A Network Approach to Study Brain Plasticity in Children with Cognitive Training

研究认知训练儿童大脑可塑性的网络方法

• 批准号: 9189674
• 负责人: Olga Tymofiyeva
• 金额: $ 23.78万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-12-07 至 2019-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9189674
• 关键词: 18 year old; Address; Adolescent; Anatomy; Anxiety Disorders; Atlases; Attention; Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; Base of the Brain; Behavioral; Brain; Brain region; Child; Communication; Computers; Data Set; Development; Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Disease; Ensure; Free Will; Goals; Graph; Human; Intervention; Knowledge; Longitudinal Studies; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Maps; Measures; Mental Depression; Mental Health; Methods; Mission; Modeling; Monitor; Network-based; Non-Invasive Cancer Detection; Outcome; Pathway interactions; Population; Process; Property; Public Health; Reliability of Results; Research; Research Design; Seasons; Statistical Data Interpretation; Structure; Testing; Therapeutic Intervention; Time; Training; Training Programs; Treatment Efficacy; United States National Institutes of Health; Work; Youth; age group; base; behavior measurement; clinical development; cognitive function; cognitive training; design; disability; emotion regulation; experience; falls; functional plasticity; mindfulness meditation; public health relevance; reconstruction; relating to nervous system; skills; therapy design; therapy development

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): There is a fundamental gap in understanding of the functional and structural reorganization of the brain that takes place as a result of therapeutic interventions. Continued existence of this gap represents an important problem in mental health research because, until it is filled, design of more effective and efficient interventions will remin largely unguided. Our long-term goal is to use non-invasive detection and monitoring of brain reorganization to guide the development and implementation of therapies. The objective in this particular application is to develop a reliable and sensitive MR imaging indicator of brain network plasticity and apply it to study the remodeling of structural brain networks in children with cognitive training. The rationale for the proposed network approach is that brain changes resulting from therapies are not confined to a specific brain region but usually involve communication pathways and this is directly addressed by diffusion MRI connectomics that treats the brain as a network of structural connections between brain regions. The central hypothesis is that diffusion MRI-based brain networks and their graph-analytic properties can serve as a reliable and sensitive indicator of plasticity in children with cognitive training. We wll study brain network changes in 10-18 year-old youths who undergo a 12-week mindfulness meditation-based training of attention and emotion regulation and correlate the results with the behavioral changes according to the computer-based Attention Network Test (ANT). The proposed research is significant, because it is expected to provide a method for monitoring the efficacy of therapeutic interventions, guide the development of new interventions, and advance our understanding of how the brain reorganizes as a function of intensive practice of specific cognitive functions. Ultimately, such knowledge has the potential to inform the development of treatment for clinical populations, such as children and adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depression and anxiety disorders.