Basak, Chandramallika

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10735.1/2866

Dr. Basak's research focuses on how and where in the brain we remember information over a short period of time; the interplay between attention and memory; and the effects of cognitive training, including video games and memory exercises, on the brain and cognition in both young and old adults. She is also investigating the effects of cardiorespiratory fitness on cognition.

Learn more about Dr. Basak on her home page and Google Scholar.

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Recent Submissions

Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
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    Functional Magnetic Neuroimaging Data on Age-Related Differences in Task Switching Accuracy and Reverse Brain-Behavior Relationships
    (Elsevier Inc.) Basak, Chandramallika; Qin, Shou; Nashiro, K.; O'Connell, Margaret A.; Basak, Chandramallika; Qin, Shou; O'Connell, Margaret A.
    The data presented in this article is related to the research article entitled “Age-related Differences in BOLD Modulation to Cognitive Control Costs in a Multitasking Paradigm: Global Switch, Local Switch, and Compatibility-Switch Costs” (Nashiro et al., 2018) [1]. This article describes age-related differences in accuracies for various cognitive costs incurred during task switching across three different age-cohorts: younger (18–35 years), younger-old (50–64 years) and older-old (65–80 years). The cognitive costs evaluated were global switch costs (GSC), local switch costs (LSC) and compatibility switch costs (CSC). Whole brain analyses were conducted to determine the brain regions sensitive to these cognitive costs, irrespective of age. Furthermore, age-related differences in brain-behavior relationships were evaluated by correlating activations from these regions with global switch costs, indexed by both response times and accuracies, for younger and older adults separately. Activations of age-sensitive regions during the task, where younger adults activated more than the combined groups of older adults, were also correlated with response times and accuracies to determine age-related differences in brain-behavior relationships of these under-recruited brain regions by older adults.
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    The Relationship Between Intelligence and Training Gains is Moderated by Training Strategy
    (Public Library of Science) Lee, H.; Boot, W. R.; Baniqued, P. L.; Voss, M. W.; Prakash, R. S.; Basak, Chandramallika (UT Dallas); Kramer, A. F.; 0000 0001 2852 4218 (Basak, C)
    We examined the relationship between training regimen and fluid intelligence in the learning of a complex video game. Fifty non-game-playing young adults were trained on a game called Space Fortress for 30 hours with one of two training regimens: 1) Hybrid Variable-Priority Training (HVT), with part-task training and a focus on improving specific skills and managing task priorities, and 2) Full Emphasis Training (FET) in which participants practiced the whole game to obtain the highest overall score. Fluid intelligence was measured with the Raven's Progressive Matrix task before training. With FET, fluid intelligence was positively associated with learning, suggesting that intellectual ability played a substantial role in determining individual differences in training success. In contrast, with HVT, fluid intelligence was not associated with learning, suggesting that individual differences in fluid intelligence do not factor into training success in a regimen that emphasizes component tasks and flexible task coordination. By analyzing training effects in terms of individual differences and training regimens, the current study offers a training approach that minimizes the potentially limiting effect of individual differences.
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    Brain Activation During Dual-task Processing is Associated with Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Performance in Older Adults
    (Frontiers Research Foundation) Wong, Chelsea N.; Chaddock-Heyman, Laura; Voss, Michelle W.; Burzynska, Agnieszka Z.; Basak, Chandramallika; Erickson, Kirk I.; Prakash, Ruchika S.; Szabo-Reed, Amanda; Phillips, Siobhan M.; Wojcicki, Thomas; Mailey, Emily L.; McAuley, Edward; Kramer, Arthur F.; Basak, Chandramallika
    Higher cardiorespiratory fitness is associated with better cognitive performance and enhanced brain activation. Yet, the extent to which cardiorespiratory fitness-related brain activation is associated with better cognitive performance is not well understood. In this cross-sectional study, we examined whether the association between cardiorespiratory fitness and executive function was mediated by greater prefrontal cortex activation in healthy older adults. Brain activation was measured during dual-task performance with functional magnetic resonance imaging in a sample of 128 healthy older adults (59-80 years). Higher cardiorespiratory fitness was associated with greater activation during dual-task processing in several brain areas including the anterior cingulate and supplementary motor cortex (ACC/SMA), thalamus and basal ganglia, right motor/somatosensory cortex and middle frontal gyrus, and left somatosensory cortex, controlling for age, sex, education, and gray matter volume. Of these regions, greater ACC/SMA activation mediated the association between cardiorespiratory fitness and dual-task performance. We provide novel evidence that cardiorespiratory fitness may support cognitive performance by facilitating brain activation in a core region critical for executive function.;
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    The Relationship Between Intelligence and Training Gains is Moderated by Training Strategy
    (Public Library of Science) Lee, H.; Boot, W. R.; Baniqued, P. L.; Voss, M. W.; Prakash, R. S.; Basak, Chandramallika (UT Dallas); Kramer, A. F.; 0000 0001 2852 4218 (Basak, C)
    We examined the relationship between training regimen and fluid intelligence in the learning of a complex video game. Fifty non-game-playing young adults were trained on a game called Space Fortress for 30 hours with one of two training regimens: 1) Hybrid Variable-Priority Training (HVT), with part-task training and a focus on improving specific skills and managing task priorities, and 2) Full Emphasis Training (FET) in which participants practiced the whole game to obtain the highest overall score. Fluid intelligence was measured with the Raven's Progressive Matrix task before training. With FET, fluid intelligence was positively associated with learning, suggesting that intellectual ability played a substantial role in determining individual differences in training success. In contrast, with HVT, fluid intelligence was not associated with learning, suggesting that individual differences in fluid intelligence do not factor into training success in a regimen that emphasizes component tasks and flexible task coordination. By analyzing training effects in terms of individual differences and training regimens, the current study offers a training approach that minimizes the potentially limiting effect of individual differences.
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    To Switch or Not to Switch: Role of Cognitive Control in Working Memory Training in Older Adults
    (Frontiers Media SA) Basak, Chandramallika; O'Connell, Margaret A.; 0000 0001 2852 4218 (Basak, C)
    It is currently not known what are the best working memory training strategies to offset the age-related declines in fluid cognitive abilities. In this randomized clinical double-blind trial, older adults were randomly assigned to one of two types of working memory training one group was trained on a predictable memory updating task (PT) and another group was trained on a novel, unpredictable memory updating task (UT). Unpredictable memory updating, compared to predictable, requires greater demands on cognitive control (Basak and Verhaeghen, 2011a). Therefore, the current study allowed us to evaluate the role of cognitive control in working memory training. All participants were assessed on a set of near and far transfer tasks at three different testing sessions before training, immediately after the training, and 1.5 months after completing the training. Additionally, individual learning rates for a comparison working memory task (performed by both groups) and the trained task were computed. Training on unpredictable memory updating, compared to predictable, significantly enhanced performance on a measure of episodic memory, immediately after the training. Moreover, individuals with faster learning rates showed greater gains in this episodic memory task and another new working memory task; this effect was specific to UT. We propose that the unpredictable memory updating training, compared to predictable memory updating training, may a better strategy to improve selective cognitive abilities in older adults, and future studies could further investigate the role of cognitive control in working memory training.
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    Caudate Nucleus Volume Mediates the Link between Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Cognitive Flexibility in Older Adults
    Verstynen, T. D.; Lynch, B.; Miller, D. L.; Voss, M. W.; Prakash, R. S.; Chaddock, L.; Basak, Chandramallika
    The basal ganglia play a central role in regulating the response selection abilities that are critical for mental flexibility. In neocortical areas, higher cardiorespiratory fitness levels are associated with increased gray matter volume, and these volumetric differences mediate enhanced cognitive performance in a variety of tasks. Here we examine whether cardiorespiratory fitness correlates with the volume of the subcortical nuclei that make up the basal ganglia and whether this relationship predicts cognitive flexibility in older adults. Structural MRI was used to determine the volume of the basal ganglia nuclei in a group of older, neurologically healthy individuals (mean age 66 years, N=179). Measures of cardiorespiratory fitness (VO2max), cognitive flexibility (task switching), and attentional control (flanker task) were also collected. Higher fitness levels were correlated with higher accuracy rates in the Task Switching paradigm. In addition, the volume of the caudate nucleus, putamen, and globus pallidus positively correlated with Task Switching accuracy. Nested regression modeling revealed that caudate nucleus volume was a significant mediator of the relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness, and task switching performance. These findings indicate that higher cardiorespiratory fitness predicts better cognitive flexibility in older adults through greater grey matter volume in the dorsal striatum. © 2012 Timothy D. Verstynen et al.
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    Examining Neural Correlates of Skill Acquisition in a Complex Videogame Training Program
    Prakash, Ruchika S.; De Leon, Angeline A.; Mourany, Lyla; Lee, Hyunkyu; Voss, Michelle W.; Boot, Walter R.; Basak, Chandramallika; Fabiani, Monica; Gratton, Gabriele; Kramer, Arthur F.
    Acquisition of complex skills is a universal feature of human behavior that has been conceptualized as a process that starts with intense resource dependency, requires effortful cognitive control, and ends in relative automaticity on the multi-faceted task. The present study examined the effects of different theoretically based training strategies on cortical recruitment during acquisition of complex video game skills. Seventy-five participants were recruited and assigned to one of three training groups: (1) Fixed Emphasis Training (FET), in which participants practiced the game, (2) Hybrid Variable-Priority Training (HVT), in which participants practiced using a combination of part-task training and variable priority training, or (3) a Control group that received limited game play. After 30 h of training, game data indicated a significant advantage for the two training groups relative to the control group. The HVT group demonstrated enhanced benefits of training, as indexed by an improvement in overall game score and a reduction in cortical recruitment post-training. Specifically, while both groups demonstrated a significant reduction of activation in attentional control areas, namely the right middle frontal gyrus, right superior frontal gyrus, and the ventral medial prefrontal cortex, participants in the control group continued to engage these areas post-training, suggesting a sustained reliance on attentional regions during challenging task demands. The HVT group showed a further reduction in neural resources post-training compared to the FET group in these cognitive control regions, along with reduced activation in the motor and sensory cortices and the posteromedial cortex. Findings suggest that training, specifically one that emphasizes cognitive flexibility can reduce the attentional demands of a complex cognitive task, along with reduced reliance on the motor network.
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    Examining Neural Correlates of Skill Acquisition in a Complex Videogame Training Program
    Prakash, Ruchika S.; De Leon, Angeline A.; Mourany, Lyla; Lee, Hyunkyu; Voss, Michelle W.; Boot, Walter R.; Basak, Chandramallika
    Acquisition of complex skills is a universal feature of human behavior that has been conceptualized as a process that starts with intense resource dependency, requires effortful cognitive control, and ends in relative automaticity on the multi-faceted task. The present study examined the effects of different theoretically based training strategies on cortical recruitment during acquisition of complex video game skills. Seventy-five participants were recruited and assigned to one of three training groups: (1) Fixed Emphasis Training (FET), in which participants practiced the game, (2) Hybrid Variable-Priority Training (HVT), in which participants practiced using a combination of part-task training and variable priority training, or (3) a Control group that received limited game play. After 30 h of training, game data indicated a significant advantage for the two training groups relative to the control group. The HVT group demonstrated enhanced benefits of training, as indexed by an improvement in overall game score and a reduction in cortical recruitment post-training. Specifically, while both groups demonstrated a significant reduction of activation in attentional control areas, namely the right middle frontal gyrus, right superior frontal gyrus, and the ventral medial prefrontal cortex, participants in the control group continued to engage these areas post-training, suggesting a sustained reliance on attentional regions during challenging task demands. The HVT group showed a further reduction in neural resources post-training compared to the FET group in these cognitive control regions, along with reduced activation in the motor and sensory cortices and the posteromedial cortex. Findings suggest that training, specifically one that emphasizes cognitive flexibility can reduce the attentional demands of a complex cognitive task, along with reduced reliance on the motor network.

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