Analyzing age-related changes of brain activation in subjects native space

描述（由申请人提供）：这是一份申请指导研究科学家发展奖（K01）的申请。该项目的目标是为申请人提供所需的高级技能，以建立一个独立的认知衰老研究项目，利用神经影像学方法了解与年龄相关的认知变化的神经基础。申请人提出一个综合的培训计划，将教学指导与已建立的研究人员相结合；正式的课程;参加哥伦比亚大学正在进行的研讨会，与导师一对一的指导阅读，最后从头到尾进行一项前瞻性试点研究。本研究的目的是探讨在延迟项目识别任务中，年轻和年老健康受试者组的事件相关fMRI激活的差异。本项目提出了两种新方法来解决；a)功能磁共振成像数据分析本地化差；b)缺乏主观任务难度的有效测量。该项目将利用认知神经科学部门正在进行的三项研究数据来开发和评估拟议的方法。此外，将收集一项新的试点研究，其中包括专门为本项目目标设计的修订延迟字母识别任务。因此，拟议的项目旨在阐明与衰老相关的神经生物学变化的多种测量之间的相互关系，并将作为申请人建立独立研究者职业生涯的桥梁，在老年人群中进行神经影像学研究。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This is an application for a Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (K01). The goal of the proposed project is to provide the applicant with the advanced skills needed to establish an independent research program in cognitive aging using neuroimaging approach to understanding neural basis underlying age-related cognitive changes. The Applicant proposes a comprehensive training plan which combines didactic instruction with established researchers; formal coursework; participation in ongoing seminars in Columbia University, one-to-one directed readings with mentors, and finally conduction of a prospective pilot study from beginning to end. The goal of this study will be to explore the difference in the event-related fMRI activation of young and old healthy participants groups during a delayed item recognition task. Two new approaches are proposed in this project to address; a) poor localization of fMRI data analysis and b) lack of effective measure of subjective task difficulty. This project will take advantage of three of the on-going studies data n the Cognitive Neuroscience Division for the development and evaluation of the proposed methodologies. In addition, a new pilot study will be collected with a revised delayed letter recognition task which is specifically designed for the goal of this project. The proposed project aims will therefore elucidate the interrelationships between multiple measures of neurobiological changes associated with aging and will serve as a bridge for the applicant to establish an independent investigator career in conducting neuroimaging studies in aging populations.