Advanced Concentration

Neuroscience

Mentor

Yijun Liu, Ph.D.

Department

Neuroscience

Enrolled 

August 2000

Lab Room

L4-131B

Lab Phone

392-2573

E-mail

Gjames@ufl.edu

Education

B.S., Chemistry;  B.S., Psychology;  Georgia Institute of Technology

Dissertation Research

Modeling Age-Related Motor Learning Deficits with Functional Neuroimaging Connectivity Analyses
My research uses the WICA (within-condition interregional covariate analysis) method to characterize neural networks of functional connectivity in humans during motor learning (i.e. how the different parts of the brain “talk” to one another, and how this pattern of communication changes with practice). I am modeling networks for both implicit (effortless, passive) and explicit (intentional, active) motor learning, and I am investigating how both forms of learning vary with age. I am supplementing my dissertation research with diffusion tensor imaging to assess the contribution of white-matter tract degradation toward age-related learning deficits. My research also focuses upon new methodologies for data analysis; to this end, I have recently developed a method for analyzing functional neuroimaging data that is completely driven by behavioral measures of learning.

Publications

James GA, He G, Liu Y.  A full-size MRI-compatible keyboard response system. Neuroimage. 2005 Mar;25(1):328-31. Epub 2005 Jan 20. abstract

Shapira NA, Lessig MC, He AG, James GA, Driscoll DJ, Liu Y.  Satiety dysfunction in Prader-Willi syndrome demonstrated by fMRI. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2005 Feb;76(2):260-2. abstract

Shapira NA, Liu Y, He AG, Bradley MM, Lessig MC, James GA, Stein DJ, Lang PJ, Goodman WK. Brain activation by disgust-inducing pictures in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Biol Psychiatry. 2003 Oct 1;54(7):751-6.  abstract

He AG, Tan LH, Tang Y, James GA, Wright P, Eckert MA, Fox PT, Liu Y. Modulation of neural connectivity during tongue movement and reading. Hum Brain Mapp. 2003 Mar;18(3):222-32.  abstract

James GA, Guo W, Liu Y. Imaging in vivo brain-hormone interaction in the control of eating and obesity. Diabetes Technol Ther. 2001 Winter;3(4):617-22.  abstract

Abstracts Presented at Meetings

Liu Y, Frost-Pineda K, James GA, Gold MS. Functional MRI Detection of Brain Changes Related to the Effectiveness of Novel Pharmacological Treatments for Obesity. Biol Psych. 55 (8S) 37S #128, 2004.

James, G.A., He, G., Tang, Y., & Liu, Y. (2004). Comparing patterns of implicit and explicit motor learning with a behavior driven functional connectivity analysis method. Presented at the 10th International conference on Functional Mapping of the Human Brain, June 13-17, 2004, Budapest, Hungary. Available on CD-Rom in Neuroimage, 22 (1).

James, G.A., Tang, Y., & Liu, Y. (2003). Comparing two serial response time implicit motor learning designs. Program No. 400.16. 2003 Abstracts Viewer/Itinerary Planner. Washington, DC: Society for Neuroscience, 2003. CD-ROM.

James, G.A., Tang, Y., & Liu, Y. (2003). Brain activation by typing movement with an MRI-compatible keyboard [abstract]. Presented at the 9th International Conference on Functional Mapping of the Human Brain, June 19-22, 2003, New York, NY. Available on CD-Rom in Neuroimage, Vol 19, No. 2.

James, G.A., He, G., Eckert, M., & Liu, Y. (2003). An MRI-compatible keyboard recording system for functional investigation of complex motor behaviors. Eleventh Scientific Meeting and Exhibition of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

James, G.A., He, G., Miller, A.W., Taeb, Y. & Liu, Y. (2002). MRI of hunger and insula activation during a fasting paradigm. Tenth Scientific Meeting and Exhibition of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

James, G.A.; Leonard, C.M.; Maron, L.; Grudnik, J.; Eckert, M.A.; Mahoney, B.; Ricciuti, N.; DeBose, C.; Kuldau, J.M. Anatomical Risk Factors and Cognition in Schizophrenia. Soc. Neurosci. Abstr., Vol. 27, Program No. 572.14, 2001.

Honors & Awards

2003 ISMRM Educational Stipend for Students