SL-CN: Development of Neural Body Maps

大量针对成年人的研究已经证明了人类大脑中存在身体地图。这些神经地图有一个有组织的空间布局。身体的邻近部位以一种有序的方式连接到大脑中处理触觉和运动的区域。身体地图对日常生活的许多方面都很重要，包括对自己身体的感觉和控制我们的动作。身体图谱还可能在向他人学习方面发挥重要作用，它允许我们记录自己和他人之间的相似之处。尽管身体图谱很重要，但目前人们对它们在生命的最初几个月和几年里是如何发展的了解甚少。该奖项支持的研究将为身体图谱的发展及其与早期学习的关系提供重要的新信息。该奖项支持一个协作的、跨学科的研究人员网络，他们将结合发展心理学和婴儿学习、脑科学、认知科学、计算机建模和机器人技术方面的专业知识。拟议的网络还将通过旨在使初级研究人员受益于跨学科方法的具体活动，支持初级研究人员的发展和培训。在安全测量人类婴儿大脑活动的方法方面取得的进展，使人们能够提出有关身体图在早期学习中的作用的新问题。拟议的研究包括使用脑磁图（MEG）来非侵入性地测量婴儿大脑对身体不同部位（例如手和脚）触觉刺激的反应，并将这些反应与婴儿学习的各个方面联系起来。另一组涉及脑电图（EEG）的研究将研究身体图如何促进早期模仿和学习他人。从这些研究中获得的见解将为（并被）进一步的研究提供信息，这些研究使用计算机建模，在设计可以向人类学习的机器人系统时考虑到身体因素。研究问题还将提供对脑机接口控制的深入了解，帮助残疾人学习控制假肢和其他外部设备。

A great deal of research with adults has documented the presence of body maps in the human brain. These neural maps have an organized spatial layout. Neighboring parts of the body are connected in an orderly fashion to areas of the brain that process touch and movement. Body maps are important for many aspect of everyday life including the sense of one's own body and controlling our movements. Body maps also likely play an important role in learning from others, through allowing us to register similarities between ourselves and other people. Despite the importance of body maps, very little is currently understood about how they develop in the early months and years of life. The research supported by this award would provide significant new information on the development of body maps and their relation to early learning. The award supports a collaborative, cross-disciplinary network of investigators who will combine expertise in developmental psychology and infant learning, brain science, cognitive science, computer modelling, and robotics. The proposed network will also support the development and training of junior investigators through specific activities designed to expose them to the benefits of an interdisciplinary approach. Advances in methods for safely measuring the brain activity of human infants are allowing new questions to be asked concerning the role of body maps in early learning. The proposed research involves using magnetoencephalography (MEG) to non-invasively measure responses of the infant brain to tactile stimulation of different parts of the body (e.g., hands vs. feet), and to relate these responses to aspects of infant learning. Another set of studies involving electroencephalography (EEG) will examine how body maps facilitate early imitation and learning from others. Insights from these studies will inform (and be informed by) a further strain of research using computer modelling that takes bodily factors into account in designing robotic systems that can learn from people. The research questions will also provide insight into the control of brain-computer interfaces that can assist disabled individuals in learning to control artificial limbs and other external devices.