Robert Chapman

Robert Chapman

Professor, Brain and Cognitive Sciences

PhD, Brown University, 1960

Office Location
243 Meliora Hall
Telephone
(585) 275-8676
Web Address

Office Hours: By appointment

Research Overview

I work on visual information processing in humans and am concerned particularly with the question of how psychological processes depend upon underlying physiological mechanisms. The major research tool is the analysis of brain-evoked potentials and magnetic signals recorded from human subjects while they are performing specified tasks. Extensive use is made of computers to collect and analyze data. By using multivariate statistical analyses, relationships have been established between certain components of the brain's electrical and magnetic responses and characteristics of information processing operations such as stimulus relevance, expectancy, memory storage, and semantic meaning. We are currently studying these in aging and Alzheimer's disease.

Selected Publications

  • . ERP C250 shows the elderly (cognitively normal, Alzheimer's disease) store more stimuli in short-term memory than Young Adults do. Clin Neurophysiol. 2016 Jun;127(6):2423-35. doi:10.1016/j.clinph.2016.03.006.
  • . Memory timeline: Brain ERP C250 (not P300) as a biomarker of short-term storage. Brain Research, 1604, 74-83. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2015.01.038 NIHMS: 666693.
  • . C145 as a short-latency electrophysiological index of cognitive compensation in Alzheimer's disease. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, 33(1), 55-68. doi: 10.3233/JAD-2012-120646 PMCID: PMC22886016 NIHMS: NIHMS409260.
  • . Women have farther to fall: Gender differences between normal elderly and Alzheimer's disease in verbal memory engender better detection of AD in women. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 17, 654-662. doi: 10.1017/S1355617711000452 PMCID: PMC3387297 NIHMS: NIHMS355450.
  • . Brain ERP components predict which individuals progress to Alzheimer's disease and which do not. Neurobiology of Aging, 32, 1742-1755. doi:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2009.11.010. NIHMS164272.
  • . Predicting conversion from mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer's disease using neuropsychological tests and multivariate methods. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 33(2), 187-199. doi:10.1080/13803395.2010.499356. PMC3048956. NIHMS272826.
  • . Diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease using neuropsychological testing improved by multivariate analyses. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 32(8), 793-808. doi:10.1080/13803390903540315. PMC2896992. NIHMS166518.
  • . Cognitive dimensions in Alzheimer's disease, mild cognitive impairment, and normal elderly: Developing a common metric. The Open Geriatric Medicine Journal, 3, 1-10. doi:10.2174/1874827901003010001. PMC2922059. NIHMS188339.
  • . Brain event-related potentials: Diagnosing early-stage Alzheimer's disease. Neurobiology of Aging, 28(2), 194-201.
  • . Function and content words evoke different brain potentials. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 22, 282-284.
  • Silverstein, S.M., Bakshi, S., Chapman, R.M., & Nowlis, G. (1998). Perceptual organization of configural and nonconfigural visual patterns in schizophrenia: Effects of repeated exposure. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, 3, 209-223.
  • . EP component identification and measurement by principal components analysis. Brain and Cognition, 27, 288-310.
  • Chapman, R.M. (1992). EEG/MEG and alpha activity: Current status of biomagnetic research. In M. Hoke, et al. (Ed.), Biomagnetism: Clinical Aspects. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science Publishers, pp. 25-31.
  • Chapman, R.M (1989). The relative covariance method. In S.N. Erne and G.L. Romani (Eds.), Advances in Biomagnetism. Functional Localization: A Challenge for Biomagnetism, pp. 351-363. Singapore: World Scientific.
  • Chapman, R.M., Modena, I., Narici, L., Pizzella, V., Romani, G.L., McCrary, J.W., & Garnsey, S. (1988). Electric and magnetic brain activity related to cognitive performance. In Electric and Magnetic Activity of the Central Nervous System: Research and Clinical Applications in Aerospace Medicine, 10.110.8. Paris: AGARD.
  • . Memory processes and evoked potentials. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 35, 201-212.
  • . Behavioral and neural analyses of connotative meaning: Word classes and rating scales. Brain and Language, 11, 319-339.
  • , Brain responses related to semantic meaning. Brain and Language, 5, 195-205.

Research Support

For more than 25 years, my work has been supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and others.