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

描述(申请人提供)：这是一个导师研究科学家发展奖(K01)的申请表。拟议项目的目标是为申请者提供所需的高级技能，以建立一个独立的认知老化研究计划，使用神经成像方法来了解与年龄相关的认知变化背后的神经基础。申请者提出了一项综合培训计划，该计划将教学指导与现有的研究人员相结合；正式的课程作业；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，最后从头到尾进行预期的先导研究。这项研究的目的将是探索年轻和老年健康参与者在延迟项目识别任务中事件相关fMRI激活的差异。在这个项目中提出了两种新的方法来解决：a)功能磁共振数据分析的局部性差和b)缺乏对主观任务难度的有效测量。该项目将利用认知神经科学司正在进行的三项研究数据来制定和评价拟议的方法。此外，还将收集一项新的试点研究，其中包括专门为该项目的目标而设计的经修订的延迟字母识别任务。因此，拟议的项目AIMS将阐明与老龄化相关的神经生物学变化的多种测量之间的相互关系，并将成为申请者在老龄人口中进行神经成像研究方面建立独立研究人员职业生涯的桥梁。

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.