Research Focus

The Mah lab focuses on understanding the relationship between cognition and emotion and their neuroanatomical correlates in healthy aging and in disorders of the elderly, including late-life depression (LLD), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) using converging methods such as behavioural paradigms, neuropsychological assessment, structural and functional neuroimaging, and psychophysiological measures. We also apply these methods to better understand emotion dysregulation and other neuropsychiatric symptoms as potential biomarkers of AD, and to determine the impact of interventions for neuropsychiatric symptoms on future AD risk. Current studies include neuroimaging of emotional processing in older adults with Subjective Cognitive Decline (SCD) or MCI and clinical trials using brain stimulation approaches such as transcranial magnetic stimulation and transcranial direct current stimulation to treat depression in MCI or AD or to prevent future cognitive decline in older adults with MCI or remitted depression. As a geriatric neuropsychiatrist, Dr. Mah also has an interest in answering clinically relevant questions in geriatric psychopharmacology that directly impact on her practice.

Select Publications

• Murari GLiang DR, Ali A, Chan F, Mulder-Heijstra M, Verhoeff NP, Herrmann N, Chen JJand Mah L. (2020). Prefrontal GABA+/Cr levels correlate with memory and openness trait in older adults at high risk for Alzheimer’s disease. Cerebral Cortex Comm
• Murari GLiang DR, Ali A, Chan F, Mulder-Heijstra M, Verhoeff NP, Herrmann N, Chen JJand Mah L. (2020). Prefrontal GABA+/Cr levels correlate with memory and openness trait in older adults at high risk for Alzheimer’s disease. . Cerebral Cortex Comm
• Mah L, Anderson ND, Verhoeff NPLG, Pollock BG. (2017). Negative emotional verbal memory biases in mild cognitive impairment and late-onset depression. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 25, 1160-1170.
• Guild EB, Vasquez BP, Maione AM, Mah L, Ween J, Anderson ND. (2014). Dynamic working memory performance in individuals with single-domain amnestic mild cognitive impairment. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 36, 751-760.

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Curriculum Vitae

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