Individual variation, plasticity, and learning in human brain evolution

人类大脑进化中的个体差异、可塑性和学习

• 批准号: 1631563
• 负责人: Erin Hecht
• 金额: $ 97.07万
• 依托单位: Georgia State University Research Foundation, Inc.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-08-15 至 2019-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1631563&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Individual; variation; plasticity; learning; human

The human ability to create and use technology far surpasses that of any other species. How did our advanced technological skills evolve, and what can this evolutionary perspective tell us about the basis of modern human technological learning? A team of investigators from Georgia State University and Emory University will use a multidisciplinary approach, integrating expertise in neuroscience, informatics, anthropology, biomedical engineering, and educational psychology, to address three main questions: (1) What aspects of human brain connectivity show greatest variability across individuals? (2) Are these highly variable regions responsive to real-world technological skill training, and, if so, what are the factors mediating individual differences in response to this training? (3) Which aspects of the underlying brain networks are present in humans but not our closest living relatives, chimpanzees, and therefore implicated as a likely substrate for unique human abilities for technological learning? The findings will have the potential to reveal the functional significance of any unique features of human brain organization that may be related to the learning and transfer of complex technological skills, thereby expanding knowledge of ourselves and of the brain with implications for STEM education. The award is from the Integrated Strategies for Understanding Neural and Cognitive Systems program, with funding from the EHR Core Research (ECR) program, which supports fundamental research that advances the research literature on STEM learning, and the SBE Office of Multidisciplinary Activities (SMA) program. The investigators hypothesize that the ability to learn complex technological skills evolved by means of adaptations to prefrontal-parietal-temporal association networks, and that the high individual variability of these regions is due to selection for increased plasticity and protracted development, allowing for a greater input of individual experience, social learning, and cultural context. The researchers will examine human brain morphology and connectivity before, during, and after two STEM learning experiences (tool making and computer programming) and relate the pre-post changes in the brain to differences in connectivity in humans and chimpanzees. The human brain map produced will also provide a normative foundation to support and stimulate research on other questions, such as neural predictors of individual variation in behavior or in disease states). Finally, the team will develop an open source analysis tool, voxel-based connectivity, that will help the field by closing a gap in current neuroimaging methodology.

人类创造和使用技术的能力远远超过任何其他物种。我们先进的技术技能是如何进化的，这种进化的观点能告诉我们现代人类技术学习的基础是什么？来自格鲁吉亚州立大学和埃默里大学的一个研究小组将使用多学科方法，整合神经科学，信息学，人类学，生物医学工程和教育心理学的专业知识，以解决三个主要问题：（1）人类大脑连接的哪些方面在个体之间表现出最大的变异性？(2)这些高度可变的区域是否对现实世界的技术技能训练有反应？如果有，是什么因素介导了这种训练的个体差异？(3)哪些潜在的大脑网络存在于人类身上，而不存在于我们的近亲黑猩猩身上，因此可能是人类独特的技术学习能力的基础？这些发现将有可能揭示人类大脑组织的任何独特特征的功能意义，这些特征可能与复杂技术技能的学习和转移有关，从而扩大对我们自己和大脑的了解，并对STEM教育产生影响。该奖项来自理解神经和认知系统的综合策略计划，由EHR核心研究（ECR）计划资助，该计划支持推进STEM学习研究文献的基础研究，以及SBE多学科活动办公室（SMA）计划。研究人员假设，学习复杂技术技能的能力是通过适应前额叶-顶叶-颞叶联合网络而进化的，这些区域的高度个体变异性是由于选择增加可塑性和延长发展，允许更多的个人经验，社会学习和文化背景的输入。研究人员将在两次STEM学习经历（工具制作和计算机编程）之前、期间和之后检查人脑形态和连通性，并将大脑的前后变化与人类和黑猩猩的连通性差异联系起来。所产生的人脑图谱还将提供一个规范性的基础，以支持和刺激对其他问题的研究，例如行为或疾病状态个体差异的神经预测。最后，该团队将开发一个开源分析工具，基于体素的连接，这将有助于缩小目前神经成像方法的差距。