Dorsal and ventral cortical stream function in normal development and in at-risk infants born prematurely

从眼睛中解读信息的大脑网络是最早发展起来的，所以我们可以用视觉测量来告诉我们婴儿是否？他的大脑发育正常。在大脑中有两个主要的视觉网络：？腹侧流?用于识别图案，物体和面孔，以及背？记录物体的运动和位置以控制动作（如到达）的流。我们发现？背流?在患有某些遗传发育障碍的儿童中尤其脆弱，例如威廉姆斯综合征、自闭症，以及通常由于出生前后缺氧而遭受脑损伤的儿童。我们将设计新的？脑波?对婴儿和儿童的测量，以及对儿童友好的计算机测试，以测量背侧和腹侧溪流的正常相对发育过程。我们将使用不同类型的运动（背部），例如当我们向前移动时发生的向外运动，以及我们看到物体在其背景下移动的相对运动。我们将这些与儿童进行比较？我们有能力看到这些模式的相似但静态的版本，这些模式在腹侧流中被处理。我们将应用这些测试来研究早产婴儿的发育，这些婴儿有终身问题的风险，从注意力缺陷（ADHD）到严重脑瘫。随着在新生儿时期采用特殊干预疗法的临床试验的引入，一个主要的困难是在出生前后进行干预之间的长时间延迟，而这些儿童的年龄要晚得多。人的能力是可以衡量的。我们将通过设计安全、有效的婴儿出生后最初几个月的测试来弥补这一差距，以测量背侧和腹侧流的视觉处理。我们将把我们的测试结果与婴儿出生时和18个月前的核磁共振脑成像分析结果进行比较，以确定哪些大脑系统最容易受到损伤，哪些可以恢复或替代，以及哪些婴儿测试是未来能力的最佳预测指标。我们的长期目标是设计和使用这些针对视力特定方面的敏感测试，以评估早期治疗对后期问题高风险儿童的有效性，无论这些问题是由遗传疾病还是早期脑损伤引起的，以便尽早引入有效的治疗方法，以减少终身精神健康问题，并降低医疗保健和教育成本。

Brain networks to interpret information from the eyes are among the earliest to develop, and so we can use measures of vision to tell us whether an infant?s brain is developing normally. Within the brain there are two major visual networks, the ?ventral stream? for identifying patterns, objects and faces, and the ?dorsal? stream which registers the movements and positions of objects to control actions such as reaching. We have found that the ?dorsal stream? is particularly vulnerable in children with certain genetic developmental disorders e.g. Williams Syndrome, autism, and in children who have suffered brain damage, often due to periods of oxygen lack around birth. We will devise new ?brain wave? measures for infants and children alongside child-friendly computer tests to measure the normal course of relative development in dorsal and ventral streams. We will use different types of motion (dorsal) e.g. the outward movement that occurs when we move forwards, and the relative movement by which we see an object move against its background. We will compare these to children?s ability to see similar but static versions of these patterns, which are processed in the ventral stream. We will apply these tests to study development in infants born very prematurely, who are at risk of lifelong problems, ranging from attention deficits (ADHD) to severe cerebral palsy. As clinical trials of therapies in the newborn periodwith special intervention therapies are introduced, a major difficulty is the long delay between intervention around birth, and much later ages at which these children?s abilities can be measured. We will bridge this gap by designing safe, effective tests for babies in the first months of life, to measure visual processing in the dorsal and ventral streams. We will compare our test results with MRI brain imaging analyses carried out at birth) and with development up to 18 months, to identify which brain systems are most vulnerable to damage, which can recover or be substituted, and which infant tests are the best predictors of later abilities.Our longer term goal is to design and use these sensitive tests for specific aspects of vision to evaluate the effectiveness of early treatment in children at high risk of later problems, whether they arise from genetic disorders or early brain damage, so that effective therapies can be introduced as early as possible to reduce lifelong mental health problems and reduce healthcare and educational costs.