Development of language-related neural networks using multimodal imaging

发育神经科学的一个持久的问题是大脑的功能组织如何随着成熟和经验而变化。目前的建议集中在一个关键的行为技能，几乎所有的孩子在他们出生后的头几年获得-理解和说他们的母语的能力。语言习得的神经基础将通过非侵入性神经成像技术进行研究，这将使研究人员能够了解语言学习过程中大脑的变化。儿童的这些数据很难用其他大脑成像技术来收集，因为这些技术会产生巨大的噪音，干扰口语刺激，并需要严格限制身体和头部的运动-这些特征对儿童来说特别具有挑战性。该项目的研究人员与其他人一起开发了一种“儿童友好”的神经成像方法，该方法将使研究婴幼儿语言习得过程中大脑中广泛神经网络中的大脑信号成为可能。这将提供一个新的窗口，了解神经动力学，以及儿童学习说话，阅读和写作时自然语言发展早期的大脑可塑性和重组。这项研究将对早期发展的社会，认知和教育成果产生深远的影响。研究人员将使用一种相对较新的脑成像方法，称为fNIRS（功能性近红外光谱），并使用更成熟的脑成像技术- fMRI（功能性磁共振成像）来验证该技术。随着语言相关网络的发展，fMRI和fNIRS的这种组合对于在广泛的年龄范围内（从6个月到7岁）实现大脑信号的最佳解释至关重要。在对fNIRS信号进行增强表征和验证后，研究人员将在单独使用fNIRS的快速语言发育期间获得单个婴儿的重复纵向测量。孩子们将观看引人入胜的自然主义电影，其语言内容系统地变化，以研究大脑的语言区域和网络如何在整个发展过程中被激活。 使用父母报告和家庭录音测量语言发育将与脑成像测量平行进行。总体目标是提供与语言相关的大脑网络的详细表征，这些网络支持婴儿/幼儿/儿童获得母语时的语言理解。此外，该项目将生成一个有用的公共数据集，并对fNIRS作为一种更适合儿童的神经成像技术的实用性/可靠性进行关键测试，从而使fNIRS在未来的使用成为可能，作为一种容易获得和成本-该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

One of the enduring questions of developmental neuroscience is how the functional organization of the brain changes with maturation and experience. The present proposal focuses on a key behavioral skill acquired by nearly all children in their first few postnatal years – the ability to understand and speak their native language. The neural basis of language acquisition will be studied with a non-invasive neuroimaging technique that will allow researchers to understand changes in the brain during language learning. Such data in children has been very difficult to collect with other brain imaging techniques, because those techniques create loud noises that interfere with spoken language stimuli and require severe constraints on body and head movement - features that are especially challenging for children. In conjunction with others, the investigators in this project have developed a “child-friendly” neuroimaging approach that will make it possible to study brain signals in widespread neural networks in the brain during language acquisition in infants and young children. This will provide a new window into neural dynamics, and brain plasticity and reorganization during the early years of natural language development as children learn to speak, read and write. This research will have profound implications for social, cognitive and educational outcomes of early development. The researchers will use a relatively new approach to brain imaging called fNIRS (functional near-infrared spectroscopy) and validate the technique with a more established brain imaging technique - fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging). This combination of fMRI and fNIRS is crucial to achieve the best possible interpretation of brain signals across a wide age range (from 6 months to 7 years) as language-related networks develop. After enhanced characterization and validation of fNIRS signals, the researchers will then obtain repeated longitudinal measures of individual infants during a period of rapid language development using fNIRS alone. Children will be presented with engaging, naturalistic movies with linguistic content that is systematically varied to study how the language areas and networks of the brain are activated across development. Measurements of language development using parental report and in-home audio recordings will be conducted in parallel with the brain imaging measures. The overall goal is to provide a detailed characterization of the language-related brain networks that support language comprehension as infants/toddlers/children acquire their native language. In addition, this project will generate a useful public dataset and a critical test of the utility/reliability of fNIRS as a more child-friendly neuroimaging technique, thereby making possible the use of fNIRS in the future as a readily accessible and cost-effective tool for future pediatric studies of brain development.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.