Jessica Korte

Research Description

Studies have shown that the cerebellum can be segregated into functionally separate regions, with each region correlating to a separate cognitive, motor, or social/affective domain. There is a need to study cortico-cerebellar circuits in learning and the resulting effect in behavioral performance; moreover, the effect that aging has on these functional regions and the circuits that connect other cortical regions has not been investigated. This has resulted in a lack of mechanistic knowledge of brain plasticity, especially regarding motor learning mechanisms. Understanding the neural underpinnings of different learning processes and the changes caused by aging will provide insight as to how the brain maintains the ability to learn despite neurodegeneration. I plan to utilize functional imaging methods in conjunction with motor adaptation tasks that employ the cerebellum to: (1) Identify motor learning circuits involving the cerebellum, and identify how they change with age. (2) Quantify behavioral and associated cognitive age-related changes and correlate these changes to neural circuit differences between young and elderly subjects. My goal is to combine resting state functional MRI with motor paradigms to capture the subtle neural changes of cortico-cerebellar networks that subserve learning mechanisms.