{"id":596,"date":"2023-04-26T23:17:06","date_gmt":"2023-04-27T03:17:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ctcnlab\/?page_id=596"},"modified":"2025-10-29T10:34:47","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T14:34:47","slug":"current-studies","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ctcnlab\/participate\/current-studies\/","title":{"rendered":"Current Studies"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"font-size: medium;\" size=\"3\">\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #993300;\">CURRENT STUDIES<\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Mechanisms of Mindfulness for Cognition<\/span><\/b><\/h3>\n<p>This study looks at how mindfulness can impact memory, cognition, mood, and self-awareness in healthy older Veterans and in Veterans with early-stage Alzheimer&#8217;s Disease.<\/p>\n<p>For this study, you would enroll in a 10-week class taught by a certified MBSR (mindfulness-based stress reduction) instructor on different techniques surrounding focused attention and breathing. The class will be structured in a group format, meeting on Microsoft Teams once a week. Prior to the class start date, participants will complete baseline testing. The testing consists of pencil and paper testing, questionnaires surrounding self-awareness, sleep, and mood, along with an EEG session to record brain activity while completely a variety of tasks on a computer. Optionally, we may ask for a research-grade MRI to examine brain structures. After the conclusion of the class, participants will be asked to come back for testing once again.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Participants are also invited to continue on with the mindfulness class for up to 6 months.<\/p>\n<p>Please email <span style=\"color: #993300;\"><a href=\"mailto:kmorreal@bu.edu\" style=\"color: #993300;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">hkamaraj@bu.edu<\/span><\/a><\/span> for more information.<\/p>\n<div style=\"font-size: medium;\" size=\"3\">\n<hr \/>\n<h3><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Traumatic Brain Injury Study<\/span><\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">This study looks at <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">how thinking and memory change with aging and due to head injuries and aging<\/span>. <\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Specifically, we are interested in looking at how people\u2019s responses to surveys, questionnaires, and computer games change with age and due to head injuries. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">For this study, you would complete a couple of short paper and pencil tasks and a computer memory task. Later, you would complete an EEG session, allowing us to measure your brain activity while you play games on a tablet. For some participants, we&#8217;d like to see how the structure of your brain has changed, so we would ask you to get a research-grade MRI brain to look at your brain structure. Optionally, we would ask you to get your blood drawn, which we would use to look for genetic markers of Alzheimer&#8217;s disease, as well as a lumbar puncture, to look for genetic markers of Alzheimer&#8217;s disease and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), which can occur after head injury.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>We are currently looking for participants for this study (Veterans only)!<\/em> Particularly, we are looking for Veterans without Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs).<\/p>\n<p>Please email <span style=\"color: #993300;\"><a href=\"mailto:kmorreal@bu.edu\" style=\"color: #993300;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">hkamaraj@bu.edu<\/span><\/a><\/span> for more information.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Diagnosis of Alzheimer&#8217;s Disease Using Event-Related Potentials<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>This is a research study that will evaluate a new approach (Event-Related Potentials [ERPs]) <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">to diagnose Alzheimer\u2019s disease and Traumatic Brain Injury in patients who have memory difficulties<\/span>. ERPs are essentially brain activity measured by an electroencephalogram (EEG) headset in response to a specific task. Our aim is to test a new and simpler way to diagnose and evaluate people with memory disorders. Participation in this study will last for about two hours in a single (one-day) session.<\/p>\n<p><em>We are currently looking for participants for this study!<\/em>\u00a0 Participants with healthy cognition and those with cognitive impairment will be enrolled in this research.<\/p>\n<p>Please email <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #993300; text-decoration: underline;\">ajgonez@bu.edu<\/span><\/span> for more information.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CURRENT STUDIES Mechanisms of Mindfulness for Cognition This study looks at how mindfulness can impact memory, cognition, mood, and self-awareness in healthy older Veterans and in Veterans with early-stage Alzheimer&#8217;s Disease. For this study, you would enroll in a 10-week class taught by a certified MBSR (mindfulness-based stress reduction) instructor on different techniques surrounding focused [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21897,"featured_media":0,"parent":764,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/no-sidebars.php","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ctcnlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/596"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ctcnlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ctcnlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ctcnlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21897"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ctcnlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=596"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ctcnlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/596\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1137,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ctcnlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/596\/revisions\/1137"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ctcnlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ctcnlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}