Collaborative Research: The developmental course of cerebral lateralization for space and language

大脑的基本组织原则之一是半球专门化，即大脑的一侧比另一侧更支持特定的行为认知过程。先前对成年人的研究表明，大脑左半球负责语言处理，右半球负责视觉空间能力。然而，幼儿似乎更平等地使用大脑的两侧，并且在单侧脑损伤后没有表现出特定的认知障碍。该项目使用行为测试和非侵入性脑功能成像来研究5岁至11岁之间大脑半球专业化出现时，语言和视觉空间能力的行为和大脑激活模式是如何变化的。每个参与的孩子都完成了一系列语言和视觉空间任务，同时测量了他们的大脑活动，从而深入了解大脑活动的个体差异与语言和空间能力的差异之间的关系，并对个人学习风格和教育计划产生影响。该项目的一个关键组成部分包括通过有针对性的演讲与幼儿教师分享研究成果，强调我们对大脑两个半球的理解的科学基础，以及该项目为理解儿童学习提出的令人兴奋的问题。总之，该项目可以为科学界和教育界提供一个详细的了解从儿童早期到中期大脑半球偏侧化发展的时间表，这一发展时期的变化如何影响儿童不断增长的认知，以及为什么成人大脑半球的专业化可能是有益的。关于大脑侧化原因的理论集中在两个大脑半球之间不同的内在处理偏差上，这种偏差使得一个半球在执行某些计算时比另一个半球更有效。 然而，围产期中风的长期结果研究表明，在生命早期，年轻大脑的两个半球是等电位的，同样有能力发展语言和/或空间功能。此外，神经成像数据显示，正常发育的儿童在完成任务时，双侧大脑的激活程度高于成人。本项目的研究验证了一个假设，即侧化的典型发展轨迹始于儿童早期双侧半球的激活，随着时间的推移，侧化逐渐增加，并在儿童后期达到成熟的侧化模式。研究人员建议使用行为测试和fMRI脑神经成像（功能磁共振成像）来检查侧化和表现的发育轨迹。达到这种成熟模式的相对时间可以提供对这种发展模式的原因的见解，并帮助我们更好地理解儿童的认知，对儿童教育具有深远的影响。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

One of the fundamental organizing principles of the brain is hemispheric specialization, where one side of the brain supports a specific behaviors cognitive process more than the other. Previous studies of adults have shown specialization for language processing in the left hemisphere and visual-spatial abilities in the right hemisphere. However, young children seem to use both sides of the brain more equally and do not show specific cognitive impairments after one-sided brain damage. This project uses behavioral testing and non-invasive functional brain imaging to investigate how behavior and the pattern of brain activation for language and visual-spatial abilities changes between ages 5 and 11 as hemispheric specialization emerges. Each participating child completes a range of language and visual-spatial tasks while their brain activity is measured, providing insight into how individual differences in brain activation relate to differences in language and spatial abilities, with implications for individual learning styles and educational programming. A key component of the project includes sharing the research with teachers of young children through targeted presentations emphasizing the scientific bases for our understanding of the brain’s two hemispheres and the exciting questions this project raises for understanding children's learning. In sum, the project can provide both the scientific and educational communities with a detailed understanding of the timetable for the development of hemispheric lateralization from early to middle-childhood, how changes during this developmental period affect children’s growing cognition, and why the specialization across the hemispheres in adults might be beneficial. Theories about the causes of brain lateralization have focused on different intrinsic processing biases between the hemispheres that make one hemisphere more efficient for carrying out certain kinds of computations than the other.  However, studies of the long-term outcomes of perinatal stroke suggest that in earliest life, both hemispheres of the young brain are equipotential and equally capable of developing language and/or spatial functions. Moreover, neuroimaging data show that typically developing children have more bilateral brain activation for tasks that evoke lateralized activation in adults. The research in this project tests the hypothesis that the typical developmental trajectory of lateralization begins with bilateral activation of both hemispheres in early childhood, with lateralization increasing over time and reaching mature lateralized patterns by late childhood. The researchers propose to use behavioral testing and fMRI brain neuroimaging (functional magnetic resonance imaging) to examine developmental trajectories in lateralization and performance. The relative timing of reaching this mature pattern may provide insights into the causes of this developmental pattern and help us better understand cognition in children, with deep implications for childhood education.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.