Neurobehavioral Investigation of Recollection and Familiarity in Early Childhood

描述（由申请人提供）：记忆是一种基础能力，我们在此基础上建立对自己和周围世界的认识。记忆的失败，无论多么小，都会对生活的成功和心理健康（包括焦虑和抑郁）产生重大影响。在成人中，识别记忆由回忆和熟悉两个过程组成，这两个过程部分依赖于内侧颞叶（MTL）和前额叶皮层（PFC）中不同的脑回路。熟悉度是对记忆强度进行全面评估的过程。回忆是允许检索与事件上下文相关的不同特征的过程。回忆优先涉及海马体，一个MTL结构的特点是其漫长的发展过程。神经解剖学数据表明，海马体的结构发育至少持续到出生后的第5年，这在理论上与行为记忆表现的功能变化有关（例如，童年早期发生的自传体记忆和情景记忆的改善）。然而，这种联系尚未得到实证检验。因此，尽管我们知道成人的记忆过程和相关的神经回路，但对其早期功能成熟的系统研究显然是缺失的。相对未被探索的是，在儿童早期记忆改善的基础过程中，与年龄相关的变化。这不仅造成了科学理解上的差距，而且也阻碍了促进或改善记忆的干预技术的发展，特别是对那些有受损风险的人。我们的目标是通过系统地研究记忆行为和神经活动的变化来阐明记忆发展变化的机制。为此，提出的研究旨在确定记忆过程发展的窗口，这些窗口是由神经发育决定的。具体来说，我们将在儿童早期使用电生理和行为测量的独特组合来检查记忆检索任务中的熟悉度和回忆过程。我们假设，与熟悉过程的变化相比，回忆的电生理和行为相关（依赖于海马体）将在3至5岁期间显示出实质性的发展变化。对人类记忆发展的系统研究对于理解一般记忆具有重要意义，并最终将进一步加深我们对记忆障碍（例如，发展性遗忘症），记忆受到影响的人群（例如，抑郁症患者）以及已报道的记忆回路异常的疾病（例如抑郁症，自闭症和精神分裂症）的理解。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Memory is a cornerstone ability upon which we build knowledge of ourselves and the world around us. Failures in memory, no matter how small, can significantly impact life success and mental health (including anxiety and depression). In adults, recognition memory is subserved by two processes, recollection and familiarity, which rely on partially distinct brain circuitry in the medial temporal lobe (MTL) and prefrontal cortex (PFC). Familiarity is the process that allows for the global assessment of memory strength. Recollection is the process that allows for the retrieval of distinct features associated with the context of the event. Recollection preferentially involves the hippocampus, a MTL structure characterized by its protracted developmental course. Neuroanatomical data illustrates that structural development of the hippocampus continues at least through the 5th year postnatally, which has been theoretically linked to functional changes observed in behavioral memory performance (e.g., improvements in autobiographical memory and episodic memory that occur during early childhood). However, this link has not yet been examined empirically. Thus, despite all we know about memory processes and associated neural circuitry in adults, the systematic study of its functional maturation early in life is notably absent. What remains relatively unexplored are age-related changes in the basic processes that underlie memory improvement in early childhood. This poses not only a gap in scientific understanding but also a barrier to development of intervention techniques that would facilitate or improve memory, particularly in those at-risk for impairment. Our goal is to elucidate mechanisms of change in memory development by systematically investigating changes in memory behavior and neural activity. Towards this end, the proposed research seeks to indentify windows during which memory processes develop that are informed by neurodevelopment. Specifically, we will examine familiarity and recollection processes during a memory retrieval task using a unique combination of electrophysiological and behavioral measures in early childhood. We hypothesize that electrophysiological and behavioral correlates of recollection (which rely on the hippocampus) will show substantial developmental change from 3 to 5 years of age, compared to changes in familiarity processes. Systematic study of memory development in humans has important implications for understanding memory in general and will ultimately further our understanding of disorders of memory (e.g., developmental amnesia), populations where memory is affected (e.g., individuals with depression), and disorders in which abnormalities of memory circuitry have been reported (e.g., depression, autism, and schizophrenia). PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Memory impairment has been linked to learning disabilities in childhood and mental health disorders such as depression and schizophrenia in adolescence and adulthood. Our research aims to characterize the functional development of memory circuitry in the medial temporal lobe (MTL) by using event-related potentials to identify hippocampally-mediated recollective processes in early childhood and examine their development during a window of significant structural brain development. Knowledge gained from the outcomes of the proposed research will allow for the development of targeted prevention strategies for populations at-risk for memory impairment and those diagnosed with neurodevelopmental disorders known to affect MTL circuitry.