YorkSpace has migrated to a new version of its software. Access our Help Resources to learn how to use the refreshed site. Contact diginit@yorku.ca if you have any questions about the migration.
 

Cognitive-Motor Integration In Normal Aging And Preclinical Alzheimer's Disease: Neural Correlates And Early Detection

Simple item page
dc.contributor.advisorSergio, Lauren
dc.creatorHawkins, Kara-Lynn Marie
dc.date.accessioned2015-08-28T15:46:09Z
dc.date.available2015-08-28T15:46:09Z
dc.date.copyright2015-05-13
dc.date.issued2015-08-28
dc.date.updated2015-08-28T15:46:08Z
dc.degree.disciplineKinesiology & Health Science
dc.degree.levelDoctoral
dc.degree.namePhD - Doctor of Philosophy
dc.description.abstractThe objectives of the studies included in this dissertation were to characterize how the ability to integrate cognition into action is disrupted by both normal and pathological aging, to evaluate the effectiveness of kinematic measures in discriminating between individuals who are and are not at increased Alzheimer’s disease (AD) risk, and to examine the structural and functional neural correlates of cognitive-motor impairment in individuals at increased AD risk. The underlying hypothesis, based on previous research, is that measuring visuomotor integration under conditions that place demands on visual-spatial and cognitive-motor processing may provide an effective behavioural means for the early detection of brain alterations associated with AD risk. To this end, the first study involved testing participants both with and without AD risk factors on visuomotor tasks using a dual-touchscreen tablet. Comparisons between high AD risk participants and both young and old healthy control groups revealed significant performance disruptions in at-risk participants in the most cognitively demanding task. Furthermore, a stepwise discriminant analysis was able to distinguish between high and low AD risk participants with a classification accuracy of 86.4%. Based on the prediction that the impairments observed in high AD risk participants reflect disruption to the intricate reciprocal communication between hippocampal, parietal, and frontal brain regions required to successfully prepare and update complex reaching movements, the second and third studies were designed to examine the underlying structural and functional connectivity associated with cognitive-motor performance. Young adult and both low AD risk and high AD risk older adult participants underwent anatomical, diffusion-weighted, and resting-state functional connectivity scans. These data revealed significant age-related declines in white matter integrity that were more pronounced in the high AD risk group. Decreased functional connectivity in the default mode network (DMN) was also found in high AD risk participants. Furthermore, measures of white matter integrity and resting-state functional connectivity with DMN seed-regions were significantly correlated with task performance. These data support our hypothesis that disease-related disruptions in visuomotor control are associated with identifiable brain alterations, and thus behavioural assessments incorporating both cognition and action together may be useful in identifying individuals at increased AD risk.
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10315/30121
dc.language.isoen
dc.rightsAuthor owns copyright, except where explicitly noted. Please contact the author directly with licensing requests.
dc.subjectNeurosciences
dc.subjectAging
dc.subjectKinesiology
dc.subject.keywordsAlzheimer's disease
dc.subject.keywordsAging
dc.subject.keywordsVisuomotor control
dc.subject.keywordsCognitive-motor integration
dc.subject.keywordsReaching
dc.subject.keywordsKinematics
dc.subject.keywordsEarly detection
dc.subject.keywordsClinical assessment
dc.subject.keywordsFunctional assessment
dc.subject.keywordsNeural correlates
dc.subject.keywordsDiffusion tensor imaging
dc.subject.keywordsResting state functional connectivity
dc.subject.keywordsMagnetic resonance imaging
dc.titleCognitive-Motor Integration In Normal Aging And Preclinical Alzheimer's Disease: Neural Correlates And Early Detection
dc.typeElectronic Thesis or Dissertationen_US

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Hawkins_Kara_M_2015_PhD.pdf
Size:
19.92 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.83 KB
Format:
Plain Text
Description:
Download
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
YorkU_ETDlicense.txt
Size:
3.38 KB
Format:
Plain Text
Description:
Download

Collections

Kinesiology & Health Science

All items in the YorkSpace institutional repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved except where explicitly noted.