The neural organization of person-based semantic knowledge in young and older adults

我们如何认识认识的人？我们对熟悉的人的认知背后的神经组织是什么？识别我们认识的人是社会互动的基本决定因素。它调节我们与他人互动的能力，以及在社会中正常运作的能力。该研究项目的第一部分将使用功能性核磁共振成像（一种神经成像方法，用于测量参与者在执行认知任务时的大脑活动）来调查在处理名人和不知名人士的面孔和声音时激活的大脑区域。这将有助于研究大脑中哪些区域参与了储存我们所认识的人的传记信息。这个研究项目的第二部分将有兴趣确定这类知识背后的神经结构在衰老过程中是否会发生变化，如果是的话，它是如何变化的。其目的是确定语义记忆的大脑组织是否会像其他记忆系统一样经历同样的变化，而其他记忆系统更容易受到衰老的影响。综上所述，本研究项目将有助于理解年轻人和老年人熟悉的人识别的神经关联。

How do we recognize and identify people we know? What is the neural organization underlying the knowledge we have about familiar people? Identifying people we know is a fundamental determinant of social interaction. It modulates our ability to interact with other people and to function normally in society.   The first part of this research project will be to use functional MRI, a neuroimaging method used to measure brain activity while the participant is performing a cognitive task, to investigate the brain regions that are activated during the processing of the faces and voices of famous people and unknown people. This will allow investigating what areas of the brain are involved in storing biographical information about people we know.   The second part of this research project will be interested in determining if the neural architecture underlying this type of knowledge changes during the course of aging, and if so how it changes. The aim will be to determine whether the cerebral organization of semantic memory undergoes the same changes as other memory systems that are more vulnerable to aging. Taken together, this research program will contribute to understanding the neural correlates of familiar person recognition in young and older adults.