Auditory Temporal Processing in the Aging Ear and Brain

描述（由申请人提供）：哈里斯博士的职业目标是开发创造性的方法来研究与年龄相关的听觉处理神经机制的变化。她提出的培训计划将使她能够继续接受电生理学培训，并提供心理物理和功能神经成像技术方面的额外指导。她计划的职业发展经验包括：a）课程工作，研讨会和一对一的指导与她的导师;和B）指导研究计划的实施。哈里斯将获得作为这些活动的结果应该使她能够实现她作为一个富有成效的独立调查员的长期职业目标。拟议的研究项目侧重于与年龄相关的听觉和认知功能变化之间的相互关系，以及它们对老年人沟通能力变化的贡献。大多数以前的时间处理的研究集中在行为的措施，这可能会受到年龄相关的听觉和认知功能的下降。目前研究的一个优势是在同一受试者中整合行为、电生理和功能性神经成像措施，以解开衰老大脑中中枢听觉和认知变化的影响。提出了三个具体的目标，以测试这一假设，即在老年人的听觉时间处理的下降可以归因于年龄相关的缺陷，在中央听觉系统，以及认知功能的变化，如注意力。建议的实验适应通常用于行为实验的电生理和功能性神经影像学研究的差距检测范式。从临床的角度来看，理解听觉系统的时间分辨率及其潜在的神经过程可能有助于解释老年人言语理解的巨大差异。此外，知识的听觉和认知因素的下降，听觉时间处理是关键的发展，以证据为基础的和以理论为基础的干预策略，旨在改善老年人的沟通。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Dr. Harris' career goals are to develop creative approaches to the study of age-related changes in the neural mechanisms underlying auditory processing. Her proposed training plan will allow her to continue her training in electrophysiology and provide additional mentorship in psychophysical and functional neuroimaging techniques. Her planned career development experiences include: a) course work, seminars, and one-on-one instruction with her mentors; and b) implementation of the mentored research plan. The new and enhanced skills Dr. Harris will acquire as a result of these activities should enable her to achieve her long-term career goal as a productive independent investigator. The proposed research project focuses on the interrelationships between age-related changes in auditory and cognitive function and their contributions to changes in communication abilities of older adults. Most previous studies of temporal processing have focused on behavioral measures, which may be affected by age-related declines in both auditory and cognitive functions. A strength of the current studies is the integration of behavioral, electrophysiological, and functional neuroimaging measures within the same subjects to disentangle the effects of central auditory and cognitive changes in the aging brain. Three specific aims are proposed to test the hypothesis that declines in auditory temporal processing in older adults can be attributed to age-related deficits in the central auditory systems, and changes in cognitive functions, such as attention. The proposed experiments adapt a gap detection paradigm typically used in behavioral experiments to electrophysiologic and functional neuroimaging studies. From a clinical standpoint, understanding temporal resolution in the auditory system and its underlying neural processes may help explain the large variance in speech understanding in older adults. Furthermore, knowledge of the auditory and cognitive factors contributing to declines in auditory temporal processing is critical for the development of evidence-based and theory-based intervention strategies designed to improve communication by older adults.