Dr Megan Barker is a postdoctoral fellow in cognitive neuropsychology, and holds a current appointment at the Queensland Brain Institute at The University of Queensland. She has significant research experience in the field of neurodegenerative disorders, including dementia, motor neurone disease, and parkinsonian disorders. Her research expertise focuses on detecting novel cognitive and behavioural changes in persons at risk for developing dementia, and detailed phenotyping of cognitive and behavioural changes across neurodegenerative disorders. Specifically, she has published work identifying distinctive patterns of cognitive and language functioning in individuals with atypical parkinsonian disorders (e.g. progressive supranuclear palsy), as well as early memory changes and neuropsychiatric symptoms in Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia. She received three years of postdoctoral training at Columbia University Medical Center, at the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s Disease and the Aging Brain. While there, she spearheaded an international effort to define the earliest symptoms of behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia. She also has experience conducting research in consortium studies, providing cognitive expertise in teams that combine neuropsychological methods with cutting-edge biomarker, neuroimaging, and brain stimulation techniques.
Journal Article: Phonemic Fluency in pathologically confirmed Alzheimer’s disease (AD) versus AD with Lewy Bodies
Johnson, Jordan, Fernandez, Kayri K, Barker, Megan S, Hernandez, Michelle, Soto, Elizabeth, Gu, Yian, Stern, Yaakov and Cosentino, Stephanie (2023). Phonemic Fluency in pathologically confirmed Alzheimer’s disease (AD) versus AD with Lewy Bodies. Alzheimer's & Dementia, 19 (S4). doi: 10.1002/alz.067429
Journal Article: Living with frontotemporal degeneration: diagnostic journey, symptom experiences, and disease impact
Barker, Megan S., Dodge, Shana G., Niehoff, Debra, Denny, Sharon, Dacks, Penny A., Dickinson, Susan, Cosentino, Stephanie and Wheaton, Dianna K. H. (2023). Living with frontotemporal degeneration: diagnostic journey, symptom experiences, and disease impact. Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology, 36 (3), 201-214. doi: 10.1177/08919887221119976
Journal Article: Mirror movements and callosal dysgenesis in a family with a DCC mutation: neuropsychological and neuroimaging outcomes
Knight, Jacquelyn L., Barker, Megan S., Edwards, Timothy J., Barnby, Joseph M., Richards, Linda J. and Robinson, Gail A. (2023). Mirror movements and callosal dysgenesis in a family with a DCC mutation: neuropsychological and neuroimaging outcomes. Cortex, 161, 38-50. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2023.01.008
Acquired brain injury (stroke and TBI) in later life
Barker, Megan S., Gibson, Emily C. and Robinson, Gail A. (2018). Acquired brain injury (stroke and TBI) in later life. Oxford Research Encyclopaedia of Psychology. (pp. 1-30) Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/acrefore/9780190236557.013.412
Phonemic Fluency in pathologically confirmed Alzheimer’s disease (AD) versus AD with Lewy Bodies
Johnson, Jordan, Fernandez, Kayri K, Barker, Megan S, Hernandez, Michelle, Soto, Elizabeth, Gu, Yian, Stern, Yaakov and Cosentino, Stephanie (2023). Phonemic Fluency in pathologically confirmed Alzheimer’s disease (AD) versus AD with Lewy Bodies. Alzheimer's & Dementia, 19 (S4). doi: 10.1002/alz.067429
Living with frontotemporal degeneration: diagnostic journey, symptom experiences, and disease impact
Barker, Megan S., Dodge, Shana G., Niehoff, Debra, Denny, Sharon, Dacks, Penny A., Dickinson, Susan, Cosentino, Stephanie and Wheaton, Dianna K. H. (2023). Living with frontotemporal degeneration: diagnostic journey, symptom experiences, and disease impact. Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology, 36 (3), 201-214. doi: 10.1177/08919887221119976
Knight, Jacquelyn L., Barker, Megan S., Edwards, Timothy J., Barnby, Joseph M., Richards, Linda J. and Robinson, Gail A. (2023). Mirror movements and callosal dysgenesis in a family with a DCC mutation: neuropsychological and neuroimaging outcomes. Cortex, 161, 38-50. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2023.01.008
Chapman, Silvia, Rentería, Miguel Arce, Dworkin, Jordan D, Garriga, Stella M, Barker, Megan S, Avila-Rieger, Justina, Gonzalez, Christopher, Joyce, Jillian L, J Vonk, Jet M, Soto, Elizabeth, Manly, Jennifer J, Brickman, Adam, Mayeux, Richard and Cosentino, Stephanie A (2023). Association of subjective cognitive decline with progression to dementia in a cognitively unimpaired multiracial community sample. Neurology, 100 (10), e1020-e1027. doi: 10.1212/wnl.0000000000201658
Sejourne, Corinne, Dworkin, Jordan D., Barker, Megan S., Manoochehri, Masood, Gottesman, Reena T., Wassermann, Eric M., Tierney, Michael C., Huey, Edward D. and Grafman, Jordan (2023). Demographic and symptom correlates of initial idiopathic psychiatric diagnosis in frontotemporal dementia. Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology, 36 (3), 193-200. doi: 10.1177/08919887221130267
An emotion-eliciting version of the Hayling Sentence Completion Test
Barker, Megan S., Bender, J. Reuben, Chow, Jessica and Robinson, Gail A. (2022). An emotion-eliciting version of the Hayling Sentence Completion Test. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 44 (9), 665-680. doi: 10.1080/13803395.2022.2157797
Examining the role of aging perceptions in subjective cognitive decline
Chapman, Silvia, Weiss, David, Broulíková, Hana M., Sunderaraman, Preeti, Barker, Megan S., Joyce, Jillian L., Azar, Martina, McKeague, Ian, Kriesl, William C. and Cosentino, Stephanie (2022). Examining the role of aging perceptions in subjective cognitive decline. Alzheimer Disease and Associated Disorders, 36 (4), 288-294. doi: 10.1097/wad.0000000000000518
The contribution of behavioral features to caregiver burden in FTLD spectrum disorders
Silverman, Hannah E., Ake, Jeannie M., Manoochehri, Masood, Appleby, Brian S., Brushaber, Danielle, Devick, Katrina L., Dickerson, Bradford C., Fields, Julie A., Forsberg, Leah K., Ghoshal, Nupur, Graff-Radford, Neill R., Grossman, Murray, Heuer, Hilary W., Kornak, John, Lapid, Maria, Litvan, Irene, Mackenzie, Ian R., Mendez, Mario F., Onyike, Chiadi U., Pascual, Belen, Tartaglia, Maria Carmela, Boeve, Bradley F., Boxer, Adam L., Rosen, Howard J., Cosentino, Stephanie, Huey, Edward D., Barker, Megan S. and Goldman, Jill S. (2022). The contribution of behavioral features to caregiver burden in FTLD spectrum disorders. Alzheimers and Dementia, 18 (9), 1635-1649. doi: 10.1002/alz.12494
Towards defining the neuroanatomical basis of late-onset psychiatric symptoms
Barker, Megan S., Cosentino, Stephanie A., Fremont, Rachel, Devanand, Davangere P. and Huey, Edward D. (2022). Towards defining the neuroanatomical basis of late-onset psychiatric symptoms. Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology, 35 (6), 751-762. doi: 10.1177/08919887221090213
Proposed research criteria for prodromal behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia
Barker, Megan S., Gottesman, Reena T., Manoochehri, Masood, Chapman, Silvia, Appleby, Brian S., Brushaber, Danielle, Devick, Katrina L., Dickerson, Bradford C., Domoto-Reilly, Kimiko, Fields, Julie A., Forsberg, Leah K., Galasko, Douglas R., Ghoshal, Nupur, Goldman, Jill, Graff-Radford, Neill R., Grossman, Murray, Heuer, Hilary W., Hsiung, Ging-Yuek, Knopman, David S., Kornak, John, Litvan, Irene, Mackenzie, Ian R., Masdeu, Joseph C., Mendez, Mario F., Pascual, Belen, Staffaroni, Adam M., Tartaglia, Maria Carmela, Boeve, Bradley F., Boxer, Adam L. ... Huey, Edward D. (2022). Proposed research criteria for prodromal behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia. Brain, 145 (3), 1079-1097. doi: 10.1093/brain/awab365
Subjective cognitive decline is more accurate when metamemory is better
Chapman, Silvia, Joyce, Jillian L., Barker, Megan S., Sunderaraman, Preeti, Rizer, Sandra, Huey, Edward D., Dworkin, Jordan, Gu, Yian and Cosentino, Stephanie (2022). Subjective cognitive decline is more accurate when metamemory is better. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 14 787552. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2022.787552
Yudkovicz, Julia J., Minster, Ryan L., Barinas-Mitchell, Emma, Christensen, Kaare, Feitosa, Mary, Barker, Megan S., Newman, Anne B. and Kuipers, Allison L. (2021). Pleiotropic effects between cardiovascular disease risk factors and measures of cognitive and physical function in long-lived adults. Scientific Reports, 11 (1) 17980, 1-9. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-97298-0
Recognition memory and divergent cognitive profiles in prodromal genetic frontotemporal dementia
Barker, Megan S., Manoochehri, Masood, Rizer, Sandra J., Appleby, Brian S., Brushaber, Danielle, Dev, Sheena, Devick, Katrina L., Dickerson, Bradford C., Fields, Julie A., Foroud, Tatiana M., Forsberg, Leah K., Galasko, Douglas R., Ghoshal, Nupur, Graff-Radford, Neill R., Grossman, Murray, Heuer, Hilary W., Hsiung, Ging-Yuek, Kornak, John, Litvan, Irene, Mackenzie, Ian R., Mendez, Mario F., Pascual, Belen, Rankin, Katherine P., Rascovsky, Katya, Staffaroni, Adam M., Tartaglia, Maria Carmela, Weintraub, Sandra, Wong, Bonnie, Boeve, Bradley F. ... Cosentino, Stephanie (2021). Recognition memory and divergent cognitive profiles in prodromal genetic frontotemporal dementia. Cortex, 139, 99-115. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2021.03.006
Barker, Megan S., Knight, Jacquelyn L., Dean, Ryan J., Mandelstam, Simone, Richards, Linda J. and Robinson, Gail A. (2021). Verbal Adynamia and Conceptualization in Partial Rhombencephalosynapsis and Corpus Callosum Dysgenesis. Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology, 34 (1), 38-52. doi: 10.1097/wnn.0000000000000261
Du, Mengtian, Andersen, Stacy L., Schupf, Nicole, Feitosa, Mary F., Barker, Megan S., Perls, Thomas T. and Sebastiani, Paola (2021). Association between APOE alleles and change of neuropsychological tests in the Long Life family Study. Journal of Alzheimers Disease, 79 (1), 117-125. doi: 10.3233/jad-201113
Optimizing subjective cognitive decline to detect early cognitive dysfunction
Chapman, Silvia, Sunderaraman, Preeti, Joyce, Jillian L., Azar, Martina, Colvin, Leigh E., Barker, Megan S., McKeague, Ian, Kreisl, William C. and Cosentino, Stephanie (2021). Optimizing subjective cognitive decline to detect early cognitive dysfunction. Journal of Alzheimers Disease, 80 (3), 1185-1196. doi: 10.3233/jad-201322
Idea selection for propositional language production
Barker, Megan S., Ceslis, Amelia and Robinson, Gail A. (2020). Idea selection for propositional language production. Aging Neuropsychology and Cognition, 29 (2), 1-24. doi: 10.1080/13825585.2020.1862044
Mosley, Philip E., Robinson, Katherine, Coyne, Terry, Silburn, Peter, Barker, Megan S., Breakspear, Michael, Robinson, Gail A. and Perry, Alistair (2020). Subthalamic deep brain stimulation identifies frontal networks supporting initiation, inhibition and strategy use in Parkinson's disease. NeuroImage, 223 117352, 1-19. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117352
Assessing numerical reasoning provides insight into financial literacy
Sunderaraman, Preeti, Barker, Megan, Chapman, Silvia and Cosentino, Stephanie (2020). Assessing numerical reasoning provides insight into financial literacy. Applied Neuropsychology: Adult, 29 (4), 710-717. doi: 10.1080/23279095.2020.1805745
Self-awareness for financial decision-making abilities in healthy adults
Sunderaraman, Preeti, Chapman, Silvia, Barker, Megan S. and Cosentino, Stephanie (2020). Self-awareness for financial decision-making abilities in healthy adults. PLoS One, 15 (7) e0235558, 1-14. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0235558
"Grumpy" or "furious"? arousal of emotion labels influences judgments of facial expressions
Barker, Megan S., Bidstrup, Emma M., Robinson, Gail A. and Nelson, Nicole L. (2020). "Grumpy" or "furious"? arousal of emotion labels influences judgments of facial expressions. PLoS One, 15 (7) e0235390, 1-18. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0235390
"Everything hurts!" Distress in semantic variant primary progressive aphasia
Barker, Megan S., Silverman, Hannah E., Fremont, Rachel, Manoochehri, Masood, Cosentino, Stephanie and Huey, Edward D. (2020). "Everything hurts!" Distress in semantic variant primary progressive aphasia. Cortex, 127, 396-398. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2020.03.002
Idea formulation for spoken language production: the interface of cognition and language
Barker, Megan S., Nelson, Nicole L. and Robinson, Gail A. (2020). Idea formulation for spoken language production: the interface of cognition and language. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 26 (2), 226-240. doi: 10.1017/s1355617719001097
Silverman, Hannah E., Gazes, Yunglin, Barker, Megan S., Manoochehri, Masood, Goldman, Jill S., Wassermann, Eric M., Tierney, Michael C., Cosentino, Stephanie, Grafman, Jordan and Huey, Edward D. (2020). Frontal pole hypometabolism linked to reduced prosocial sexual behaviors in frontotemporal dementia and corticobasal syndrome. Journal of Alzheimers Disease, 77 (2), 821-830. doi: 10.3233/jad-200346
Martin, A. K., Barker, M. S., Gibson, E. C. and Robinson, G. A. (2019). Response initiation and inhibition and the relationship with fluid intelligence across the adult lifespan. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 36 (2), 231-242. doi: 10.1093/arclin/acz044
Barker, Megan S. and Robinson, Gail A. (2019). Selection for sentence generation in the context of severe anomia: A case series of left temporal patients. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 41 (4), 1-11. doi: 10.1080/13803395.2018.1562050
Energization and spoken language production: evidence from progressive supranuclear palsy
Barker, Megan S., Nelson, Nicole L., O'Sullivan, John D., Adam, Robert and Robinson, Gail A. (2018). Energization and spoken language production: evidence from progressive supranuclear palsy. Neuropsychologia, 119, 349-362. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.09.004
Initiation, Inhibition and Strategy Generation Across the Healthy Adult Lifespan
Gibson, Emily C., Barker, Megan S., Martin, Andrew K. and Robinson, Gail A. (2018). Initiation, Inhibition and Strategy Generation Across the Healthy Adult Lifespan. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 34 (4), 511-523. doi: 10.1093/arclin/acy057
Cohesive and coherent connected speech deficits in mild stroke
Barker, Megan S., Young, Breanne and Robinson, Gail A. (2017). Cohesive and coherent connected speech deficits in mild stroke. Brain and Language, 168, 23-36. doi: 10.1016/j.bandl.2017.01.004
Mishra, Gita D., Barker, Megan S., Herber-Gast, Gerrie-Cor and Hillard, Tim (2015). Depression and the incidence of urinary incontinence symptoms among young women: results from a prospective cohort study. Maturitas, 81 (4), 456-461. doi: 10.1016/j.maturitas.2015.05.006
Barker, Megan S., Joyce, Jillian L., Dodge, Shana G., Niehoff, Debra, Denny, Sharon S., Dacks, Penny A., Dickinson, Susan, Cosentino, Stephanie and Wheaton, Dianna K.H. (2022). Chronicling the diagnostic journey, symptom experiences, and disease impact in frontotemporal degeneration. Alzheimer’s Association International Conference AAIC 2022, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 16-20 July 2023. Hoboken, NJ United States: John Wiley & Sons. doi: 10.1002/alz.063468
The role of attention and emotion in message formulation
Barker, Megan Signe (2018). The role of attention and emotion in message formulation. PhD Thesis, School of Psychology, The University of Queensland. doi: 10.14264/uql.2018.735
Barker, Megan (2012). The role of neonatal imitation in the development of early bonds and the experience of parental efficacy. Honours Thesis, School of Psychology, The University of Queensland.