My main research interest is in
understanding the role of dopamine in human cognition and disease.
I am using both PET and fMRI to explore whether changes in the
integrity of the dopamine system across the adult lifespan contribute
to age-related declines in cognitive functions. My current research
project investigates whether dopamine-related changes in cognition and
functional connectivity in older adults are dissociable from other
age-related cascades, such as those associated with amyloid accumulation
and white matter changes. Recently, I have also developed an interest
in pharmacological MRI as a tool for studying the effects of
pharmacological manipulations of the dopamine system on brain and
behavior.
Rieckmann, A.,
Karlsson, S., Fischer, H., & Bäckman, L. (2012) Increased bilateral frontal connectivity
during working memory in young adults under the influence of dopamine D1 receptor antagonist.
Journal of Neuroscience, 32, 17067-17072. [medline abstract] Rieckmann, A.,
Karlsson, S., Fischer, H., & Bäckman, L. (2011) Caudate dopamine D1 receptor density is
associated with individual differences in frontoparietal connectivity during working
memory. Journal of Neuroscience, 31, 14284-14290. [medline abstract] Rieckmann, A.,
Karlsson, S., Karlsson, P., Brehmer, Y., Fischer, H., Farde, H., Nyberg, L., & Bäckman, L. (2011)
Dopamine D1 receptor associations within and between dopaminergic pathways in younger and
elderly adults: links to cognitive performance. Cerebral cortex, 21, 2023-2032.
[medline abstract] Rieckmann, A.,
Fischer, H., & Bäckman, L. (2010) Activation in striatum and medial temporal lobe during sequence
learning in younger and older adults: relations to performance. NeuroImage, 50, 13030-1312.
[medline abstract] Rieckmann, A.,
& Bäckman, L. (2009) Implicit learning in aging: extant patterns and new directions.
Neuropsychology Review, 19, 490-503. [medline abstract]
