Specificity of brain activation patterns in people at genetic risk for Alzheimer disease
Burggren AC, Small GW, Sabb FW, Bookheimer SY.. The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, 2002-01-01
Topic: Amyloid, tau and blood-test diagnosis
Previous studies with positron-emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have indicated differences in neural metabolism and activity between carriers of the APOE epsilon4 allele and those who are not at risk for Alzheimer disease (AD). Persons without dementia carrying the epsilon4 allele showed greater magnitude and extent of brain activation than noncarriers in regions required for memory, suggesting they performed additional cognitive work to accomplish the same task. To determine whether the fMRI differences were specific to a memory task or generalizable to any difficult cognitive task, the authors performed fMRI and compared images from 25 subjects with and without the APOE epsilon4 allele. In the most difficult conditions, all subjects showed increased MR signal in the prefrontal cortex, indicating increased cognitive effort. However, the two genetic groups showed no differences in activation patterns even at the most difficult task level, suggesting that additional cognitive effort in persons at genetic risk for AD is specific to episodic encoding and is not merely a reflection of task difficulty.
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
APA 7th
Burggren, A. C., Small, G. W., Sabb, F. W., & Bookheimer, S. Y. (2002). Specificity of brain activation patterns in people at genetic risk for Alzheimer disease. The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1097/00019442-200201000-00006
Vancouver
Burggren AC, Small GW, Sabb FW, Bookheimer SY. Specificity of brain activation patterns in people at genetic risk for Alzheimer disease. The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. 2002. doi:10.1097/00019442-200201000-00006. PMID: 11790634.
BibTeX
@article{burggren2002-11790634,
author = {Burggren, A. C. and Small, G. W. and Sabb, F. W. and Bookheimer, S. Y.},
title = {{Specificity of brain activation patterns in people at genetic risk for Alzheimer disease}},
journal = {The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry},
year = {2002},
doi = {10.1097/00019442-200201000-00006},
pmid = {11790634},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1097/00019442-200201000-00006}
}
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Key findings
- However, the two genetic groups showed no differences in activation patterns even at the most difficult task level, suggesting that additional cognitive effort in persons at genetic risk for AD is specific to episodic encoding and is not merely a reflection of task difficulty.
Why it matters
This brain imaging study found no difference in activation patterns between people with and without the APOE epsilon 4 allele when doing difficult cognitive tasks. The authors conclude that the extra brain effort seen in people at genetic risk appears specific to memory encoding rather than to task difficulty in general.
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Study details
- Participants25
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 43/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, effect reported and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry) |
| Journal's citation record | 2 / 4 | American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry: journal h-index 178 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 2002 — older than 20 years, still counted |
| Sample size | 1 / 4 | 25 participants |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (participant count stated) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 5 / 7 | Cited 112 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 2 / 5 | 4.3 citations a year over 26 year(s) since 2002 |
| Impact for its field and year | 3 / 6 | Cited 6.9× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 1 / 6 | Cited by 1 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 0 / 4 | Cited 2 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 3 / 4 | Last-listed author Susan Y. Bookheimer: h-index 99 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 2 / 3 | University of California, Los Angeles: institution h-index 1,923 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 0 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 1 institution(s) in 1 country — scores zero (affiliation lists can be incomplete) |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 11790634) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Total | 43 / 100 | — |
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