Investigating Brain Changes in Movement Disorders
By Josh Goldstein ’25This summer I worked in the Tinaz Lab at Yale University. The Tinaz lab “investigates the brain changes in movement disorders – especially Parkinson’s disease – using imaging tools. We are particularly interested in investigating the brain basis of motor, behavioral, and cognitive symptoms, as well as the plasticity changes in response to mental training and physical exercise in Parkinson’s disease.”
I assisted in the cognitive training study assessing whether mental imagery affects cognitive impairment in PD, mainly through data collection, sorting, and analysis. I became familiar with various neuropsychological exams and I developed a coding mechanism to quantify delayed recall of subjects during testing. I also had the opportunity to shadow movement disorders neurologists.
This experience gave me a greater appreciation for the measures that researchers dealing with qualitative data have to take to ensure objectivity. In addition, this summer has affirmed my interest in health sciences.
Internship funded by the Peter Buck Internship Fund.