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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

基本信息

批准号：
1941626
负责人：
Erin Hecht
金额：
$ 23.48万
依托单位：
Harvard University
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Standard Grant
财政年份：
2019
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2019-01-01 至 2020-07-31
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1941626&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
Individual variation plasticity learning human

项目摘要

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。我们的先进技术技能是如何进化的？这种进化视角可以告诉我们什么关于现代人类技术学习的基础？来自佐治亚州立大学和埃默里大学的研究小组将采用多学科方法，整合神经科学、信息学、人类学、生物医学工程和教育心理学方面的专业知识，来解决三个主要问题：（1）人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培训做出反应？如果是，那么调节个体差异对这种培训的反应的因素是什么？ (3) 底层大脑网络的哪些方面存在于人类身上，但不存在于我们现存的近亲黑猩猩身上，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，从而扩展我们自己和大脑的知识，对 STEM 教育产生影响。该奖项来自理解神经和认知系统综合策略计划，资金来自 EHR 核心研究 (ECR) 计划和 SBE 多学科活动办公室 (SMA) 计划，该计划支持推动 STEM 学习研究文献的基础研究。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-颞叶关联网络而进化的，而这些区域的高度个体差异是由于可塑性增强和长期发展的选择，从而允许更多地输入个人经验、社会学习和文化背景。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、期间和之后检查人类大脑的形态和连接性，并将大脑前后的变化与人类和黑猩猩的连接性差异联系起来。生成的人脑图还将提供规范基础，以支持和刺激其他问题的研究，例如个体行为或疾病状态变异的神经预测因子。最后，该团队将开发一种开源分析工具，即基于体素的连接，该工具将通过缩小当前神经影像方法的差距来帮助该领域。