Neuroimaging of Complex Motion in Young and Old Adults

职位描述(申请人提供)：申请人的长期职业目标 候选人将在认知领域取得重大科学发现 并将研究成果应用于改善健康和 老龄化人口的流动性。眼前的职业目标是成为 参与尖端研究的独立研究员 人类认知老化的神经成像。这位候选人过去有过研究 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 衰老的理论和神经成像方法是必要的，以使她能够 实现她的职业目标。候选人将与导师拉贾一起工作 Parasuraman在认知神经科学和衰老方面拥有丰富的专业知识 谁有在这些领域培训学生和研究员的经过证明的记录。 培训环境将包括一组认知领域的顶尖研究人员 衰老、神经科学和神经成像。该小组将提供以下培训 认知和神经成像的理论问题和分析方法 对老年参与者的研究，以及对 中青年与老年人神经影像资料的比较。K01奖 将让候选人有时间和必要的支持来致力于她 作为认知老化独立研究者的研究生涯发展 和认知神经科学。在她的研究计划中，候选人将审查 人脑如何处理关于复杂运动的视觉信息(例如， 运动中的形状)，以及什么皮质机制调节与年龄相关的变化 在复杂的运动感知中。这个话题很重要，因为每天有很多人 老年人执行的任务，如走路、开车和玩耍 运动在很大程度上依赖于对复杂视觉运动的处理 大脑。我们的目标是识别人类大脑皮质中的 年轻人和老年人由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)。这个 中心假设是在相对运动中识别物体的缺陷 在晚年是由于功能效率的变化而产生的 大脑中的皮质区域。此外，复杂的运动处理 由大脑中简单运动处理区域以外的皮质区域调节 人类的视觉皮质。具体而言，拟议的研究将(1)确定 与运动定义平面的加工相关的人类皮质区域和 曲面的深度；(2)识别调节大脑皮质的区域 使用注意调制的运动形状处理；以及(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。行为成像和神经成像的结合 方法将导致成功建立之间的因果关系 青少年的视觉运动加工和皮质功能(或功能障碍) 又老又老。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问题 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.