Rita Z. Goldstein Scientist Telephone:  (631) 344-2657 e-mail:  rgoldstein@bnl.gov See Also:Neuropsychoimaging web site

Research Interests

• Neuroimaging, drug addiction, neuropsychology,cognitive neuroscience
• My primary research interest lies in studying the interplay between the cognitive-emotional-behavioral and neurobiological changes that accompany cocaine addiction with the goal of understanding the mechanisms that underlie the recurring nature of addiction to drugs (intoxication, withdrawal, craving, relapse).
• In this study of the brain-behavior mechanisms that underlie drug addiction, I place a special emphasis on the role of the prefrontal cortex and the mesocortical and mesolimbic dopamine brain circuits in the impaired ability to change ongoing behavior (willed-behavior) in response to an emotionally salient feedback.
• This intricate study of the interaction between brain and behavior incorporates the interrelated yet distinct research disciplines of neuroimaging, cognitive neuroscience, and neuropsychology. My research embraces this multidisciplinary approach, translating into patient-oriented clinical research settings the principles of non-invasive techniques to measure brain function such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), positron emission tomography (PET), event-related potential (ERP) recordings, and neuropsychology.

Current Projects

Also see Neuropsychoimaging web site: Subjects are currently being recruited for all projects.


• Does salience of money change for drug addicted individuals?
  This is an ongoing fMRI and ERP study where subjects are scanned in our 4 T scanner or ERPs are recorded while performing a Go/No-Go task under varying monetary conditions. American Journal of Psychiatry, 164, 43-51, (2007).
• How does salience of drug cues affect attentional processes and inhibitory control in drug addiction?
  This is a task we have designed for fMRI in collaboration with Suparna Rajaram, Ph.D., at SUNY Stony Brook. Neuroscience, 144, 1153-1159, (2007).
• Applying computer science approaches to the study of I-RISA in addiction.
  Here we apply newly designed machine learning techniques to enhance our study of addiction and other problem behavior (e.g., aggression). This is accomplished in collaboration with Dimitris Samaras, Ph.D., at SUNY Stony Brook. See Proceedings 1-3, below.
• The neuropsychology of drug addiction.
  In this project, we use neuropsychological assessment techniques to probe into the cognitive-behavioral and personality-emotional correlates of drug addiction. We use instruments such as the Stroop and Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ) in combination with data from functional neuroimaging studies to learn about cognition (e.g., inhibitory control, planning and organization, decision-making, salience attribution) and emotion (fear, anger) in drug addiction.
• Prediction of relapse in drug addiction.
  Here we use neuropsychological, fMRI and ERP results collected at a drug-free baseline to predict relapse status at follow-up in cocaine addicted individuals. Collaborations: Efrat Aharonovich, Ph.D., at Columbia University; Rajita Sinha, Ph.D., at Yale University School of Medicine.
• Extinction learning and emotional regulation in drug addiction.
  This is a new project we have initiated in collaboration with Elizabeth Phelps, Ph.D., at New York University, to study the neurobiological mechanisms underlying resistance to reward extinction in cocaine addicted individuals.

Education & Concurrent Positions

• B.A., Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel, 1992.
• Intern, Clinical Neuropsychology, Long Island Jewish Medical Center and Hillside Hospital, NY, 1998-1999.
• Ph.D., Dept. of Psychology, Health Clinical track, University of Miami, FL (Award of Academic Merit), 1999.
• Post-doctorate research associate, training fellowship on Brain Imaging and Alcohol Abuse from the NIH, SUNY Stony Brook and Brookhaven National Laboratory, 1999-2002.
• New York State Psychology License, 2001
• Assistant Scientist, Medical Research, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY, 2002.
• Affiliate, Department of Psychology, State University of NY at Stony Brook, 2002.
• Affiliate, Department of Biomedical Engineering, State University of NY at Stony Brook, 2003.
• Associate Scientist, Medical Research, Brookhaven National Laboratory, NY, 2004.
• Scientist, Medical Research, Brookhaven National Laboratory, 2006-present.

Honors and Awards

• Graduate Research Assistantships, University of Miami, FL, 1994–1998
• Letters of Commendation, Department of Psychology, Univ. of Miami, FL, 1994–1998
• Graduate student travel scholarships, the Max and Peggy Kriloff scholarship and Univ. of Miami, FL, 1997–1998
• Stanley Foundation Scholarship for research, Hillside Hospital, NY, 1998
• Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award (K-23), NIDA, 2003–present
• Young Investigator Award, National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia And Depression, 2003–present
• Woman of the Year in Science, Brookhaven Town Award, 3/22/2005

Selected Publications

• Alia-Klein N., Goldstein R.Z., Logan J., Tomasi D., Kriplani A., Telang F., Shumay E., Biegon A., Henn F., Wang G.-J., Volkow N.D. and Fowler J.S.
  Brain MAO A Activity Associated with Trait Aggression.
  Journal of Neuroscience, 28(19), 5099-5104.  PubMed or Full Text .pdf file
• Alia-Klein N., Kriplani A., Pradhan K., Ma J.-Y., Logan J., Williams B., Craig I.W., Telang F., Tomasi D., Goldstein R.Z., Wang G.-J., Volkow N.D. and Fowler J.S.
  The MAO A genotype does not modulate resting brain metabolism in adults.
  Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, in press (2008). Full Text .pdf file
• Goldstein R.Z., Parvaz M.A., Maloney T., Alia-Klein N., Woicik P.A., Telang F., Wang G.-J. and Volkow N.D.
  Compromised sensitivity to monetary reward in current cocaine users: an ERP study.
  Psychophysiology, May 29, 2008; [Epub ahead of print].  PubMed or Full Text .pdf file
 
• Tomer R., Goldstein R.Z., Wang G.-J., Wong C. and Volkow N.D.
  Incentive motivation is associated with asymmetry in striatal markers of dopamine neurotransmission.
  Biol. Psychol., 77(1):98-101 (2008).  PubMed or Full Text .pdf file
• Woicik P.A., Moeller S.J., Alia-Klein N., Maloney T., Lukasik T., Yeliosof O., Wang G.-J., Volkow N.D. and Goldstein R.Z.
  The Neuropsychology of Cocaine Addiction: Recent Cocaine Use Masks Impairment.
  Neuropsychopharmacology, May 21, 2008; [Epub ahead of print].  PubMed or Full Text .pdf file
• Alia-Klein N., Goldstein R.Z., Tomasi D., Zhang L., Telang F., Wang G.-J., Fowler J.S. and Volkow N.D.
  What is in a word? No versus Yes differentially activate the lateral orbitofrontal cortex.
  Emotion, 7(3):649-659 (2007).  PubMed or Full Text .pdf file
• Alia-Klein N., O'Rourke T., Goldstein R.Z. and Malaspina D.
  Insight into illness and adherence to psychotropic medications predict violence severity in a forensic sample.
  Aggressive Behavior, 33(1):86-96 (2007).  PubMed or Full Text .pdf file
• Fowler J.S., Alia-Klein N., Kriplani A., Logan J., Williams B., Zhu W., Craig I.W., Telang F., Goldstein R., Volkow N.D., Vaska P. and Wang G.-J.
  Evidence that brain MAO A activity does not correspond to MAO A genotype in healthy male subjects.
  Biological Psychiatry, 62(4):355-358 (2007). PubMed or Full Text .pdf file
• Goldstein R.Z., Alia-Klein N., Tomasi D., Zhang L., Cottone L.A., Maloney T., Telang F., Caparelli E.C., Chang L., Ernst T., Samaras D., Squires N.K. and Volkow N.D.
  Is decreased prefrontal cortical sensitivity to monetary reward is associated with impaired motivation and self-control in cocaine addiction.
  American Journal of Psychiatry, 164(1):43-51 (2007).  PubMed or Full Text .pdf file
• Goldstein R.Z., Tomasi D., Alia-Klein N., Zhang L., Telang F. and Volkow N.D.
  The effect of practice on a sustained attention task in cocaine abusers.
  Neuroimage, 35(1):194-206 (2007).  PubMed or Full Text .pdf file
• Goldstein R.Z., Tomasi D., Rajaram S., Cottone L.A., Zhang L., Maloney T., Telang F., Alia-Klein N. and Volkow N.D.
  Role of the anterior cingulate and medial orbitofrontal cortex in processing drug cues in cocaine addiction.
  Neuroscience, 144(4):1153-1159 (2007).  PubMed or Full Text .pdf file
• Goldstein R.Z., Woicik P.A., Lukasik T., Maloney T. and Volkow N.D.
  Drug Fluency: A Potential Marker for Current Cocaine Abuse.
  Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 89(1):97-101 (2007).  PubMed or Full Text .pdf file
• Tomasi D., Goldstein R.Z., Telang F., Maloney T., Alia-Klein N., Caparelli E.C. and Volkow N.D.
  Thalamo-cortical dysfunction in cocaine abusers: implications in attention and perception.
  Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 155(3):189-201 (2007). PubMed or Full Text .pdf file
• Tomasi D., Goldstein R.Z., Telang F., Maloney T., Alia-Klein N., Caparelli E.C. and Volkow N.D.
  Widespread disruption in brain activation patterns to a working memory task during cocaine abstinence.
  Brain Research, 1171:83-92 (2007).  PubMed or Full Text .pdf file
• Goldstein R.Z., Cottone L.A., Jia Z., Maloney T., Volkow N.D. and Squires N.K.
  The effect of graded monetary reward on cognitive event-related potentials and behavior in young healthy adults.
  International Journal of Psychophysiology, 62(2):272-279 (2006).  PubMed or Full Text .pdf file
• Goldstein R.Z., Tomasi D., Alia-Klein N., Cottone L.A., Zhang L., Telang F. and Volkow N.D.
  Subjective sensitivity to gradients in monetary reward in cocaine abusers are associated with the orbitofrontal cortex.
  Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 87(2-3):233-240 (2006). PubMed or Full Text .pdf file
• Volkow N.D., Wang G.-J., Begleiter H., Porjesz B., Fowler J.S., Telang F., Ma Y., Wong C., Logan J., Goldstein R.Z., Thanos P.K. and Alexoff D.
  High Dopamine D2 Receptors in Unaffected Members of Alcoholic Families: Possible Protective Factors. Archives of General Psychiatry, 63:999-1008 (2006).  PubMed or Full Text .pdf file
• Goldstein R.Z., Alia-Klein N., Leskovjan A.C., Fowler J.S., Wang G.-J., Gur R.C., Hitzemann R. and Volkow N.D.
  Anger and depression in cocaine addiction: association with the orbitofrontal cortex.
  Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 138(1):13-22 (2005).  PubMed or Full Text .pdf file
• Goldstein R.Z., Leskovjan A.C., Hoff A.L., Hitzemann R., Bashan F., Khalsa S.S., Wang G.-J., Fowler J.S. and Volkow N.D.
  Severity of neuropsychological impairment in drug addiction: association with metabolism in the brain reward circuit.
  Neuropsychologia, 42(11):1447-1458 (2004). *5th most heavily downloaded, 7/05. PubMed or Full Text .pdf file
• Giovannetti T., Goldstein R.Z., Schullery T.M., Barr W.B. and Bilder R.M.
  Category fluency in first episode schizophrenia.
  Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 9(3):384-393 (2003).  PubMed or Full Text .pdf file
• Goldstein R.Z., Giovannetti T., Schullery T.M., Zuffante P., Lieberman J.A., Robinson D.G., Barr W.B. and Bilder R.M.
  Neurocognitive correlates of response to treatment in formal thought disorder in first-episode schizophrenia.
  Neuropsychiatry, Neuropsychology, and Behavioral Neurology, 15(2):88-98 (2002). PubMed or Full Text .pdf file
• Goldstein R.Z. and Volkow N.D.
  Drug Addiction and its Underlying Neurobiological Basis: Neuroimaging Evidence for the Involvement of the Frontal Cortex.
  American Journal of Psychiatry, 159(10):1642-1652 (2002).  *Cited >200 times. PubMed or Full Text .pdf file
 
• Goldstein R.Z., Volkow N.D., Chang L., Wang G.-J., Fowler J.S., Depue R.A. and Gur R.C.
  The Orbitofrontal Cortex in Methamphetamine Addiction: Involvement in Fear.
  NeuroReport, 13(17):1-5 (2002).  PubMed or Full Text .pdf file
• Volkow N.D., Fowler J.S., Wang G.-J. and Goldstein R.Z.
  Role of dopamine, the frontal cortex and memory circuits in drug addiction: insight from imaging studies.
  Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 2002; 78(3):610-624.  PubMed or Full Text .pdf file
• Goldstein R.Z., Hurwitz B.E., Llabre M.M., Schneiderman N., Gutt M., Skyler J.S., Prineas R.J. and Donahue R.P.
  Modeling preclinical cardiovascular risk for use in epidemiologic studies: Miami community health study.
  American Journal of Epidemiology, 154(8):765-776 (2001).  PubMed or Full Text .pdf file
• Goldstein R.Z., Volkow N.D., Wang G.-J., Fowler J.S. and Rajaram S.
  Addiction changes orbitofrontal gyrus function: involvement in response inhibition.
  NeuroReport, 12(11):2595-2599 (2001).  PubMed or Full Text .pdf file
• Goldstein R., Harvey A.S., Duchowny M., Jayakar P., Altman N., Resnick T., Levin B., Dean P. and Alvarez L.
  Preoperative clinical, EEG, and imaging findings do not predict seizure outcome following temporal lobectomy in childhood.
  Journal of Child Neurology, 1(6):445-450 (1996).  PubMed or Full Text .pdf file
• Raz S., Goldstein R., Hopkins T.L., Lauterbach M.D., Shah F., Porter C.L., Riggs W.W., MaGill L.H. and Sander C.J.
  Sex differences in early vulnerability to cerebral injury and their neurodevelopmental implications.
  Psychobiology, 22(3):244-253 (1994).  Full Text .pdf file

Full Length Proceedings

• Zhang L., Samaras D., Alia-Klein N., Volkow N.D. and Goldstein R.
  Modeling Neuronal Interactivity using Dynamic Bayesian Networks.
  In Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 18, Y. Weiss, B. Scholkopf, and J. Platt, Eds. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA., (2006).
• Zhang L., Samaras D., Volkow N.D. and Goldstein R.
  Machine Learning for Clinical Diagnosis from Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (#169).
  In IEEE Proc. of Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, I:1211-1217, (2005).
• Zhang L., Samaras D., Tomasi D., Alia-Klein N., Cottone L.A., Leskovjan L.C., Volkow N.D. and Goldstein R.
  Exploiting Temporal Information in Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Brain Data.
  Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention, pp.679-687, (2005).

Book Chapters

• Goldstein R.Z., Alia-Klein N. and Volkow N.D.
  Drugs of Addiction: Neuroimaging.
  In Larry R Squire, Editor-in-Chief, Encyclopedia of Neuroscience, Academic Press, Oxford, (2008).
• Goldstein R.Z., Alia-Klein N., Cottone L.A. and Volkow N.D.
  Addiction and the Orbitofrontal Cortex.
  In D Zald & S Rauch (Eds.), The Orbitofrontal Cortex. Oxford University Press, (2006).
• Volkow N.D., Wang G.-J., Fowler J.S. and Goldstein R.Z.
  Imaging the Addicted Brain.
  In BK Madras, CM Colvis, JD Pollock, JL Rutter, D Shurtleff, & MV Zastrow (Eds.), Cell Biology of Addiction. The Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, (2006).
• Hurwitz B.E., Goldstein R., Massie C.A., Llabre M.M. and Schneiderman N.
  Low-flow circulatory state and the pathophysiological development of cardiovascular disease: A model of autonomic mediation of cardiovascular regulation.
  In P.M. McCabe, N. Schneiderman, T. Field, & A. R. Wellens (Eds.), Stress, Coping, and Cardiovascular Disease. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Mahwah, NJ, pp. 85-122, (2000).  

Media Interviews

• Something of Substance, interview and TV documentary on alcoholism, substance abuse and mental health, Suffolk County Dept. of  Health Services, by M. Myers, aired April, 2007.
• Conversations with six leading neuroscientists on timely topics in brain research: Addiction and the +Prefrontal Cortex, Dana Foundation Press: featured in the 2007 Advances in Brain Research: Brain Work, by B. Patoine, 2/28/07.
• Riddle of addiction lures researchers: complex network of brain mechanisms underlies cravings, San Francisco Chronicle, by C. Hall, 2/11/07.
• Combating Addiction, Congressional Quarterly Research, by M. Clemmitt, 2/9/07.
• The Leonard Lopate Show on WNYC, New York Public Radio: Brief Histories, Please Explain: Cocaine, 01/12/07. Listen or download from: http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/episodes/2007/01.
• Cocaine alters brain cells, impairs impulse control, Reuters Health, by M. Kerr, 10/18/06.
• How drug skews values, Newsday, by J. Talan, 10/17/06.
• Altered Perception of Reward in Human Cocaine Addiction, Press release by Brookhaven National Laboratory, 10/15/06. Appeared also on: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com.
• A documentary of drug addiction for the RAI Italian National TV Channel, by Marco Rosi of DocLab Productions, 2006.
• Addicts' Brains Work Harder to Control Behavior, Press release by Brookhaven National Laboratory, 12/3/02.
• Brain Matter, North Shore Sun, by A. Clancy, 10/25/02.

Full Length CV

Last Modified: September 4, 2008
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