Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy

Visual Universitätsmedizin Mainz

Structural imaging

Group Leader

Team members

Dr. phil. Dipl.-Psych. Alexandra Sebastian

Dr. phil. Dipl.-Psych. Dominik Wolf

Dr. rer. hum. Florian Fischer

Dr. phil. Bianca Kollmann, M.Sc.

MSc. Psych. Theresa Schmitt

 

 

Main research interests

Mechanisms and modulators of cognitive resilience in old age

 

The brain is a self-organizing and adaptive system that exhibits robustness in the sense of sustained cognitive functioning despite gradual or sudden impairment of its components. In aging, despite the tendency toward constancy and robustness, marked individual variability in cognitive performance has been observed for a given level of brain pathology or impairment. These observations imply strong variations in the degree of brain resilience. Because cognitive health is an important determinant of quality of life in the elderly and contributes greatly to functioning and independence in late life, a deeper understanding of the mechanisms underlying brain resilience in aging is needed. This research area focuses on imaging and clinical/neuropsychological methods to investigate mechanisms underlying resilience to age-related cognitive decline. In addition, intervention strategies that target mechanisms underlying resilience are explored to promote cognitive health in aging.

The methodological focus for investigating structural brain mechanisms underlying resilience is structural MRI (T1- and T2-weighted imaging, diffusion-weighted imaging). Special emphasis is placed on structural analysis of the hippocampus. In addition to determining total and subfield volumes of the hippocampus based on T1- and high-resolution T2-weighted MRI sequences, the structural integrity of the hippocampus is investigated based on diffusion-weighted imaging. Moreover, the further development of the harmonization of hippocampal volumetry protocols within international consortia is part of the research focus (e.g. Wolf D. et al., 2017, Alzheimer’s & Dementia).

Studies

AgeGain - cognitive training study in cognitively healthy elderly

Key publications

Mechanisms and modulation of cognitive resilience in aging

  • Wolf, D., Fischer, F. U., Fellgiebel, A., & Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. (2019). Impact of Resilience on the Association Between Amyloid-β and Longitudinal Cognitive Decline in Cognitively Healthy Older Adults. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, 70(2), 361-370.
  • Wolf, D., Fischer, F. U., Fellgiebel, A., & Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. (2019). A methodological approach to studying resilience mechanisms: demonstration of utility in age and Alzheimer’s disease-related brain pathology. Brain Imaging and Behavior, 13(1), 162-171.
  • Wolf D., Tüscher O., Teipel S., Mierau A., Strüder H., Drzezga A., Baier B., Binder H., Fellgiebel A., and the German AgeGain study group (2018). Mechanisms and modulators of cognitive training gain transfer in cognitively healthy aging: study protocol of the AgeGain study. Trials, 19(1), 337.
  • Wolf D., Bocchetta M., Preboske G.M., Boccardi M., Grothe M.J. (2017). Reference standard space hippocampus labels according to the European Alzheimer’s Disease Consortium-Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative harmonized protocol: Utility in automated volumetry. Alzheimer’s & Dementia, 13(8):893-902.
  • Wolf D., Fischer FU., de Flores R., Chételat G., Fellgiebel A. (2015). Differential associations of age with volume and microstructure of hippocampal subfields in healthy older adults. Human Brain Mapping, 36(10), 3819-3831.

Modelling of mechanisms and brain Network surrogates of resilience in aging

  • Fischer, F. U., Wolf, D., Fellgiebel, A., & Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. (2019). Connectivity and morphology of hubs of the cerebral structural connectome are associated with brain resilience in AD-and age-related pathology. Brain Imaging and Behavior, 13(6), 1650-1664. 
  •  Fischer, F. U., Wolf, D., & Fellgiebel, A. (2017). Diaschisis-Like Association of Hippocampal Atrophy and Posterior Cingulate Cortex Hypometabolism in Cognitively Normal Elderly Depends on Impaired Integrity of Parahippocampal Cingulum Fibers. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, 60(4), 1285-1294. 
  •  Fischer, F. U., Wolf, D., Scheurich, A., Fellgiebel, A., & Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. (2015). Altered whole-brain white matter networks in preclinical Alzheimer's disease. NeuroImage: Clinical, 8, 660-666.
  • Fischer, F. U., Wolf, D., Scheurich, A., & Fellgiebel, A. (2014). Association of structural global brain network properties with intelligence in normal aging. PloS one, 9(1), e86258.