FUNCTIONAL MRI OF ATTENTION REGULATION IN PEOPLE WITH AND WITHOUT AUTISM

自闭症患者和非自闭症患者注意力调节的功能性 MRI

• 批准号: 7951969
• 负责人: Chandan J Vaidya
• 金额: $ 0.35万
• 依托单位: GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-04-01 至 2010-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7951969
• 关键词: Acoustic Nerve; Acoustic Neuroma; Amputation; Attention; Auditory; Auditory system; Autistic Disorder; Burn injury; Clinical Research; Complex; Computer Retrieval of Information on Scientific Projects Database; Development; Esthesia; Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Funding; Grant; Institution; Limb structure; Patients; Peripheral; Phantom Limb Pain; Pruritus; Regulation; Research; Research Personnel; Resources; Source; Structure; Tinnitus; United States National Institutes of Health; experience

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Specifying the neural basis of normal and pathological attentional processes is an important goal for basic and clinical sciences that will only be accomplished with advanced biomedical imaging techniques. Relatively little is known about the functional anatomy of human attention. Until recently, only positron emission tomography (PET), and to some extent brain topographic mapping using EEGs, have yielded such anatomical information about the functional organization of attention in the human brain. PET, however, has several limitations. For example, PET (1) requires that subjects be exposed to radioactive substances, (2) has poor temporal and spatial resolution, (3) requires averaging over subjects, so that one cannot obtain reliable information about individuals, and (4) requires access to a cyclotron and thus is limited in use to a few centers. EEG mapping provides good temporal information, on the order of tens of milliseconds, but is severely limited by the degree of spatial information it can provide. Recent advances in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have allowed, for the first time, the development of functional MRI (fMRI) to map brain activity (MRI has been used to image brain anatomy for some time). Studies using fMRI have great potential for widespread research and clinical use because fMRI (1) does not require exposure to a radioactive substance, (2) has temporal resolution limited only by brain hemodynamics, and spatial resolution comparable to conventional MRI, thereby allowing fine-grained links between brain anatomy and human cognition, (3) can yield useful information for an individual (4) can be implemented on MRI scanners present at many medical facilities (5) and has been successfully used in healthy and disordered children. This breakthrough occurred because efficient gradient-recalled sequences have now been developed that can detect T2* regional increases reflecting reduced paramagnetic deoxyhemoglobin levels in cortex consequent to neuronal activation. The present proposal takes a cognitive neuroscience analytic approach to investigating Autism. Autism is a common developmental disorder that significantly impairs cognitive, emotional, and social functioning. Normal cognitive functioning requires appropriate regulation of attention in the service of goal directed behavior. Operations of attention regulation include selecting, engaging, and sustaining attention to task-relevant stimuli, disengaging and shifting attention as task demands change, and inhibiting or suppressing attention to task-irrelevant stimuli. These operations are the focus of the proposed study. These operations have been well characterized in normal and disordered development, behaviorally and neurally (Bunge et al., 2002; Casey et al., 1997; Luna et al., 2001; Vaidya et al., 1998). The proposed study examines the neural basis of attention regulation in high functioning autistic (HFA, i.e., IQ 85) and healthy children and adults, in two domains, social and non-social. Neural systems subserving attention to social cues differ from those subserving attention to non-social cues. Both social and non-social attention deficits are observed in Autism. Few studies, however, have directly compared attentional regulation in social and non-social domains. Therefore, it is unknown whether social or non-social attention is disproportionately impaired in Autism. Knowledge from the proposed study will be clinically significant for specifying neurocognitive diagnostic criteria that are specific to Autism relative to other developmental disorders involving attentional dysregulation. Further, this knowledge will increase understanding about the neurophysiology of developing attentional systems.

该子项目是利用NIH/NCRR资助的中心赠款提供的资源的许多研究子项目之一。子项目和研究者（PI）可能从另一个NIH来源获得主要资金，因此可以在其他CRISP条目中表示。所列机构为中心，不一定是研究者所在机构。研究正常和病理性注意过程的神经基础是基础和临床科学的一个重要目标，只有通过先进的生物医学成像技术才能实现。相对而言，我们对人类注意力的功能解剖学知之甚少。直到最近，只有正电子发射断层扫描（PET），以及在某种程度上使用脑电图的脑地形图，才能获得有关人脑注意力功能组织的解剖学信息。然而，PET具有若干限制。例如，PET（1）要求受试者暴露于放射性物质，（2）具有差的时间和空间分辨率，（3）需要对受试者进行平均，使得人们不能获得关于个体的可靠信息，以及（4）需要使用回旋加速器，因此在使用上限于少数中心。EEG映射提供了数十毫秒量级的良好的时间信息，但是受到其可以提供的空间信息的程度的严重限制。磁共振成像（MRI）的最新进展首次允许功能性MRI（fMRI）的发展来绘制大脑活动（MRI已用于成像大脑解剖结构一段时间）。使用fMRI的研究具有广泛研究和临床应用的巨大潜力，因为fMRI（1）不需要暴露于放射性物质，（2）具有仅受脑血流动力学限制的时间分辨率，和与常规MRI相当的空间分辨率，从而允许脑解剖学和人类认知之间的细粒度联系，（3）可以为个体产生有用的信息（4）可以在许多医疗设施（5）中存在的MRI扫描仪上实现，并且已经成功地用于健康和紊乱的儿童。这一突破的发生是因为现在已经开发出有效的梯度回忆序列，其可以检测T2* 区域增加，反映神经元激活后皮质中顺磁性脱氧血红蛋白水平降低。目前的建议采取认知神经科学分析方法来调查自闭症。自闭症是一种常见的发育障碍，严重损害认知，情感和社会功能。正常的认知功能需要适当的注意力调节，以服务于目标导向行为。注意调节的操作包括选择、吸引和维持对任务相关刺激的注意，随着任务需求的变化而分离和转移注意，以及抑制或抑制对任务无关刺激的注意。这些业务是拟议研究的重点。这些操作已经在行为和神经的正常和紊乱发育中得到了很好的表征（Bunge等人，2002;凯西等人，1997; Luna等人，2001; Vaidya等人，1998年）。这项拟议的研究探讨了高功能自闭症患者（HFA，即，智商85）和健康的儿童和成人，在两个领域，社会和非社会。使注意力服从于社会线索的神经系统不同于使注意力服从于非社会线索的神经系统。社会和非社会注意力缺陷在自闭症中都可以观察到。然而，很少有研究直接比较社会和非社会领域的注意力调节。因此，目前尚不清楚自闭症患者的社会或非社会注意力是否受到不成比例的损害。从拟议的研究中获得的知识将具有临床意义，用于指定自闭症相对于其他涉及注意力调节障碍的发育障碍的神经认知诊断标准。此外，这些知识将增加对发展注意力系统的神经生理学的理解。