Sterling Johnson
Ph.D., Brigham Young University
Associate Professor, Department of Medicine

Contact Information:
Waisman Center
UW-Madison
1500 Highland Avenue
Madison, WI 53705
Phone: (608) 265-5118
Fax: (608) 262-6020
E-mail: scj@medicine.wisc.edu

Research Statement

In my lab we use brain imaging in conjunction with neuropsychological measurement to study cognitive disorders of memory and self-awareness. The lab seeks to address questions such as: How early in life does Alzheimer Disease begin and can functional imaging provide new knowledge about presymptomatic disease progression? What are the neural substrates of awareness (or unawareness) of deficit in AD and other cognitive disoders? To answer questions like these we collaborate with a talented multi-disciplinary team, and study healthy volunteers across the age spectrum with and without risk factors for dementia, patients with Alzheimer's disease, Mild Cognitive Impairment, frontal temporal dementias, and patients with traumatic brain injury.

Representative Publications

Bendlin, BB, Fitzgerald, ME, Ries, ML, Xu, G, Kastman, EK, Thiel, BW, Rowley, HA, Lazar, M, Alexander, AL, & Johnson, SC (In Press) White matter in aging and cognition: A cross-sectional study of microstructure in adults aged eighteen to eighty-three. Developmental Neuropsychology.

McLaren, DG, Kosmatka, KJ, Oakes, TR, Kroenke, CD, Kohama, SG, Matochik, JA, Ingram DK, & Johnson, SC (2009). A population-average MRI-based atlas collection of the rhesus macaque. Neuroimage, 45(1), 52-59.

Xu, G, McLaren, DG, Ries, ML, Fitzgerald, ME, Bendlin, BB, Rowley, HA, Sager, MA, Atwood, CS, Asthana, S, & Johnson, SC (2009). The influence of parental history of Alzheimer's disease and apolipoprotein E 4 on the BOLD signal during recognition memory. Brain, 132, 383-391.

Bendlin, BB, Ries, ML, Lazar, M, Alexander, AL, Dempsey, RJ, Rowley, HA, Sherman, JE, & Johnson, SC (2008). Longitudinal changes in patients with traumatic brain injury assessed with diffusion tensor and volumetric imaging. Neuroimage, 42, 503-51.

Asenath, LR, Hermann, B, Jones, J, Johnson, SC, Asthana, S, & Sager, MA (2008). Effect of family history of Alzheimers disease on serial position profiles. Alzheimers and Dementia, 4(4), 285-290.

Haasl, RJ, Reza Ahmadi, M, Vadakkadath Meethal, S, Gleason, CE, Johnson, SC, Asthana, S, Bowen, RL, & Atwood, CS. (2008). A luteinizing hormone receptor intronic variant is significantly associated with decreased risk of Alzheimers disease in males carrying an apolipoprotein E e4 Allele. BMC Medical Genetics, 9(1), 37.

Ries, ML, Carlsson, CM, Rowley, HR, Sager, MA, Gleason, CE, Asthana, S, & Johnson, SC (2008). MRI characterization of brain structure and function in Mild Cognitive Impairment: A review. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 56(5), 920-934.

Xu, G, Fitzgerald, ME, Wen, Z, Fein, S, Alsop, D, Carroll, T, Ries, M, Rowley, H, Sager, M, Asthana, S, Johnson, SC, & Carlsson, CM (2008). Atorvastatin therapy is associated with greater and faster cerebral hemodynamic response. Brain Imaging and Behavior, 2(2), 94-104.

Johnson, SC, Schmitz, TW, Asthana, S, Gluck, MA, & Myers, CE. (2008). Associative learning over trials activates the hippocampus in healthy elderly but not mild cognitive impairment. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 15, 129-14.

Carlsson, CM, Gleason, CE, Hess, TM, Moreland, KA, Blazel, HM, Koscik, RL, Schreiber, NTN, Johnson, SC, Atwood, CS, Puglielli, L, Hermann, BP, McBride, PE, Stein, JH, Sager, MA, & Asthana, S. (2008). Effects of simvastatin on cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers and cognition in middle-aged adults at risk for Alzheimers disease. Journal of Alzheimers Disease, 13(2), 187-97.

Trivedi, MA, Schmitz, TW, Ries, ML, Hess, TM, Fitzgerald, ME, Atwood, CS, Rowley, HA, Asthana, S, Sager, MA, & Johnson, SC. (2008). fMRI activation during episodic encoding and metacognitive appraisal across the lifespan: Risk factors for Alzheimer's disease. Neuropsychologia, 46(6), 1667-1678.

Humbert, IA, Fitzgerald, ME, McLaren, DG, Johnson, S, Porcaro, E, Kosmatka, K, Hind, J, & Robbins, J (2008). Neurophysiology of swallowing: Effects of age and bolus type. Neuroimage, 2008, Oct 28. [Epub ahead of print].

Schmitz, TW, & Johnson, SC. (2007). Relevance to the self: A brief review and framework of neural systems underlying appraisal. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 31, 585-59.

Johnson, SC, Ries, ML, Hess, TM, Carlsson, CM, Gleason, CE, Alexander, AL, Rowley, HA, Asthana, S, & Sager, MA. (2007). Effect of Alzheimer disease risk on brain function during self-appraisal in healthy middle-aged adults. Archives of General Psychiatry, 64(10), 1163-1171.

Ries, ML, Jabbar, BM, Schmitz, TW, Trivedi, MA, Gleason, CM, Rowley, HA, Asthana, S, & Johnson, SC. (2007). Anosognosia in MCI: Relationship to activation of cortical midline structures involved in self-appraisal. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 13, 450-61.

Wung, JK, Perry, G, Kowalski, A, Harris, PLR, Bishop, GM, Trivedi, MA, Johnson, SC, Smith, MA, Denhardt, DT, & Atwood, CS. (2007). Increased expression of the remodeling- and tumorigenic-associated factor osteopontin in pyramidal neurons of the alzheimer's disease brain. Current Alzheimer Research, 4(1), 67-72.

Trivedi, MA, Ward, MA, Hess, TM, Gale, SD, Dempsey, RJ, Rowley, HA, & Johnson, SC. (2007). Longitudinal changes in global brain volume between 79 and 409 days after traumatic brain injury: relationship with duration of coma. Journal of Neurotrauma, 24, 766-77.

Schmitz, TW, & Johnson, SC. (2006). Self-appraisal decisions evoke dissociated dorsalventral aMPFC networks. Neuroimage, 30(3), 1050-1058.

Trivedi, MA, Schmitz, TW, Ries, ML, Torgerson, BM, Sager, MA, Hermann, BP, Asthana, S, & Johnson, SC. (2006). Reduced hippocampal activation during episodic encoding in middle-aged individuals at genetic risk for Alzheimers Disease: a cross-sectional study. BMC Medicine, 4, 1.