Neuroimaging of Complex Motion in Young and Old Adults

描述（由申请人提供）： 长期职业目标 候选人将在认知领域做出重大科学发现 神经科学并应用研究成果来改善健康和 老龄化人口的流动性。近期的职业目标是成为 参与前沿研究的独立研究员 人类认知衰老的神经影像学。候选人有过去的研究 认知神经科学方面的经验，但需要进一步接受认知衰老方面的培训 衰老的理论和神经影像学方法对于让她能够 实现她的职业目标。 候选人将与导师 Raja 一起工作 Parasuraman 在认知神经科学和衰老方面拥有丰富的专业知识 以及谁在这些领域培训学生和研究员方面拥有良好的记录。 培训环境将包括认知领域顶尖研究人员团队 衰老、神经科学和神经影像学。该小组将提供以下方面的培训： 认知和神经影像涉及的理论问题和分析方法 对老参与者的研究，以及涉及的问题 年轻人和老年人之间的神经影像数据的比较。 K01奖 将为候选人提供必要的时间和支持来为她奉献 作为认知衰老领域的独立研究员研究职业发展 和认知神经科学。在她的研究计划中，候选人将检查 人脑如何处理有关复杂运动的视觉信息（例如， 运动形状），以及哪些皮质机制介导与年龄相关的变化 在复杂的运动感知中。这个话题很重要，因为很多日常生活 老年人执行的任务，例如步行、驾驶和玩耍 运动，严重依赖于复杂视觉运动的处理 大脑。目的是确定人类皮质的表征 由年轻人和老年人的运动定义的表面和物体，使用两者 行为方法和功能磁共振成像（fMRI）。的 中心假设是识别相对运动物体的缺陷 老年时是由于特定功能效率的变化 大脑的皮质区域。另外复杂的运动处理是 由简单运动处理区域之外的皮质区域介导 人类视觉皮层。具体来说，拟议的研究将（1）确定 与运动定义的平面和运动处理相关的人类皮质区域 深度弯曲表面； (2) 识别调节的皮质区域 使用注意力调制处理运动形状； (3) 确定 与年龄相关的视觉处理能力下降的神经基础 有关复杂运动的信息。行为学和神经影像学的结合 方法将导致成功建立之间的因果关系 年轻人的视觉运动处理和皮质功能（或功能障碍） 和旧的。这将为进一步发展奠定基础 解决重要健康和流动问题的诊断和治疗工具 老年人的问题。

DESCRIPTION (Provided by applicant): The long-term career goal of the candidate is to make significant scientific discoveries in cognitive neuroscience and to apply research findings to improving the health and mobility of the aging population. The immediate career objective is to become an independent researcher involved in cutting-edge research in the neuroimaging of human cognitive aging. The candidate has past research experience in cognitive neuroscience, but further training in cognitive aging theories and neuroimaging methods in aging are necessary to allow her to attain her career goals. The candidate will work with a mentor, Raja Parasuraman who has extensive expertise in cognitive neuroscience and aging and who has a proven record of training students and fellows in these fields. The training environment will involve a team of top researchers in cognitive aging, neuroscience, and neuroimaging. This group will provide training in the theoretical issues and analysis methods involved in cognitive and neuroimaging studies in old participants, as well as in the issues involved in the comparison of neuroimaging data between young and old adults. The K01 award will allow the candidate the time and support necessary to devote to her research career development as an independent researcher in cognitive aging and cognitive neuroscience. In her research plan, the candidate will examine how the human brain processes visual information about complex motion (e.g., shape-from-motion), and what cortical mechanisms mediate age-related changes in complex motion perception. The topic is important because many everyday tasks carried out by older adults, such as walking, driving, and playing sports, are critically dependent on the processing of complex visual motion by the brain. The objective is to identify the human cortical representation of surfaces and objects defined by motion in young and old adults, using both behavioral methods and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The central hypothesis is that deficits in recognizing objects in relative motion in old age are due to changes in the functional efficiency of specific cortical areas in the brain. Additionally complex motion processing is mediated by cortical regions beyond the simple motion processing areas in the human visual cortex. Specifically, the proposed studies will (1)identify the human cortical areas associated with the processing of motion-defined flat and curved surfaces in depth; (2) identify the cortical areas mediating the processing of shape-from-motion using attention modulation; and (3) determine the neural basis of age-related decreases in ability to process visual information about complex motion. Combination of behavioral and neuroimaging methods will lead to successful establishment of causal relationships between visual motion processing and cortical function (or dysfunction) in the young and old. This will provide a foundation for the further development of diagnostic and therapeutic tools to address important health and mobility problems in the elderly.