Neuroimaging of Complex Motion in Young and Old Adults

描述（由申请人提供）：长期职业目标 候选人是在认知领域做出重大科学发现 神经科学和应用研究成果，以改善健康和 老龄化人口的流动性。职业生涯的直接目标是成为 一个独立的研究人员参与尖端研究， 人类认知老化的神经影像学候选人有过去的研究 在认知神经科学方面的经验，但在认知老化方面的进一步培训 理论和神经影像学方法是必要的，让她 实现她的职业目标。 候选人将与导师拉贾一起工作 在认知神经科学和衰老方面拥有丰富专业知识的副苏拉曼 他在这些领域的学生和研究员培训方面有着良好的记录。 培训环境将涉及一个由认知领域的顶级研究人员组成的团队， 衰老、神经科学和神经成像。该小组将提供培训， 认知和神经影像学的理论问题和分析方法 对老年参与者的研究，以及 年轻人和老年人之间的神经影像学数据比较。K 01奖 将允许候选人的时间和必要的支持，致力于她 研究职业发展作为一个独立的研究人员在认知老化 和认知神经科学在她的研究计划中，候选人将研究 人脑如何处理关于复杂运动的视觉信息（例如， 运动形成的形状），以及什么样的皮质机制介导了年龄相关的变化 在复杂的运动感知中。这个话题很重要，因为许多人每天 老年人完成的任务，如走路、开车和玩耍 运动，是严重依赖于复杂的视觉运动的处理， 大脑其目的是确定人类大脑皮层的代表性， 在年轻人和老年人的运动定义的表面和对象，使用两者 行为方法和功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）。的 中心假设是，在识别相对运动物体时的缺陷 在老年是由于特定的功能效率的变化， 大脑皮层区域此外，复杂的运动处理是 由大脑皮层的简单运动处理区域以外的区域介导， 人类视觉皮层具体而言，拟议的研究将（1）确定 与处理运动定义的平面和 （2）确定皮质区介导的深度; 使用注意力调制处理运动恢复形状;以及（3）确定 与年龄相关的视觉处理能力下降的神经基础 关于复杂运动的信息。行为和神经影像学的结合 方法将导致成功建立因果关系之间 年轻人的视觉运动处理和皮层功能（或功能障碍） 也很老这将为进一步发展 诊断和治疗工具，以解决重要的健康和流动性 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.