Using neurocomputational and neuroimaging tools to understand the early development of infant visuo-spatial attention.

表现出注意力缺陷的婴儿日后出现认知缺陷和/或神经发育障碍的风险增加。在婴儿期早期发现这些缺陷可能会促进干预措施的发展，从而减轻负面结果。如果我们理解了婴儿期注意力的运作机制，以及它在生命最初几年的发展过程，这些干预措施就很可能有效。我博士研究的目的是确定这些机制，并了解它们如何转化为大脑和行为的可测量差异。拟议的研究将使用综合认知神经科学方法，将尖端的神经成像和神经计算建模与先进的定量方法（AQM）相结合，以了解大脑和行为如何共同发展。在研究1和2中，我将使用一个经过验证的神经计算模型来研究神经活动（fMRI和fNIRS）如何引起婴儿在视觉注意任务中的行为反应。在研究3中，我将对年龄从6个月到54个月的两个队列的纵向（fNIRS）数据进行建模，并评估这些纵向数据如何与6.5岁时的执行功能和学业成果评估相关。整合认知神经科学方法已成功地用于研究成人视觉工作记忆，但从未应用于早期发展。因此，这项研究不仅具有广泛的实际意义（例如，指导性干预），但它也具有重大的理论意义。例如，我的工作将挑战现有的婴儿注意力发展理论，这些理论提出了一个明确的脱离机制的存在。此外，这个博士学位将为我提供尖端技术的专家培训，使我能够为未来的发展认知神经科学工作建立一个全面的技能组合。

Infants who demonstrate deficits in attention are at an increased risk of developing later cognitive deficits and/or neurodevelopmental disorders. Identifying such deficits early in infancy may foster the development of interventions that can mitigate negative outcomes. Such interventions are most likely to be effective if we understand the mechanisms that underpin how attention works in infancy and how it develops across the first few years of life. The aim of my PhD research is to identify these mechanisms and understand how they translate into measurable differences in brain and behaviour. The proposed research will use an integrative cognitive neuroscience approach that combines cutting-edge neuroimaging and neurocomputational modelling with advanced quantitative methods (AQM) to understand how the brain and behaviour co-develop. In Studies 1 and 2, I will use a validated neurocomputational model to investigate how neural activity (fMRI & fNIRS) gives rise to infant behavioural responses in visual attention tasks. In Study 3, I will model longitudinal (fNIRS) data from two cohorts spanning ages from 6- to 54-months and assess how these longitudinal data relate to assessments of executive function and schooling outcome at 6.5 years. The integrative cognitive neuroscience approach has successfully been used to investigate adult visual working memory but has never been applied to early development. Therefore, this research not only has wide-reaching practical implications (e.g., guiding intervention) but it has major theoretical implications as well. For instance, my work will challenge existing theories of infant attentional development that propose the existence of an explicit disengaging mechanism. Further, this PhD will provide me with expert training in cutting-edge techniques that will allow me to build a comprehensive skillset ideal for future work in developmental cognitive neuroscience.