Neural basis of Braille literacy in blind adults and children

项目摘要 拟议的多样性补充申请旨在支持宰达·麦克克林顿女士接受培训， 研究大脑可塑性的认知神经科学家。麦克克林顿女士是一位才华横溢、训练有素的 在约翰霍普金斯大学完成神经科学本科学位的学生。拟议 补充将支持她获得神经科学硕士学位，并进行为期一年半的 在我的实验室里进行的一项指导性研究，研究先天失明的成年人的盲文阅读的神经基础。 我将指导McClinton女士设计、执行、分析、展示和出版这本神经科学著作 学习盲文阅读。该基金将支持她获得认知神经科学的关键技能， 包括功能磁共振成像分析和经颅磁刺激，并给她的优势，她需要进入一个高质量的MD-PhD计划 并为NRSA F30应用提供初步数据。在拟议的补充期间，McClinton女士 我将进行一系列的研究，这些研究是建立在母基金的基础上的，是对母基金的补充，但不是多余的 McClinton女士将使用已经收集到的fMRI数据进行fMRI引导的TMS研究， 后顶叶和腹侧枕颞叶的认知和行为贡献 （vOTC）皮层回路到盲文阅读。父母奖的目的是发现那些 天生失明的人在PPC中开发“触觉单词形式”表示，并测试vOTC在以下方面的作用： 盲人成年人的盲文阅读，并将其贡献与PPC进行比较。麦克克林顿女士将首先测试 PPC和vOTC与使用fMRI引导的TMS进行阅读的行为相关性，这是从未做过的 以前接下来，她将测试这些地区的贡献时间。我们假设PPC执行 基于形式的正交处理，因此涉及较早，而vOTC执行更高， 语言的功能，因此涉及后。这些实验是高度互补的 家长奖的目标是将这些地区对盲文阅读的贡献分开。最后， McClinton女士结束了这个循环，并回答了为什么vOTC在盲文阅读过程中是活跃的这个问题。 将测试vOTC是否与失明的高级语言处理相关。拟议的工作是 具有高度的理论意义和补充母提案，因为TMS使我们有机会 测试用功能磁共振成像观察到的激活的行为相关性，从而为盲文阅读理论提供信息， 失明的可塑性我们预计，拟议的实验将导致3或4个第一作者出版物 提供密集的手稿准备经验。这次机会将使McClinton女士能够 学习最前沿的认知神经科学技能，并推动她成为一名认知医生- 研究大脑可塑性的神经科学家

PROJECT SUMMARY The proposed diversity supplement application is intended to support Ms. Zaida McClinton in her training as a cognitive neuroscientist investigating brain plasticity. Ms. McClinton is a highly talented and well-trained student completing her undergraduate degree in Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University. The proposed supplement will support her in obtaining a master’s in Neuroscience and conducting a year-and-a-half of mentored research in my laboratory working on the neural basis of Braille reading in congenitally blind adults. I will mentor Ms. McClinton while she designs, carries out, analyzes, presents and publishes this neuroscience work on Braille reading. The grant will support her as she acquires critical skills in cognitive neuroscience, including fMRI analysis and TMS, and give her the edge she needs to enter a high-quality MD-PhD program and provide preliminary data for an NRSA F30 application. During the proposed supplement Ms. McClinton will conduct a series of studies that build on and are complementary to the parent award but are not redundant with it. Ms. McClinton will use the already collected fMRI data to conduct fMRI-guided TMS studies that test the cognitive and behavioral contributions of the posterior parietal (PPC) and ventral occipito-temporal (vOTC) cortical circuits to Braille reading. The goals of the parent award are to discover whether people who are born blind develop ‘tactile word form’ representations in the PPC and to test the role of the vOTC in Braille reading for blind adults and compare its contribution to that of the PPC. Ms. McClinton will first test the behavioral relevance of the PPC and vOTC to reading using fMRI guided TMS, which has never been done before. Next, she will test the timing of the contribution of these regions. We hypothesize that PPC performs form-based orthographic processing, and is therefore involved earlier, whereas vOTC performs more high- level language functions and is therefore involved later. These experiments are highly complementary to the goals of the parent award, which will dissociate the contributions of these regions to Braille reading. Finally, closing the loop and answering the question of why the vOTC is active during Braille reading, Ms. McClinton will test whether vOTC is relevant to high-level linguistic processing in blindness. The proposed work is highly theoretically significant and complementary to the parent proposal since TMS gives us an opportunity to test behavioral relevance of activation observed with fMRI and to thus inform theories of Braille reading and plasticity in blindness. We anticipate that the proposed experiments will lead to 3 or 4 first author publications providing an intensive manuscript preparation experience. This opportunity will enable Ms. McClinton to learn cutting edge cognitive neuroscience skills and propel her into a career as a cognitive physician- neuroscientist investigating brain plasticity.