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People - Ruth Salo
Ruth Salo, Ph.D.
Assistant Adjunct Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
916-734-7909
Education
1997 PhD University of California, Davis
1993 MA University of California, Davis
Research Interests
My research program is investigating the relationship between alterations in brain function and attentional control in methamphetamine abusers and patients with schizophrenia.
My particular interest is to understand the temporal parameters of attentional control in these clinical populations and to identify those conditions in which attentional processes are intact as well as those conditions in which deficits emerge.
In the past decade, the use of the stimulant methamphetamine has increased in schizophrenia patients as well as the general population.
In persons without a psychiatric diagnosis methamphetamine is known to be neurotoxic to dopaminergic rich frontostriatal brain regions, including the anterior cingulate cortex and the prefrontal cortex with accompanying deficits in attention and executive control.
Little is known, however, about the additive effects of methamphetamine abuse on brain function and cognitive control in schizophrenia patients.
I am employing magnetic resonance spectroscopy [MRS] and Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging [fMRI] in conjunction with sensitive computerized measures of attention to examine these links.
The use of MRS in conjunction with fMRI will determine whether or not neuronal pathology as measured with MRS is linked to functional brain activation as measured by fMRI during tests of cognitive control.
Careful characterization of cognitive functioning is relevant to the treatment of substance abuse, as many treatment programs rely on cognitive behavioral therapy as part of their intervention approach.
Representative Publications
Salo R, Ursu S, Buonocore MH, Leamon MH, Carter CS (2009). Impaired Prefrontal Cortical Function and Disrupted Adaptive Cognitive Control in Methamphetamine Abusers: An fMRI Study. Biol Psychiatry, (In press).
Salo R, Nordahl TE, Buonocore MH, Natsuaki Y, Waters C, Moore CD, Galloway GP, Leamon MH (2008). Cognitive Control and White Matter Callosal Microstructure in Methamphetamine-Dependent Subjects: A Diffusion Tensor Imaging Study. Biol Psychiatry, (Epub ahead of print). pdf
Salo R, Nordahl TE, Leamon MH, Natsuaki Y, Moore CD, Waters C, Carter CS (2008). Preliminary evidence of behavioral predictors of recurrent drug-induced psychosis in methamphetamine abuse. Psychiatry Res, 157(1-3):273-7. pdf
Salo R, Leamon MH, Natsuaki Y, Moore C, Waters C, Nordahl TE (2008). Findings of preserved implicit attention in methamphetamine dependent subjects. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry, 32(1):217-23. pdf
Salo R, Nordahl TE, Natsuaki T, Leamon MH, Galloway GP, Waters C, Moore CD, Buonocore MH (2007). Attentional control and brain metabolite levels in methamphetamine abusers. Biological Psychiatry, 61(11):1272-80. pdf
Schulte T, Muller-Oehring EM, Salo R , Pfefferbaum A, Sullivan EV (2006). Callosal Involvement in a Stroop Task in Alcoholic and Healthy Subjects. Neuropsychology, 20(6):727-36.
Nordahl TE, Salo R, Natsuaki Y, Galloway GP, Waters C, Moore CD, Kile S, Buonocore MH (2005). Methamphetamine users in sustained abstinence: a proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy study. Archives of General Psychiatry, 62(4):444-52. pdf
Ruth Salo, Thomas E. Nordahl, Charles Moore, Christy Waters, Yutaka Natsuaki, Gantt P. Galloway, Shawn Kile, and Edith V. Sullivan (2005). A dissociation in attentional control: evidence from methamphetamine dependence. Biological Psychiatry, 57(3):310-3. pdf
Nordahl TE & Salo R, Selected Neuroimaging Topics In Psychiatric Disorders (2004). (Annual Review of Psychiatry, APA Press).
Avishai Henik and Ruth Salo (2004). Schizophrenia and the stroop effect. Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience Reviews, 3, 42-59. pdf
Nordahl TE, Salo R & Leamon MH (2003). Neuropsychological effects of chronic methamphetamine use on neurotransmitters and cognition: a review. Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 15(3):317-25. pdf
Salo, R & Robertson, LC. (2003). Perceptual Disturbances in Psychiatric and Neurological Patients. Neuropsychiatry, 2 nd Edition; Williams & Wlkens Publishers.
Nordahl TE, Salo R, Possin K, Gibson DR, Flynn N, Leamon M, Galloway GP, Pfefferbaum A, Spielman, Adalsteinsson E, Sullivan EV. (2002). Low N-acetyl-aspartate and high choline in the anterior cingulum of recently abstinent methamphetamine-dependent subjects: a preliminary proton MRS study. Psychiatry Research Neuroimaging, 116, 43-52. pdf
Salo, R., Henik, A., Nordahl, TE & Robertson, LC. (2002). Immediate versus sustained processing in schizophrenia. Jnl of Intl Neuropsychological Society, 8, 794-803. pdf
Salo R, Nordahl TE, Sullivan EV, Possin K, Boitor I, Leamon MH, Gibson DR, Galloway G, Flynn NM, Henik A, Pfefferbaum A. (2002). Preliminary evidence of reduced cognitive inhibition in methamphetamine-dependent individuals. Psychiatry Research, 111, 65-74. pdf
Henik A, Carter CS, Salo R, Chaderjian MR., Kraft, LW, Nordahl, TE. & Robertson, LC. (2002) Attentional control and word inhibition in schizophrenia. Psychiatry Research, 110, 137-149. pdf
Nordahl TE., Carter CS., Salo RS., Kraft LW., Baldo JB., Salamat S., Robertson LC, Kusubov N. (2001). Anterior cingulate metabolism correlates with stroop errors in paranoid schizophrenia patients. Neuropsychopharmacology 25, 139-148. pdf
Salo R, Robertson LC, Nordahl TE, & Kraft LW. (1997). The effects of neuroleptic medication on sequential inhibitory processes. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 106, 639-643.
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