficits in neuropsychiatric disorders, particularly schizophrenia and autism. Using complementary neuroimaging techniques, her lab investigates deficits in executive function, a diverse set of abilities involved in the flexible control and optimization of behavior. A separate line of inquiry focuses on the effects of abnormal sleep on memory consolidation. Patients with schizophrenia show deficient sleep-dependent memory consolidation that may contribute substantially to impaired daily function. Understanding this contribution may open new avenues for treatment. Finally, in a new set of studies, her lab is examining the contribution of aberrant functional and structural brain connectivity to the core features of Autism Spectrum Disorders. More information can be found at her laboratory website.
Lecture 1: Multimodal neuroimaging investigations of error processing in health, schizophrenia, autism, and OCD
Tuesday, August 7, at 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
BECS coffee room (F336), Otakaari 3
Understanding the nature of the brain mechanisms that allow one to regulate and flexibly modify behavior in response to outcomes is a fundamental goal of neuroscience. It is also of considerable clinical importance since many neuropsychiatric disorders are characterized by rigid and repetitive behavior. Errors provide critical information for adjusting behavior to optimize outcomes. The talk will describe findings from a multimodal neuroimaging (functional MRI, functional connectivity MRI, Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI), and both magnetoencephalograpy and electroencephalography) investigation of error processing in healthy individuals that challenge existing models of error processing. It will also describe the unique neural signatures of error processing deficits in neuropsychiatric disorders and how these deficits may contribute to symptoms.
Lecture 2: fMRI of working memory in schizophrenia: Reconciling discrepant findings
Thursday, August 9, at 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
BECS coffee room (F336), Otakaari 3
This is a lecture that I give regularly for the Advanced Training Institute in fMRI that Robert Savoy runs several times a year at MGH. It is a cautionary tale about potential pitfalls in the interpretation of fMRI data when doing group comparisons told through a series of experiments, so is relevant beyond schizophrenia.
Lecture 3: Abnormal sleep in schizophrenia: A mechanism of impaired memory consolidation?
Friday, August 10, at 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Helsinki University Central Hospital, details TBA
Sleep disturbances in schizophrenia have been described since Kraepelin, but the nature of the abnormality and its relations to the pathophysiology, cognitive deficits, and symptoms of schizophrenia remain poorly understood. Although abnormal sleep is well-known to impair cognition in healthy individuals, it has generally been overlooked as a potential contributor to cognitive deficits in schizophrenia. In schizophrenia cognition is generally measured in cross-section. While this provides a valid snapshot of function, it misses critical aspects of learning and memory that depend on sleep. Several recent studies of schizophrenia have reported dramatic reductions in sleep-dependent memory consolidation and of sleep spindles, which are a putative mechanism of synaptic plasticity that are thought to mediate memory consolidation during sleep. I will present recent findings that the sleep spindle deficit in schizophrenia contributes to impaired memory consolidation and symptoms and that it is a promising novel target for treatment.
Lecture 4: Multimodal neuroimaging in Autism Spectrum Disorders: Studies of executive function and neural connectivity
Tuesday, August 14, at 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
BECS coffee room (F336), Otakaari 3
Converging lines of evidence support the view that Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) are disorders of brain connectivity in which alterations in the structural connections and coordination of activity across brain regions give rise to core features. I will present neuroimaging findings from studies of executive function in ASD. Executive functions are diverse cognitive abilities involved in the flexible control of behavior. Accumulating evidence suggests that abnormal executive function contributes to the core features of ASD. I will also discuss new neuroimaging techniques that allow us to map human structural and functional brain connectivity without requiring active participation in a task. I hope to illustrate the promise and power of multimodal neuroimaging techniques, fMRI, DTI, fcMRI, and MEG, to illuminate the neural bases of core features of ASDs. An improved understanding of the brain mechanisms underlying core features may illuminate the pathophysiology of ASD and guide the development of targeted interventions.
