Infant Social Development: From Brain to Behavior

 描述(申请人提供)：使用神经成像技术寻找自闭症谱系障碍(ASD)的生物标记物和相关的社会困难将有助于更早地发现风险：这是确定哪些婴儿需要预防性治疗的关键组成部分。与只关注可观察的行为相比，神经成像也可能提供一种更敏感的方法来预测和评估治疗反应。然而，我们首先需要提高对典型大脑发育的理解，以确定预测社会行为中个体差异的神经标记物。这些神经标记物可以成为ASD生物标记物研究的靶点。更好地了解与ASD相关的神经差异和相关的社会困难将有助于指导与生物缺陷区域密切匹配的治疗方法的发展，并为利用神经成像来预测和 评估治疗反应。目前的建议是一项多层次(大脑功能和行为)的纵向神经成像研究，研究对象是60名处于社会发展关键时期的典型发育婴儿。这项研究将利用功能性近红外光谱(FNIRS)来测量6个月大时对新颖(现场社交互动)和有效(生物运动)社会刺激的反应的大脑功能。在这些婴儿12个月大的时候，确定的社交行为的神经相关因素将被用来预测这些婴儿在关键社会功能领域的个体差异。申请者的主要职业目标是进行研究，帮助防止社交情绪功能缺陷在达到临床损害水平之前。拟议的研究金培训是这条职业道路上不可或缺的一步。申请者将在社会认知和自闭症神经生物学领域的一位顶尖研究员的指导下接受发育神经成像技术的强化培训。该项目结合了使用行为和神经成像技术的临床和发展研究，将为受训人员提供一个理想的工具，使其成为翻译发展神经科学领域的独立研究人员，从而使她的研究计划能够帮助弥合社会发展、神经系统和临床研究之间的差距。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Using neuroimaging techniques to find biomarkers of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and related social difficulties will allow for earlier detection of risk: a critical component of identifying which infants need preventive treatment. Neuroimaging may also offer a more sensitive method of predicting and assessing treatment response than focusing only on observable behavior. However, we first need to improve our understanding of typical brain development to identify neural markers that predict individual differences in social behaviors. These neural markers can then become targets for the study of biomarkers of ASD. Better understanding the neural differences associated with ASD and related social difficulties will help to guide the development of treatments that are closely matched to biological areas of deficit and provide promising regions of interest for studies utilizing neuroimaging to predict and assess treatment response. The current proposal is a multi-level (brain function and behavior), longitudinal neuroimaging study of 60 typically developing infants during a critical period in social development. The study will utilize functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to measure brain functioning in response to both novel (live social interaction) and well-validated (biological motion) social stimuli at 6 months of age. Identified neural correlates of social stimui will then be applied to predict individual differences in key areas of social functioning in these same infants at 12 months. The applicant's overarching career goal is to conduct research that helps to prevent deficits in social- emotional functioning before they reach clinically impairing levels. The proposed fellowship training is an integral step in this career path. The applicant wil receive intensive training in developmental neuroimaging techniques under the mentorship of a leading researcher in the neurobiology of social cognition and ASD. This project, which combines clinical and developmental research using behavioral and neuroimaging techniques, will provide an ideal vehicle for the trainee to develop as an independent researcher in the field of translational developmental neuroscience, so that her research program can help bridge the gaps between social development, neural systems, and clinical research.