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  • Assistant Professor
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Research Areas
  • Cognition & Cognitive Neuroscience

Biography

Office Hours: by appointment

Accepting Students for 2024-2025?: Yes

Research Interests

My research aims to understand how the brain supports higher-order cognitive functions (e.g., attention, cognitive control, memory) across young and older adulthood. The current focus in the lab includes investigating neural mechanisms and modifiable risk factors that contribute to differential cognitive trajectories in middle-aged and older adults (i.e., healthy aging vs. dementia/Alzheimer’s disease). Moreover, this line of work seeks to identify brain functional and structural biomarkers for risk prediction of cognitive impairment and dementia in middle-aged and older adults. Finally, a translational line of my research investigates non-pharmacological interventions (e.g., exercise, meditation) that may improve cognition, emotion, and health across the lifespan. My research uses a variety of techniques including cognitive assessments, multimodal neuroimaging (functional, structural, diffusion MRI), computational neuroscience methods, and blood-based biomarkers. The overall goal of my research is to inform and improve health and well-being across the lifespan.

Selected Publications

    • Tang, R., Franz, C. E., Hauger, R. L., Dale, A. M., Dorros, S. M., Eyler, L. T., Fennema-Notestine, C., Hagler, D. J., Jr, Lyons, M. J., Panizzon, M. S., Puckett, O. K., Williams, M. E., Elman, J. A., & Kremen, W. S. (2024). Early cortical microstructural changes in aging are linked to vulnerability to Alzheimer's disease pathology. Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging, S2451-9022(24)00158-7. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsc.2024.05.012
    • Tang, R., Buchholz, E., Dale, A. M., Rissman, R. A., Fennema-Notestine, C., Gillespie, N. A., Hagler, D. J., Jr, Lyons, M. J., Neale, M. C., Panizzon, M. S., Puckett, O. K., Reynolds, C. A., Franz, C. E., Kremen, W. S., & Elman, J. A. (2024). Associations of plasma neurofilament light chain with cognition and neuroimaging measures in community-dwelling early old age men. Alzheimer's research & therapy, 16(1), 90. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13195-024-01464-1
    • Tang, R., Elman, J. A., Franz, C. E., Dale, A. M., Eyler, L. T., Fennema-Notestine, C., Hagler, D. J., Jr, Lyons, M. J., Panizzon, M. S., Puckett, O. K., & Kremen, W. S. (2023). Longitudinal association of executive function and structural network controllability in the aging brain. GeroScience, 45(2), 837–849. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11357-022-00676-3
    • Tang, R., Bugg, J. M., Snijder, J. P., Conway, A. R., & Braver, T. S. (2023). The Dual   Mechanisms of Cognitive Control (DMCC) project: Validation of an online behavioural task battery. Quarterly journal of experimental psychology (2006), 76(7), 1457–1480. https://doi.org/10.1177/17470218221114769
    • Tang, R., Etzel, J. A., Kizhner, A., & Braver, T. S. (2021). Frontoparietal pattern similarity analyses of cognitive control in monozygotic twins. NeuroImage, 241, 118415. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118415
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