ReSeaRch centRe foR aPPlied PSychology (RecaP) - Health ...

10
HEAD INJURY
AND ALZHEIMERS
Chief Researchers: Jonathan Foster (with Colin
Masters and David Ames of
Melbourne University as
Associate Investigators).
Funded by: National Health and Medical
Research Council (NHMRC)
Project Term: 2011-2013
Total funding: $244,208
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form of
dementia. With an increase in life expectancy in Australia,
the profound medical and socioeconomic impact of AD on
society is expected to increase. The focus of this project
is to determine whether head injury predisposes to the
cognitive and/or biological markers of prodromal AD -
something which has not been undertaken to date in a
study of such power or scope.
If a history of head injury predisposes towards
manifestation of markers associated with AD, we will
evaluate whether lifestyle and dietary factors may reduce
this risk. More specifically, the goals of this project are to:
1. Map individuals’ progression within the CSIRO AIBL
cohort over time across the clinical spectrum healthy
aging-mild cognitive impairment-Alzheimer’s disease
and determine the degree to which an individual’s
history of significant head injury (involving loss of
consciousness) predisposes towards the clinical,
cognitive, neuroimaging (MRI, PIB-PET) and biological
(e.g. plasma apoE, APP and Aβ) features of healthy
aging, MCI and AD;
2. Determine whether lifestyle factors (diet, exercise)
reduce the risk of AD, especially in individuals with a
lifetime history of traumatic head injury;
3. Evaluate whether genetic status (specifically,
possession of the APOE e4 allele) interacts with 1.
and 2. above.
DEVELOPMENT OF RAPID, ONLINE MOTOR
CONTROL IN CHILDREN
Chief Researchers: Professor Peter Wilson (ACU,
Victoria), Professor Jan Piek
and Professor David Sugden
(University of Leeds, UK).
Funded by: ARC Discovery
Project Term: 2010 to 2012
Total funding: $388,000
The goal of this project is to better understand the
development of movement skill in children and the nexus
between action systems and cognition. Using experimental
and longitudinal methods, this study aims to map the
motor and cognitive trajectories of a large group of children
from two sites (Melbourne and Perth), a proportion of whom
have poor motor skills (termed Developmental Coordination
Disorder—DCD).
This will lead to a better understanding of those motor
control processes that might explain both typical and
atypical motor development, and the unfolding relations
between motor and cognitive systems, specifically that
between spatial and executive systems and networks
supporting online motor control.
The initial findings have been presented at the 9th
International DCD Conference in Switzerland and the
10th Motor Control and Human Skill Conference in
Mandurah in 2011.