Dr. Megan Barker PhD is a research academic in the field of cognitive neuropsychology. After attaining a PhD in 2018, she completed three years of postdoctoral training at the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s Disease and the Aging Brain, at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, and was then appointed as a Level A Academic at the Queensland Brain Institute at The University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. Her research focuses on detecting novel cognitive and behavioral changes in persons at risk for developing dementia, and detailed phenotyping of cognitive and behavioral changes in neurodegenerative disorders, acquired brain injuries, and congenital brain malformations. She has a particular interest in young-onset dementias, and disorders on the frontotemporal lobar degeneration spectrum.
| Nevler, Naomi, Cho, Sunghye, Cousins, Katheryn A.Q., Ash, Sharon, Olm, Christopher A., Shellikeri, Sanjana, Agmon, Galit, Gonzalez-Recober, Carmen, Xie, Sharon X., Barker, Megan S., Manoochehri, Masood, Mcmillan, Corey T., Irwin, David J., Massimo, Lauren, Dratch, Laynie, Cheran, Gayathri, Huey, Edward D., Cosentino, Stephanie A., Van Deerlin, Vivianna M., Liberman, Mark Y., Grossman, Murray. "Changes in Digital Speech Measures in Asymptomatic Carriers of Pathogenic Variants Associated With Frontotemporal Degeneration." Neurology, vol. 102, no. 2, 2024. |
| Chapman, Silvia, Rentería, Miguel Arce, Dworkin, Jordan D., Garriga, Stella M., Barker, Megan S., Avila-Rieger, Justina, Gonzalez, Christopher, Joyce, Jillian L., Vonk, Jet M.J., Soto, Elizabeth, Manly, Jennifer J., Brickman, Adam M., Mayeux, Richard P., Cosentino, Stephanie A. "Association of Subjective Cognitive Decline With Progression to Dementia in a Cognitively Unimpaired Multiracial Community Sample." Neurology, vol. 100, no. 10, 2023. |
| Megan Barker, Hannah Silverman, Stephanie Cosentino. "Fronto-Temporal Lobar Degeneration." The SAGE Handbook of Clinical Neuropsychology: Clinical Neuropsychological Disorders, edited by Gregory J. Boyle, Yaakov Stern, Dan J. Stein, Barbara J. Sahakian, Charles J. Golden, Tatia Mei-Chun Lee, Shen-Hsing Annabel Chen, SAGE, 2023. |
| Knight, Jacquelyn L., Barker, Megan S., Edwards, Timothy J., Barnby, Joseph M., Richards, Linda J., Robinson, Gail A. "Mirror movements and callosal dysgenesis in a family with a DCC mutation: Neuropsychological and neuroimaging outcomes." Cortex, vol. 161, 2023, pp. 38-50. |
| Barker, Megan S., Ceslis, Amelia, Argall, Rosemary, McCombe, Pamela, Henderson, Robert D., Robinson, Gail A. "Verbal and nonverbal fluency in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis." Journal of Neuropsychology, vol. 18, no. 2, 2023, pp. 265-285. |
| Barker, Megan S., Bender, J. Reuben, Chow, Jessica, Robinson, Gail A. "An emotion-eliciting version of the Hayling Sentence Completion Test." Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, vol. 44, no. 9, 2022, pp. 665-680. |
| Sejourne, Corinne, Dworkin, Jordan D, Barker, Megan S, Manoochehri, Masood, Gottesman, Reena T, Wassermann, Eric M, Tierney, Michael C, Huey, Edward D, Grafman, Jordan. "Demographic and Symptom Correlates of Initial Idiopathic Psychiatric Diagnosis in Frontotemporal Dementia." Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology, vol. 36, no. 3, 2022, pp. 193-200. |
| Chapman S, Weiss D, Broulíková HM, Sunderaraman P, Barker MS, Joyce JL, Azar M, McKeague I, Kriesl WC, Cosentino S. "Examining the Role of Aging Perceptions in Subjective Cognitive Decline." Alzheimer Disease & Associated Disorders, vol. 36, no. 4, 2022, pp. 288-294. |
| Barker, Megan S., Dodge, Shana G., Niehoff, Debra, Denny, Sharon, Dacks, Penny A., Dickinson, Susan, Cosentino, Stephanie, Wheaton, Dianna K.H. "Living With Frontotemporal Degeneration: Diagnostic Journey, Symptom Experiences, and Disease Impact." Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology, vol. 36, no. 3, 2022, pp. 201-214. |
| 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, Rosen, Howard J, Rankin, Katherine P, Cosentino, Stephanie, Rascovsky, Katya, Huey, Edward D, Foroud, Tatiana, Kaufer, Daniel, Kremers, Walter, Leger, Gabriel, Onyike, Chiadi, Ritter, Aaron, Roberson, Erik D., Weintraub, Sandra, None, None. "Proposed research criteria for prodromal behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia." Brain, vol. 145, no. 3, 2022, pp. 1079-1097. |
| Chapman, Silvia, Joyce, Jillian L., Barker, Megan S., Sunderaraman, Preeti, Rizer, Sandra, Huey, Edward D., Dworkin, Jordan, Gu, Yian, Cosentino, Stephanie. "Subjective Cognitive Decline Is More Accurate When Metamemory Is Better." Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, vol. 14, 2022. |
| Barker, Megan S., Cosentino, Stephanie A., Fremont, Rachel, Devanand, Davangere P., Huey, Edward D. "Towards Defining the Neuroanatomical Basis of Late-Onset Psychiatric Symptoms." Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology, vol. 35, no. 6, 2022, pp. 751-762. |
| Du, Mengtian, Andersen, Stacy L., Schupf, Nicole, Feitosa, Mary F., Barker, Megan S., Perls, Thomas T., Sebastiani, Paola. "Association Between APOE Alleles and Change of Neuropsychological Tests in the Long Life Family Study." Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 79, no. 1, 2021, pp. 117-125. |
| Chapman, Silvia, Sunderaraman, Preeti, Joyce, Jillian L., Azar, Martina, Colvin, Leigh E., Barker, Megan S., McKeague, Ian, Kreisl, William C., Cosentino, Stephanie. "Optimizing Subjective Cognitive Decline to Detect Early Cognitive Dysfunction." Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 80, no. 3, 2021, pp. 1185-1196. |
| Yudkovicz, Julia J., Minster, Ryan L., Barinas-Mitchell, Emma, Christensen, Kaare, Feitosa, Mary, Barker, Megan S., Newman, Anne B., Kuipers, Allison L. "Pleiotropic effects between cardiovascular disease risk factors and measures of cognitive and physical function in long-lived adults." Scientific Reports, vol. 11, no. 1, 2021. |
| Barker, Megan S., Manoochehri, Masood, Rizer, Sandra J., Appleby, Brian S., Brushaber, Danielle, Dev, Sheena I., 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., Boxer, Adam L., Rosen, Howard J., Goldman, Jill, Huey, Edward D., Cosentino, Stephanie. "Recognition memory and divergent cognitive profiles in prodromal genetic frontotemporal dementia." Cortex, vol. 139, 2021, pp. 99-115. |
| 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 I., 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., Goldman, Jill S., None, None. "The contribution of behavioral features to caregiver burden in FTLD spectrum disorders." Alzheimer's & Dementia, vol. 18, no. 9, 2021, pp. 1635-1649. |
| Barker, Megan S., Knight, Jacquelyn L., Dean, Ryan J., Mandelstam, Simone, Richards, Linda J., Robinson, Gail A. "Verbal Adynamia and Conceptualization in Partial Rhombencephalosynapsis and Corpus Callosum Dysgenesis." Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology, vol. 34, no. 1, 2021, pp. 38-52. |
| Sunderaraman, Preeti, Barker, Megan, Chapman, Silvia, Cosentino, Stephanie. "Assessing numerical reasoning provides insight into financial literacy." Applied Neuropsychology: Adult, vol. 29, no. 4, 2020, pp. 710-717. |
| Spencer‐Smith, Megan, Knight, Jacquelyn L, Lacaze, Emmanuelle, Depienne, Christel, Lockhart, Paul J, Richards, Linda J, Heron, Delphine, Leventer, Richard J, Robinson, Gail A, None, None. "Callosal agenesis and congenital mirror movements: outcomes associated with DCC mutations." Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, vol. 62, no. 6, 2020, pp. 758-762. |
| Silverman, Hannah E., Gazes, Yunglin, Barker, Megan S., Manoochehri, Masood, Goldman, Jill S., Wassermann, Eric M., Tierney, Michael C., Cosentino, Stephanie, Grafman, Jordan, Huey, Edward D. "Frontal Pole Hypometabolism Linked to Reduced Prosocial Sexual Behaviors in Frontotemporal Dementia and Corticobasal Syndrome." Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 77, no. 2, 2020, pp. 821-830. |
| Barker, Megan S., Ceslis, Amelia, Robinson, Gail A. "Idea selection for propositional language production." Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, vol. 29, no. 2, 2020, pp. 260-283. |
| Mosley, Philip E., Robinson, Katherine, Coyne, Terry, Silburn, Peter, Barker, Megan S., Breakspear, Michael, Robinson, Gail A., Perry, Alistair. "Subthalamic deep brain stimulation identifies frontal networks supporting initiation, inhibition and strategy use in Parkinson's disease." NeuroImage, vol. 223, 2020, pp. 117352. |
| Barker, Megan S., Silverman, Hannah E., Fremont, Rachel, Manoochehri, Masood, Cosentino, Stephanie, Huey, Edward D. "Everything hurts!” Distress in semantic variant primary progressive aphasia." Cortex, vol. 127, 2020, pp. 396-398. |
| Barker, Megan S., Bidstrup, Emma M., Robinson, Gail A., Nelson, Nicole L. "Grumpy” or “furious”? arousal of emotion labels influences judgments of facial expressions." PLOS ONE, vol. 15, no. 7, 2020, pp. e0235390. |
| Barker, Megan S., Nelson, Nicole L., Robinson, Gail A. "Idea Formulation for Spoken Language Production: The Interface of Cognition and Language." Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, vol. 26, no. 2, 2019, pp. 226-240. |
| Martin, A K, Barker, M S, Gibson, E C, Robinson, G A. "Response initiation and inhibition and the relationship with fluid intelligence across the adult lifespan." Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, vol. 36, no. 2, 2019, pp. 231-242. |
| Barker MS, Robinson GA. "Selection for sentence generation in the context of severe anomia: A case series of left temporal patients." Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, vol. 41, no. 4, 2019, pp. 353-363. |
| Barker, Megan S., Gibson, Emily C., Robinson, Gail A. "Acquired Brain Injury (Stroke and TBI) in Later Life." Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Psychology, 2018. |
| Barker, Megan S., Nelson, Nicole L., O'Sullivan, John D., Adam, Robert, Robinson, Gail A. "Energization and spoken language production: Evidence from progressive supranuclear palsy." Neuropsychologia, vol. 119, 2018, pp. 349-362. |
| Gibson, Emily C, Barker, Megan S, Martin, Andrew K, Robinson, Gail A. "Initiation, Inhibition and Strategy Generation Across the Healthy Adult Lifespan." Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, vol. 34, no. 4, 2018, pp. 511-523. |
| Barker, Megan S., Young, Breanne, Robinson, Gail A. "Cohesive and coherent connected speech deficits in mild stroke." Brain and Language, vol. 168, 2017, pp. 23-36. |
| Mishra, Gita D., Barker, Megan S., Herber-Gast, Gerrie-Cor, Hillard, Tim. "Depression and the incidence of urinary incontinence symptoms among young women: Results from a prospective cohort study." Maturitas, vol. 81, no. 4, 2015, pp. 456-461. |
| Postdoctoral Research Scientist | Columbia University, Cognitive Neuroscience Division | 2018-2021 | New York, NY, USA |
2018: IRC5 Research Trainee SFARI Scholarship
2016: Graduate Student International Travel Award
2013: University Medal
2012: Valedictorian, Class of 2012
2011: Henry Law Prize for excellence in statistics and methodology2022-2024: ‘The Limbic System and Emotion’
University of Queensland,
Graduate Course: ‘Neuroanatomy for Neuropsychologists’ (PYSC8161)
Guest lecturer, Semester 1 2022, 2023, 2024
2021: ‘Introduction to Cognitive Testing in Older Adults’
Columbia University
Didactic for Geriatric Psychiatry Fellows
Guest lecturer; Semesters 1 & 2 2021
2021: ‘Neuropsychological Testing for Cognitive Impairment in Older Adults’
Columbia University
Graduate Course for Geriatric Psychiatry Residents (PGY3)
Guest lecturer, Semester 2 2021
2020: ‘Neuropsychology for Geriatric Psychiatrists’
Columbia University
Graduate Course for Geriatric Psychiatry Residents (PGY3)
Guest lecturer, Semester 2 2020
2020: ‘Emotion in Neurological Disorders’
University of Queensland
Undergraduate Course: ‘Psychology of Emotion’ (PYSC3292)
Guest lecturer, Semester 2 2020
