A Comparative Developmental Connectivity Study of Face Processing

描述（由申请人提供）：面部处理能力在灵长类等具有复杂社会结构的物种中高度发达。像自闭症、威廉姆斯综合症和发展性面孔失认症这样的面部处理障碍会深刻地影响社会关系和交流。在人类中，面部处理的某些方面发展得相当早，并且在很小的婴儿中就表现出来了。然而，面部处理的其他方面需要更长的时间来发展，可能要到青春期或更晚才能达到成人的水平。这种拉长的面部处理发育时间可能取决于多种因素。脑形态的某些方面，如髓鞘形成和白质发育也有一个漫长的发育时间过程。大脑成熟的这些特征可能要到青春期晚期或成年早期才能达到成人的水平。本研究探讨了人类面部处理的长期发展与大脑内特定功能和解剖连接的发展有关的可能性。这种发育变化可能支持包括面部处理在内的社会认知神经系统。非人灵长类动物（NHPs）表现出与人类相同的许多面部处理能力，以及社会认知的某些方面，使其成为典型和无序社会认知发展动物模型的理想候选者。然而，尚不清楚用于面部处理的大规模大脑网络是否与人类共享。一种比较的方法可以帮助确定支持面部处理的神经系统的发育变化是由人类的特定经历驱动的，还是这种神经组织存在于其他物种中，尽管它们的经历非常不同。为了确定发育中的大脑中面部处理的物种相似性和差异，该应用程序将在人类儿童、青少年、成人和成熟的猕猴（猕猴）中进行功能和解剖连接分析。该研究计划将包括两个阶段，一个初始发展阶段（R21阶段）将侧重于在NHPs中建立和完善功能磁共振成像（fMRI，用于功能连接）和扩散张量成像（DTI，用于解剖连接）技术，第二个R33阶段将收集人类的连接数据并与NHPs中的数据进行比较。总体的科学目标是表征人类和NHPs在面部感知和面部情绪处理方面的大规模解剖和功能脑网络。这两种能力对高度社会化的生物来说都是至关重要的，但物种特有的经验可能会以不同的方式调节这些网络。这项研究的一个好处是，将用于描述大规模大脑连接的脑成像技术是非侵入性的，可能有助于指导更有针对性但侵入性的方法，将NHPs作为典型和非典型发育的动物模型。总的来说，这项应用的发现将促进我们对灵长类动物大脑社会认知基础的理解。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The capacity for face processing is highly developed in species like primates that have complex social structures. Disorders of face processing like Autism, Williams Syndrome, and developmental prosopagnosia can profoundly affect social relationships and communication. In humans, some aspects of face processing develop quite early and are exhibited in very young infants. However, other aspects of face processing take much longer to develop and may not reach adult levels until adolescence or later. This protracted developmental timeline for face processing may depend on a variety of factors. Some aspects of brain morphology like myelination and white matter development also have a protracted developmental time course. These features of brain maturation may not reach adult levels until late adolescence or early adulthood. The present application explores the possibility that protracted development of face processing in humans is related to the development of specific functional and anatomical connections within the brain. Such developmental changes may support a neural system for social cognition that includes face processing. Non-human primates (NHPs) exhibit many of the same face processing capacities as humans, as well as some aspects of social cognition, making this species an ideal candidate for animal models of typical and disordered development of social cognition. However, it is not known whether large-scale brain networks for face processing are shared with humans. A comparative approach can help determine whether developmental changes in neural systems that support face processing are driven by the specific experiences of the human or whether such neural organization is present in other species, despite their very different experiences. To determine species similarity and divergence for face processing in the developing brain, this application will conduct functional and anatomical connectivity analyses in human children, adolescents and adults and in mature NHPs (macaca mulatta). This research plan will consist of two phases, an initial developmental phase (the R21 phase) that will focus on establishing and refining functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI; used for functional connectivity) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI; used for anatomical connectivity) techniques in NHPs and a second R33 phase in which connectivity data from humans are collected and compared to the data in NHPs. The overall scientific goal is to characterize the large-scale anatomical and functional brain networks in humans and NHPs for the perception of faces and for the processing of emotions in the face. Both capacities are critical for highly social organisms but species-specific experiences may modulate these networks differently. One benefit of the proposed research is that the brain imaging techniques that will be used to characterize large-scale brain connectivity are non-invasive and may help guide more targeted but invasive approaches that use NHPs as an animal model for typical and atypical development. Overall, the findings from this application will advance our understanding of the primate brain basis for social cognition. Public Health Relevance: A better understanding of brain connectivity patterns for face processing in humans and non-human primates can help develop animal models of typical and atypical social development. Such findings can be used to target behavioral or pharmacological interventions for conditions like Autism Spectrum Disorder or Williams Syndrome.