Research Collaborators : Stuart D. Cook, M.D., (Neurosciences, UMDNJ); Andrew Mayes, Ph.D. (Neuroscience, England); Benjamin Martin Bly, Ph.D. (Psycholinguistics, Rutgers-Newark); Mark Gluck, Ph.D. (Neuroscience, Rutgers-Newark); Bruce Diamond, Ph.D. (Psychology, William Paterson University); June Halper, R.N. (Gimbel MS Center, Teaneck), Catherine Myers, Ph.D. (Neuroscience, Rutgers-Newark); Richard Nead, CTRS (Kessler, West Orange); Lana Tiersky, Ph.D. (Psychology, Fairleigh Dickenson University), Albert Rizzo, Ph.D., (Engineering, USC). Ronald R. Mourant, Ph.D., (Engineering, Northeastern University); Michael Recce, Ph.D. (Engineering, NJ Institute of Technology); Gudrun Lange, Ph.D. (Psychiatry, UMDNJ); Andrew Kalnin, M.D. (Radiology, UMDNJ), C. David Hunt (Neurosurgery,UMDNJ).

Current Research Interests/Projects:
The major focus of the Neuropsychology and Neuroscience Laboratory is research and training in the areas of cognitive neuroscience and behavioral neuropsychology. The laboratory conducts research on human memory and information processing in a variety of clinical populations including amnesics (e.g., anterior communicating artery aneurysm), multiple sclerosis, stroke, chronic fatigue syndrome, and traumatic brain injury. Projects include structural and functional (e.g., fMRI) studies of memory functioning; the nature of memory and attention deficits in MS and TBI; the relationship between executive functioning and memory processes in TBI and stroke; The use of Virtual Reality technology in the study of driving ability and cognitive rehabilitation after brain injury; the contribution of basal forebrain, diencephalic and mesial temporal structures to memory disorders in amnesia.

Representative Publications:

Schultheis , MT , DeLuca, J, and Garay, E. The influence of cognitive impairment on driving performance in multiple sclerosis, Neurology, 2001, 56, 1089-1094.

Christodoulou, C., DeLuca, J., Ricker, J.H., Madigan, N., Bly, B.M., Lange, G., Kalnin, A.J., Liu, W.C., Steffener, J., Diamond, B.J. and Ni, A.C. Functional magnetic resonance Imaging of working memory impairment following traumatic brain injury. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 2001, 71, 161-168.

DeLuca, J., Schultheis, M.T., Madigan, N.K., Christodoulou, C., Averill, A. Acquisition
vs retrieval deficits in traumatic brain injury: Implications for memory rehabilitation.
Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 2000, 81, 1327-1333.

Madigan, N., DeLuca, J., Diamond, B.J., Tramontano, G., and Averill, A. Speed of
information processing in traumatic brain injury: A modality-specific impairment?
Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, 2000, 15, 943-956.

Lange, G., DeLuca, J., Maldjian, J.A., Lee, H.J., Tiersky, L. and Natelson, B.H. Brain MRI abnormalities exist in a subset of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.
Journal of the Neurological Sciences, 1999, 171, 3-7.

DeLuca, J., Gaudino, E.A., Diamond, B.J., Christodoulou, C and Engel, R. Acquisition
and storage deficits in multiple sclerosis. Journal of Clinical and Experimental
Neurolopsychology. 1998, 20, 376-390.

Diamond, B.K., DeLuca, J. and Kelley, S. M. Memory and executive functions in amnesic and non-amnesic patients with aneurysms of the anterior communications artery. Brain 120:1015-1025,1997.