03| Neuroimaging and Neuropsychology, Friends or Foes? – With Dr. Steve Correia (Part 1)

We interviewed Stephen Correia, Ph.D., ABPP-CN, a neuropsychologist with extensive research and clinical training in the use of imaging techniques.  In this episode, we cover clinical neuroimaging, with a focus on computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques.

A pdf of the transcript for this episode is available here.

If you’d like to receive APA-approved CE credit for listening to this episode, click here.

Topics Covered

• The centrality of patient care in making clinical decisions related to neuroimaging
• Factors to consider when thinking about examining multiple brain scans in a single patient
• Brief definitions of basic terminology, including the following topics:
  1. Common neuroimaging techniques
  2. Anatomical planes
  3. Orientation of scans
  4. Contrast material
  5. Basic brain pathology
  6. White matter pathology
• Diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) and its relationship to diffusion tensor imaging (DTI)
• The basics of DTI (including tractography) – its underlying structure, its utility, and its limitations
• Whether neuroimaging is a threat to neuropsychology in the 21^st century
• Whether further advancements in neuroimaging could make neuropsychology obsolete

About Steve

Steve earned his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at the University of Rhode Island. He completed his pre-doctoral internship at the Malcolm Randall VA Medical Center in Gainesville Florida. He then returned to Rhode Island where he completed a clinical neuropsychology fellowship at Brown University under the mentorship of Drs. Paul Malloy and Stephen Salloway at the Butler Hospital Memory and Aging Program. Steve then completed a T32 Research Fellowship in Neuropsychology also in the Memory and Aging Program. Steve is currently Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior in the Alpert Medical School of Brown University. He is the Neuropsychology Section Chief at the Providence VA Medical Center and is the Director of Brown’s Clinical Neuropsychology Specialty Program for Postdoctoral Training. Steve’s research focuses on using diffusion tensor imaging to examine the cognitive and behavioral correlates of white matter integrity in aging, dementia, and other conditions.

Resources 

Brain Imaging, Paul Lebby: 

Education and training in neuroimaging:

https://www.nmr.mgh.harvard.edu/training/courses

Good resources for studying brain anatomy from MRI images:

http://w-radiology.com/atlas_brain_mri.php

http://headneckbrainspine.com/ (the tutorial on how to operate can be found here: http://www.touchneurology.com/gallery/brain-mri-anatomy-module-tutorial)

https://Radiopaedia.org

Selected References

Baker, L. M., Laidlaw, D. H., Cabeen, R., Akbudak, E., Conturo, T. E., Correia, S., … & Salminen, L. E. (2017). Cognitive reserve moderates the relationship between neuropsychological performance and white matter fiber bundle length in healthy older adults. Brain imaging and behavior, 11(3), 632-639.

Gordon, B. A., Blazey, T. M., Su, Y., Hari-Raj, A., Dincer, A., Flores, S., … & Cairns, N. J. (2018). Spatial patterns of neuroimaging biomarker change in individuals from families with autosomal dominant Alzheimer’s disease: a longitudinal study. The Lancet Neurology, 17(3), 241-250.

Malloy, P., Correia, S., Stebbins, G., & Laidlaw, D. H. (2007). Neuroimaging of white matter in aging and dementia. The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 21(1), 73-109.