Yaakov Stern, PhD
Division Leader of the Cognitive Neuroscience Division of the Sergievsky Center
Professor of Clinical Neuropsychology (in Neurology, Psychiatry, and Psychology, in the Sergievsky Center and the Taub Institute)
Phone: 212-342-1350
Fax: 212-342-1838
Email: ys11@columbia.edu
Taub Institute
630 West 168th Street
New York, NY 10032
Ongoing Research:
Cognitive Reserve: I am interested in understanding the basis for individual differences in task performance in general, and more specifically, the reason why some individuals show more cognitive deficit than others given the same degree of brain pathology. Ongoing fMRI studies are designed to explore this issue using activation paradigms that carefully control for task difficulty and evaluating differential expression of brain networks across young and old healthy individuals and patients with Alzheimer's disease.
Cognitive Consequences of Sleep Deprivation: In parallel studies, we are exploring the neural basis for differential sensitivity to the cognitive effects of sleep deprivation. We have identified brain networks whose expression during task performance is affected by sleep deprivation. Individuals demonstrating greater changes in these networks have more pronounced cognitive changes. In collaborative studies, we have found that transcranial magnetic stimulation to key nodes in this network can improve task performnace.
Heterogeneity of Alzheimer's disease: A prospective study is designed to explore individual differences in the rate of decline and in the manifestation of cognitive, behavioral, psychiatric and neurologic features in AD patients. Ongoing clinicopathologic studies should give insight into this heterogeneity.
Representative Publications
Stern Y. What is cognitive reserve? Theory and research application of the reserve concept. JINS 2002;8:448-460.
Scarmeas N, Brandt J, Albert M, Devanand DP, Marder K, Bell K, Ciappa A, Tycko B, Stern Y. Association between the APOE genotype and psychopathologic symptoms in Alzheimer's disease. Neurology 2002;58(8):1182-1188.
Stern Y, Zarahn E, Hilton HJ, Flynn J, DeLa Paz R, Rakitin B. Exploring the neural basis of cognitive reserve. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 2003;5:691-701.
Habeck C, Rakitin BC, Moeller J, Scarmeas N, Zarahn E, Brown T, Stern Y. An event-related fMRI study of the neurobehavioral impact of sleep deprivation on performance of a delayed-match-to-sample task. Cognitive Brain Research 2004;18(3):306-321.
Stern Y, Habeck C, Moeller J, Scarmeas N, Anderson KE, Hilton HJ, Flynn J, Sackeim H, van Heertum R. Brain networks associated with cognitive reserve in healthy young and old adults. Cerebral Cortex 2005;15:394-402.