Abigail Sara Greene
NEW YORK
Abigail Sara Greene, 17, of Katonah, investigated face and object
recognition among patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) to improve
understanding of the AD neurological progression for her behavioral and social
sciences entry in the Intel Science Talent Search. In her pilot study, she
compared differences in visual accuracy and reaction time between healthy
individuals and those with AD. While the control group exhibited a significant
"inversion effect" (slower recognition of inverted faces as compared to upright
ones), the AD patients did not. Abby believes this implicates the brain's right
occipito-temporal lobe, largely responsible for upright facial discrimination,
as a region of early neurodegeneration in AD patients. She believes that an
extended study could have significant impact on treatment of this disease. Abby
is editor-in-chief of the school paper and president of the Mock Trial team at
John Jay High School in Cross River, where she plays violin in the symphonic
orchestra. She is also an accomplished pianist and has perfect SAT scores. The
daughter of William Greene and Susan Lee Feinberg-Greene, Abby plans to study
neuropsychology and journalism at the college level.
|
