Collaborative Research: The Role of Brain Connectivity in Reasoning Development

合作研究：大脑连通性在推理发展中的作用了解大脑区域之间的交流模式，以及它们是如何在儿童时期发展的，对于理解实施复杂认知操作(如推理)的神经机制的发展至关重要。功能连通性，或大脑激活模式的相关性(通过功能磁共振测量)，被认为反映了这种区域间的交流。但大脑各区域之间的沟通最终取决于结构上的连接：白质负责直接或间接地连接它们。这一建议旨在解决两个悬而未决的问题：1)对于已知参与推理和其他高级认知过程的关键网络，结构连接和功能连接之间的动态关系是什么，因为这些关键网络在童年时期一起发展？2)这些动态关系如何影响推理能力的发展进步？我们得到的答案将为大脑连通性的发展提供基本的见解，并为推理能力的发展提供机械性的见解。这些知识可能会影响未来旨在教授推理能力的教育和培训项目的研究，以及旨在纠正推理问题的干预或医学项目的研究。为了解决这些问题，我们将结合来自加州大学伯克利分校、加州大学戴维斯分校和范德比尔特大学的三个纵向发育数据集的fMRI、DTI和行为数据。通过结合数据集，我们能够检查400名6岁至22岁的儿童和年轻人的纵向数据。我们感兴趣的主要指标包括a)特定感兴趣区域之间的内在功能连通性；b)结构连通性，通过连接这些区域的区域的分数各向异性来衡量；以及c)推理能力，通过标准认知测试来衡量。我们的主要分析将集中在两个大脑网络内部和之间的连接，额顶网络和扣带盖网络，这两个网络与推理和其他高级认知功能最密切相关。混合模型回归分析将被用来检验这些网络中结构和功能连通性与推理能力之间的并发关系。多变量潜在差异得分模型将被用来检验领先-滞后关系。这项研究的结果将是一个儿童时期结构和功能连通性发展相互作用的模型，以及这两个神经沟通指标的共同发展如何与推理能力的发展进步有关。

AbstractCollaborative Research: The Role of Brain Connectivity in Reasoning DevelopmentUnderstanding the patterns of communication between brain regions, and how they develop across childhood, is critical for understanding the development of the neural mechanisms that implement complex cognitive operations such as reasoning. Functional connectivity, or correlations in patterns of brain activation (measured via fMRI), is thought to reflect this inter-regional communication. But communication between brain regions ultimately depends on structural connectivity: the white matter tracts that, either directly or indirectly, connect them. This proposal is aimed at resolving two open questions: 1) What are the dynamic relationships between structural and functional connectivity, for the key networks known to be involved in reasoning and other higher cognitive processes, as these develop together across childhood?, and 2) How do these dynamic relationships affect developmental improvements in reasoning ability? The answers that we obtain will provide both fundamental insight into the development of brain connectivity and mechanistic insight into the development of reasoning ability. This knowledge could impact future research both on educational and training programs designed to teach reasoning ability, and on interventions or medical programs designed to correct problems in reasoning. To address these questions, we will combine fMRI, DTI, and behavioral data from three longitudinal developmental datasets, collected at UC Berkeley, UC Davis, and Vanderbilt University. By combining datasets, we are able to examine longitudinal data from 400 children and young adults between the ages of 6 and 22. Our primary measures of interest include a) intrinsic functional connectivity between specific regions of interest; b) structural connectivity, measured via fractional anisotropy along tracts that connect these regions; and c) reasoning ability, measured via standard cognitive tests. Our main analyses will focus on connectivity within and between two brain networks, the fronto-parietal network and cingulo-opercular network, which are most closely associated with reasoning and other higher cognitive functions. Mixed-model regression analyses will be employed to examine concurrent relationships among structural and functional connectivity in these networks and reasoning ability. Multivariate latent difference score models will be employed to examine lead-lag relationships. The outcome of this research will be a model of interacting structural and functional connectivity development across childhood, and of how the co-development of these two indicators of neural communication relates to developmental improvements in reasoning ability.