Development and Neural Bases of Sequence Learning

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This revised Research Career Award application will provide the applicant with the additional training and mentoring necessary to pursue an independent career using functional neuroimaging techniques to examine issues in developmental cognitive neuroscience. The applicant is an Instructor of Psychology in Psychiatry with doctoral training in child psychology and postdoctoral training in anatomical and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques with children. Her work focuses on the brain bases of learning and memory skills across childhood, in particular, the development of implicit sequence learning. The current proposal seeks to build on this developmental expertise and to further the candidate's theoretical thinking in cognitive science and advanced technical skills in the area of functional MRI, and the integration of behavioral, electrophysiological and fMRI approaches to examining the neural bases of sequence learning in children. She will be mentored in the design, conduct, and analysis of behavioral and neuroimaging studies that attempt to address gaps in the literature examining the development and neural bases of implicit learning across childhood. Studies will address normative development and will include 1) development of an eye movement based sequence learning task that is appropriate for all age ranges; 2) behavioral experiments that probe the constraints of child learning systems by manipulating characteristics of the information to be learned, and 3) parallel electrophysiological and neuroimaging studies to assess the temporal and spatial dynamics of the neural systems subserving sequence learning across development. The overall purpose of the proposedstudies is to further our understanding of the neural systems underlying the development of various forms of learning and memory. Ultimately, the long-term goal of this work is to lay the critical foundation for understanding how disruptions in the development of these neural systems may give rise to developmental disorders.